The Dutch city Utrecht hosts the Big Start of the 2022 Vuelta a España. After three days of flat racing the route continues in the north of Spain. The second weekend sees steep climbing in Asturias, while the longest climbs take place in the second week in the hot and deep south of the country. La Vuelta kicks into gear on Friday 19 August and finishes on Sunday 11 September.

The Vuelta a España used to be the least geographically adventurous of the three Grand Tours. The race ventured outside Spain for a start for the first time to neighbouring Portugal in 1997. Drenthe, the Netherlands, hosted the second foreign Gran Salida in 2009 and the third and last foreign start was in 2017 in Nîmes, France.