The 46th Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 29 April to 19 May 1991. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Melcior Mauri of the ONCE cycling team.

Race preview and favorites

Miguel Induráin, Laudelino Cubino and Anselmo Fuerte were the Spanish favourites for the race. Defending champion Marco Giovannetti was also a favourite together with Steven Rooks, Raúl Alcalá and the Colombians Fabio Parra and Luis ‘Lucho’ Herrera.

In the end Melcior Mauri was the revelation of the race and beat the future winner of the Tour de France Miguel Induráin in all the time trials. Indurain was forced to ride an aggressive race in the mountain stages but Mauri was able to defend his lead.

Route and stages +Stages and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 29 April MéridaThe opening stage was competed as a three-man time trial. Team time trial 2a30 April Mérida to Cáceres 2b Montijo to Badajoz Team time trial 3 1 May Badajoz to Seville 4 2 May Seville to Jaén 5 3 May Linares to Albacete 6 4 May Albacete to Valencia 7 5 May Palma de Mallorca 8 6 May Cala d'Or Individual time trial 9 7 May Sant Cugat del Vallès to Lloret de Mar 10 8 May Lloret de Mar to Andorra la Vella, Andorra 11 9 May Andorra la Vella, Andorra to Pla-de-Beret Mountain stage Stage cancelled 12 10 May Bossòst to Cerler 13 11 May Benasque to Zaragoza 14 12 May Ezcaray to Valdezcaray Individual time trial 15 13 May Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Santander 16 14 May Santander to Lagos de Covadonga 17 15 May Cangas de Onís to Alto del Naranco 18 16 May León to Valladolid 19 17 May Valladolid Individual time trial 20 18 May Palazuelos de Eresma 21 19 May Collado Villalba to Madrid

Race overview

The opening stage consisted, on this occasion, of a three-man team time trial. The winning trio consisted of ONCE's Melcior Mauri, Anselmo Fuerte and Herminio Díaz-Zabala. Coupled with ONCE's win in the following day's Team Time Trial, meant the leader's jersey alternated between these three riders for the first week of the race. The team time trial would turn out to have a large impact as Induráin lost almost two minutes to Mauri on this stage.

Stage 8, a individual time trial, was the first decisive stage of the Vuelta. Riders such as Laudelino Cubino and Anselmo Fuerte lost most of their chances that day. Mauri increased his lead by winning the stage, a little less than a minute ahead of Induráin.

The Pyrenean stages were awaited with anticipation, to see if ONCE's Catalunyan rider would be capable of withstanding the high mountains. However, the queen stage ending at Pla de Beret had to be suspended due to adverse weather. Russian rider Ivan Ivanov won the 12th stage to the mountaintop ski resort at Cerler, but Mauri held on, losing less than a minute to Induráin.

Stage 14 was a mountain time trial finishing at the ski station in Valdezcaray, where Parra and Herrera set the leading times. Mauri once again put in a good performance, gaining more time on Induráin and leading the general classification ahead of his teammate Lejarreta, Echave and Induráin.

The third and final week of the race featured two high mountain stages in the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range: the historic ascensions to the Alto del Naranco and the Covadonga Lakes. Herrera and Cubino took the stages, but Mauri managed to hang on. Mauri lost some time, but not enough to lose his overall lead. At this point he was the leader and there was still one time trial to go.

Mauri didn't disappoint, winning the Valladolid time trial ahead of Induráin by over a minute to seal his Vuelta win. He would never again perform at such a high standard. Induráin finished second overall, and Lejarreta third.

Results Final General Classification

RankRiderTeamTime 1 Melcior Mauri ONCE 82h 48' 07s 2 Miguel Induráin Banesto a 2' 52s 3 Marino Lejarreta ONCE a 3' 11s 4 Federico Echave CLAS–Cajastur a 3' 54s 5 Fabio Parra Amaya Seguros a 5' 38s 6 Pello Ruiz Cabestany CLAS–Cajastur a 6' 50s 7 Raúl Alcalá PDM–Concorde a 6' 57s 8 Piotr Ugrumov Seur a 10' 43s 9 Steven Rooks Buckler a 12' 09s 10 Oliverio Rincón Kelme a 12' 11s 11 Eduardo Chozas ONCE 12 Tom Cordes PDM–Ultima–Concorde 13 Luis Herrera Ryalco–Postobón 14 Ignacio Gaston Crespo CLAS–Cajastur 15 Laudelino Cubino Gonzalez Amaya 16 Jon Unzaga Bombín Seur 17 Udo Bölts Telekom-Mercedes-Merckx 18 Marco Giovannetti Gatorade-Chateau d'Ax 19 Ivan Ivanov Seur 20 Fernando Martinez De Guerenu Puertas Mavisa 21 Francisco Javier Mauleón CLAS–Cajastur 22 Alvaro Meija Castrillon Ryalco–Postobón 23 Jesus Montoya Alarcon Amaya 24 Fabrice Philipot Banesto 25 Gerardo Moncada Ryalco–Postobón

Notes

References

External links La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French)