The 50th Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 2 September to 24 September 1995. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Laurent Jalabert of the ONCE cycling team. Jalabert won the three classification competitions – the general classification, the points classification and the mountains classification being only the third rider (after Eddy Merckx in the 1968 Giro d'Italia and the 1969 Tour de France, and Tony Rominger in the 1993 Vuelta a España) to win all three major classifications in a Grand Tour.
The 1995 Vuelta was the first edition that was not held in April and May, as had previously been the case, but instead in September as the last of the three Grand Tours of the year. This was done to attract more high-profile riders, who before had preferred to ride the Giro d'Italia or the Tour de France, which both took place very closely to the Vuelta's timeslot.
Background
The Mapei squad arrived in disarray, after one of their lead riders, Fernando Escartín, announced that he would move to Kelme the following year. He was therefore left out of the team, which was led by Abraham Olano. The starting field also included Laurent Jalabert, Alex Zülle, former winner Melcior Mauri (all ), Marco Pantani () and a then unknown Jan Ullrich () in his first ever Grand Tour appearance.
Route and stages + Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner P2 September Zaragoza Individual time trial 13 September Zaragoza to Logroño Plain stage 24 September San Asensio to Santander Plain stage 35 September Santander to Alto del Naranco Hilly stage 46 September Tapia de Casariego to A Coruña Plain stage 57 September A Coruña to Ourense Plain stage 68 September Ourense to Zamora Plain stage 79 September Salamanca Individual time trial 810 September Salamanca to Ávila Stage with mountain(s) 911 September Ávila to Palazuelos de Eresma Stage with mountain(s) 1012 September Córdoba to Seville Plain stage 1113 September Seville to Marbella Plain stage 1214 September Marbella to Sierra Nevada Stage with mountain(s) 1315 September Olula del Río to Murcia Hilly stage 1416 September Elche to Valencia Plain stage 1517 September Barcelona to Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys Hilly stage 18 September Rest day 1619 September Tàrrega to Pla de Beret Stage with mountain(s) 1720 September Salardu (Naut Aran) to Luz Ardiden (France) Stage with mountain(s) 1821 September Luz-Saint-Sauveur (France) to Sabiñánigo Stage with mountain(s) 1922 September Sabiñánigo to Calatayud Plain stage 2023 September Alcalá de Henares Individual time trial 2124 September Alcalá de Henares to Madrid Plain stage Total
Race overview The race started with a prologue time trial in Zaragoza, won by Olano, two seconds ahead of Jalabert. The latter would move into the leader's golden jersey after stage 3, based on a stage win at Alto del Naranco. Olano moved closer in the general classification after the stage-7 time trial in Salamanca, but only gained 23 seconds on Jalabert due to a fall and a puncture along the route. On stage 8 to Ávila, Jalabert attacked almost from the beginning. Olano, left isolated, lost 4:40 minutes and all hopes of winning the Vuelta. Over the course of the two time trials, Olano gained 2:42 minutes on Jalabert, enough to make up for his losses on all stages but the one to Ávila. From this point on, Jalabert only attacked the field close to the finish line, collecting few advantages and some bonus seconds. His lead was so comfortable that he was able to abort an attack on the way to Sierra Nevada and gift the stage win to escapee Bert Dietz ().
Classification leadership +Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification P Abraham Olano Abraham Olano Abraham Olano not awarded 1 Nicola Minali Laurent Jalabert Marco Artunghi 2 Gianluca Pianegonda Gianluca Pianegonda Laurent Jalabert 3 Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert 4 Marcel Wüst 5 Laurent Jalabert 6 Nicola Minali 7 Abraham Olano 8 Laurent Jalabert 9 Jesper Skibby 10 Jeroen Blijlevens 11 Nicola Minali 12 Bert Dietz 13 Christian Henn 14 Marcel Wüst 15Laurent Jalabert 16 Alex Zülle 17 Laurent Jalabert 18 Asiat Saitov 19 Adriano Baffi 20 Abraham Olano 21 Marcel Wüst Final
Final classification RankRiderTeamTime ONCE 95h 30' 33s 4' 22s ONCE 6' 48s ONCE 8' 04s Festina–Lotus 11' 38s Polti–Vaporetto 11' 54s Banesto 13' 50s Artiach 15' 03s Mercatone Uno–Saeco 19' 14s Mapei–GB 19' 42s
References
Citations
External links La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French) cyclingnews