La Vuelta a Espana 2009 Live

La Vuelta a Espana 2009, or Tour of Spain, will be from August 29^th to September 20^th, the 64^th of this historic three week bicycle race. Even though the race is called the Tour of Spain, it doesn't exactly start there. For the second time in history, the race will start away from Spain and not reach the nation until Stage Five. This year's race is challenging as well, with a fairly easy start, a short time trial and three flat stages in the Netherlands. However, after another flat Stage in Spain, eight of the final fourteen stages will be mountains stages, and there are four finishes on the mountaintop.

There were twenty nine teams that were hoping to compete in this this year's La Vuelta a Espana live, but only twenty one were chosen to compete. There were two ProTour teams scheduled to miss the race, but Fuji-Servetto appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and were allowed to enter, while Team Katusha are still out. Other teams that now make up the 22 competing include Ag2r – La Mondiale, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Cofidis, Liquigas, Quickstep, Xacabeo-Galicia, Team Milram, Team Columbia – HTC, Silence-Lotto, Caisse-D'Epargne and Lampre-N.G.C.

The first stage of the race is in Assen, The Netherlands, and is 4.8 kilometers long and is the first time trial.. It starts on August 19^th. The next stage starts the next day, for a small distance of 203 kilometers on flat ground. The riders enter Valencia on September 5^th for stage 7, which is the second individual time trial. Stages eight and nine ar mountain stages, followed by a 171.2 kilometer flat stage from Alicante to Murcia. Stages 12, 13 and 14 are also mountain stages, followed by three flats and a transition. Then, the riders have one more mountain stage, number 19, on September 18^th from Avila to La Granja de San Ildefonso. Get your membership now, to watch the 2009 Vuelta a Espana live, right here on www.livesportsevent.com.