The organizer of this year's Tour of Spain UNIPUBLIC, (as in ASO for Tour de France and RCS For Giro de Italia) have mapped out an imposing and unusual tour this year.

With 21 stages covering 2,925 kilometers (compared to the Tour De France's 3,427 km).
There are no fewer than 9 mountainous or semi montainous, stages, 3 individual time trials, and most novel of all, an opening Team Time Trial event.

The Team Time Trial proved most decisive in this year's Tour De France, which took place in the 4th stage between Joinville and St. Dizier That event was dominated by the U.S. Postal team, putting Lance Armstrong in the perfect position to take the yellow jersey in the Alps.

The final margin of victory for Armstrong was so slim that one could safely say that without that team victory his final triumph in Paris would have been in doubt.

The Team Time Trial is above all a technical event that requires great team cohesiveness.
The times of the first 5 racers to cross the line constitute the team time.
The strongest teams of the day were those that worked as a fluid unit, constantly relaying the lead between team members. The event was a virtual team sprint of around 30 km (compared to 69 km in this year's Tour De France), winding its way through the mostly flat terrain of the northern coastal city of Gijon.

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INFOS:

Unipublic and Team Domina Vacanze have had a conflict concerning the participation of Mario Cipollini. Unipublic said that it will exclude the Team Domina Vacanze Elitron if leader Mario Cipollini were not to participate in " La Vuelta 2003".
Finally, Cipollini has agreed to participate.

Oscar Sevilla has been sidelined because of injuries during a long part of the year; in the end he submitted to surgery to remove a debilitating boil from his backside.

After a contentious season in which he was bannned from competition for much of the season on a doping offense, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano has prevailed to take the leader's Golden Jersey.

One rider to watch is Juan Antonio PECHARROMAN FABIAN , who has had a remarkable year -- he remains an outside surprise possibility, riding for Paternina.

Ullrich, Beloki, Zubeldia, Mayo, Vinokourov Hamilton (injured) will not participate in this year s' Vuelta 2003. All the main Spanish racers are participating.

This year, we await a duel between Pettachi and Cippollini among the top sprinters, including Eric Zabel and Oscar Freire.