Overview of the stages; red lines represent distances covered in the individual stages, while black dotted lines are the distances covered in transfers between the stages.
The 2012 Vuelta a España began on 18 August, and stage 11 occurred on 29 August. The 2012 edition began with a team time trial stage – where each member of a team started together racing against the clock – in Pamplona, Navarre with the race remaining in Spain until the finish to the eighth stage, with a summit finish at the Collada de la Gallina in Andorra. After the ninth stage, the race's first rest day saw the riders travel across Spain by air from Barcelona to Ponteareas; a road stage was followed by the only individual time trial of the race, where each remaining member of the starting peloton of 198 riders competed against the clock.
The Movistar Team were the winners of the race-opening team time trial, recording a time ten seconds quicker than any other squad; their first rider to cross the line, Jonathan Castroviejo, became the first race leader as a result. He maintained his lead through the first mass-start stage the following day – the first of four stage victories for German sprinter John Degenkolb, who also won stages 5, 7 and 10 – but lost the lead following the first summit finish of the race in Eibar. The rojo jersey remained within the team however, as Alejandro Valverde picked up the race lead after pipping Joaquim Rodríguez in a photo-finish at the stage end. Valverde gave up the lead the following day, after crashing with several other members of his team just as the peloton's pace was being increased by the team on the front, Team Sky. As a result, Valverde apportioned blame to Team Sky, while his team manager, at one point, pulled alongside his opposite number from Team Sky for discussions. Rodríguez assumed the lead of the race then, but held a marginal one-second lead ahead of Chris Froome.
There were no changes in the classification until another summit finish on the sixth stage, when Rodríguez and Froome were the two contenders for the stage victory. Froome had attacked to bring himself and Rodríguez, but a second attack from Rodríguez brought him clear, and with time bonuses on the line, extended his lead to ten seconds. In Andorra, it again came down to the main favourites for the race; for a time, Alberto Contador attacked off the front and maintained a lead of around ten seconds – looking for his first victory since his return from a doping ban – before tying up and Valverde and Rodríguez beat him to the line, with Froome having cracked further back. Rodríguez put another twenty seconds into his lead the following day after attacking on the final climb, and his advantage of around a minute prior to the individual time trial was sufficient for him to maintain the lead after the stage; he put in the seventh-fastest time on the stage to keep the leader's jersey, but by only a second from Contador, who moved ahead of Froome in the classification. As a result, Rodríguez topped the overall standings with the more mountainous second half of the Vuelta still to race. (Full article...)
Image 2Streets of the city centre of Andorra la Vella in 1986. From the same year until 1989 Andorra normalized the economic treaties with the EEC.
Image 3Manor house of the Rossell family in Ordino, Casa Rossell, built in 1611. The family also owned the largest ironwork forges in Andorra as Farga Rossell and Farga del Serrat. (from Andorra)
Image 4Andorran flag on a balcony, Ordino (from Andorra)
Image 20Enthronement as Co-Prince in 1942 of Bishop Ramón Iglesias (centre). The local comite was led by Francesc Cairat (left), the First General Syndic with the longest regencie, from 1936 to 1960. (from Andorra)
Image 29The town of Encamp, as seen from the Vall dels Cortals (from Andorra)
Image 30Casa de la Vall, the historical and ceremonial Andorran Parliament (from Andorra)
Image 31A train at Latour-de-Carol (La Tor de Querol), one of the two stations serving Andorra. Andorra has no railways, although the line connecting Latour-de-Carol and Toulouse, which in turn connects to France's TGVs at Toulouse, runs within two kilometres (1.2 miles) of the Andorran border. (from Andorra)
Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell Airport, located 12 kilometres (7 mi) away from Andorra, in Montferrer i Castellbò (Catalonia, Eastern Spain) (from Andorra)
Streets of the city centre of Andorra la Vella in 1986. From the same year until 1989 Andorra normalized the economic treaties with the EEC.
Manor house of the Rossell family in Ordino, Casa Rossell, built in 1611. The family also owned the largest ironwork forges in Andorra as Farga Rossell and Farga del Serrat. (from Andorra)
Andorran flag on a balcony, Ordino (from Andorra)
Santa Coloma d'Andorra (from Andorra)
Map of Andorra with its seven parishes labelled (from Andorra)
Co-Prince Charles de Gaulle in the streets of Sant Julià de Lòria in Andorra, October 1967 (from Andorra)
View of Andorra la Vella with mountains (from Geography of Andorra)
Enlargeable, detailed map of Andorra (from Geography of Andorra)
Guillem d'Areny-Plandolit led the New Reform of 1866. (from Andorra)
Altar of Sant Romà de Vila (from Andorra)
Topographic map of Andorra (from Andorra)
Enthronement as Co-Prince in 1942 of Bishop Ramón Iglesias (centre). The local comite was led by Francesc Cairat (left), the First General Syndic with the longest regencie, from 1936 to 1960. (from Andorra)
Map of Andorra (from List of cities and towns in Andorra)
Folk costume (Le val d'Andorre) (from Andorra)
Foreign Minister of Andorra Gilbert Saboya meeting Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2014 (from Andorra)
The New Parliament of Andorra, headquarters of the General Council since 2011, next to Casa de la Vall (from Andorra)
Boris Skossyreff, briefly self-proclaimed King of Andorra in 1934 (from Andorra)
Andorra Telecom, the national telecom company in Andorra (from Andorra)
The centre of government in Andorra la Vella (from Andorra)
National Police patrolling the central area of the capital city (from Andorra)
Casa de la Vall, the historical and ceremonial Andorran Parliament (from Andorra)
A train at Latour-de-Carol (La Tor de Querol), one of the two stations serving Andorra. Andorra has no railways, although the line connecting Latour-de-Carol and Toulouse, which in turn connects to France's TGVs at Toulouse, runs within two kilometres (1.2 miles) of the Andorran border. (from Andorra)
Population of Andorra by settlement in 2013 (from List of cities and towns in Andorra)
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