La Vuelta a España 2023 is about to begin, in Barcelona, on Saturday August 26th.
Here you have some interesting facts about La Vuelta’s history.
Early years
1) The organizers. In early 1935, Clemente López Doriga in collaboration with Juan Pujol, director of newspaper Informaciones, organized the first Vuelta ciclista a España, with 14 stages and 3.431 km total. The newspaper Diario YA took the organization in 1945, but in 1955 went to another newspaper, El Correo Español/El Pueblo Vasco,. This one organized La Vuelta until 1979. The company Unipublic is in charge since then.
2) The first winner was the Belgian Gustaaf Deloor in 1935 after an epic battle with the Spaniard Mariano Cañardo, who ended in second place. One year later, the Belgian Deloor repeated the victory. After that edition, la Vuelta was suspended until 1941 because of the Spanish Civil War.
3) Until 1995, la Vuelta was disputed in April and May. Since 1995 it is raced between August and September. La Vuelta a España was not disputed from 1937 to 1940 because of the Spanish civil war, and between 1943-1944 because of the II World War. In 1949 and from 1951 to 1954 it was also suspended.
Overall victories and stage wins
4) More victories in General classification in Vuelta a España. The Spaniard Roberto Heras has 4 GC wins (2000, 2003, 2004 y 2005). The swiss Tony Rominger has 3 GC wins (1992, 1993 y 1994) tied with Alberto Contador (2008, 2012 y 2014) and Primoz Roglic (2019-2020-2021).
5) The youngest cyclist to win La Vuelta is Angelino Soler, who won La Vuelta in 1961 being 21 years old. The oldest to win La Vuelta was the american Chris Horner in 2013, being 41 years old. This is not only the record in La Vuelta, but also in all of three Big Tours.
6) The cyclist with more stage wins is Delio Rodríguez, with 39 stage wins (during Vueltas 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946 and 1947). Let’s keep in mind that La Vuelta did not take place in the years 1943 and 1944. At this point, it is important to mention that Freddy Martens (the Belgian cyclist who won the Vuelta in 1977) won 13 stages in the same year 1977. Amazing achievement! About time trial victories, there are 4 riders tied with 6 wins in TT stages: Melchor Mauri, Abraham Olano, Tony Rominger and Alex Zülle.
7) Julián Berrendero (1942) and Jacques Anquetil (1963) are the only cyclists who were first position from start to end.
8) The shortest difference between the winner and the rider in the second position was just 6 seconds in 1984. The Frenchman Eric Caritoux won that Vuelta ahead of the Spaniard Alberto Fernández. This cyclist died in a car accident later that year 1984.
