The 51st Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three Grand Tours, was held from 7 September to 29 September 1996. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of , and was won by Alex Zülle of the ONCE cycling team. This was the only time in cycling history that riders from Switzerland swept the Podium in a Grand Tour.
Five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain started his home tour for the first time since finishing second in 1991, having just recently been dislodged at the Tour by Bjarne Riis. He was initially reluctant to start, but convinced by his team to do so after a strong performance during the time trial at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. However, Indurain would eventually abandon the race, which would prove to be the last of his career, on stage 13 while lying in third place overall, having been dropped by the rest of the race favourites on the first-category climb of the Fito pass.
Teams and riders
Route
+List of stages Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 7 September Valencia to Valencia 2 8 September Valencia to Cuenca 3 9 September Cuenca to Albacete 4 10 September Albacete to Murcia 5 11 September Murcia to Almería 6 12 September Almería to Málaga 7 13 September Málaga to Marbella 8 14 September Marbella to Jerez de la Frontera 9 15 September Jerez de la Frontera to Córdoba 16 September Rest day 10 17 September El Tiemblo to Ávila Individual time trial 11 18 September Ávila to Salamanca 12 19 September Benavente to Alto del Naranco 13 20 September Oviedo to Lakes of Covadonga 14 21 September Cangas de Onís to Cabarceno Natural Park 15 22 September to Alto Cruz de la Demanda (Ezcaray) 16 23 September Logroño to Sabiñánigo 17 24 September Sabiñánigo to Cerler 18 25 September Benasque to Zaragoza 19 26 September Getafe to Ávila 20 27 September Ávila to Palazuelos de Eresma (Destilerías DYC) 21 28 September Segovia to Palazuelos de Eresma (Destilerías DYC) Individual time trial 22 29 September Madrid to Madrid Total
General classification
RankRiderTeamTime 1 Alex Zülle ONCE 97h 31' 46s2 Laurent Dufaux Festina + 6' 23s3 Tony Rominger + 8' 29s4 Roberto Pistore + 10' 13s5 Stefano Faustini AKI - Gipièmme + 11' 21s6 Georg Totschnig Team Polti + 11' 33s7 Davide Rebellin Team Polti + 13' 16s8 Andrea Peron Motorola + 14' 46s9 Bobby Julich Motorola + 15' 10s10 Fernando Escartín Kelme-Artiach + 18' 35s 11 Marcos Serrano Kelme-Artiach + 19' 19s12 José María Jiménez Banesto + 20' 19s13 Mauro Gianetti Team Polti + 21' 15s14 Daniel Clavero MX Onda + 21' 49s15 Daniele Nardello + 22' 37s16 Vladislav Bobrik + 26' 00s17 Axel Merckx Motorola + 27' 34s18 Francisco Javier Mauleón + 27' 38s19 Laurent Jalabert ONCE + 27' 44s20 Peter Meinert Nielsen + 29' 56s21 Pascal Chanteur Casino 22 Fabian Jeker Festina-Lotus 23 Kai Hundertmarck 24 Ángel Casero Banesto 25 Massimo Apollonio
References
External links La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French)