1993 Vuelta a España

The 48th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 26 April to 15 May 1993. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 3,605 km (2,240 mi), and was won by Tony Rominger of the CLAS–Cajastur cycling team.[1]

1993 Vuelta a España
Race details
Dates26 April - 15 May
Stages21
Distance3,605 km (2,240 mi)
Winning time96h 07' 03"
Results
Winner  Tony Rominger (SUI) (CLAS-Cajastur)
  Second  Alex Zülle (SUI) (ONCE)
  Third  Laudelino Cubino (ESP) (Amaya Seguros)
Points  Tony Rominger (SUI) (CLAS-Cajastur)
Mountains  Tony Rominger (SUI) (CLAS-Cajastur)
Combination  Jesús Montoya (ESP) (Amaya Seguros)
Sprints  Hendrik Redant (BEL) (Collstrop)
  Team Amaya Seguros

Race preview and favorites

Tony Rominger, winner of the previous edition, started the race as the big favourite for the overall win. Among the other contenders were his rivals of the previous year, Jesús Montoya (supported by his Amaya Seguros team that included such names as Melcior Mauri, Laudelino Cubino and Oliverio Rincón), and Pedro Delgado. The ONCE team with Erik Breukink as team leader and riders of the calibre of Laurent Jalabert and Johan Bruyneel were also a strong candidates. Other candidates included Italian Marco Giovannetti and Scotsman Robert Millar, although they weren't supported by strong teams.

Route
List of stages[2][3]
Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner
1 26 April A Coruña – A Coruña 10 km (6 mi) Individual time trial  Alex Zülle (SUI)
2 27 April A Coruña – Vigo 251.1 km (156 mi)  Alfonso Gutiérrez (ESP)
3 28 April Vigo – Ourense 171.4 km (107 mi)  Laurent Jalabert (FRA)
4 29 April A Gudiña – Salamanca 233.4 km (145 mi)  Jean-Paul van Poppel (NED)
5 30 April Salamanca – Ávila 219.8 km (137 mi)  Marino Alonso (ESP)
6 1 May Palazuelos de Eresma (Destilerías DYC) – Navacerrada 24.1 km (15 mi) Individual time trial  Alex Zülle (SUI)
7 2 May Palazuelos de Eresma (Destilerías DYC) – Madrid 184 km (114 mi)  Laurent Jalabert (FRA)
8 3 May Aranjuez – Albacete 225.1 km (140 mi)  Jean-Paul van Poppel (NED)
9 4 May Albacete – Valencia 224 km (139 mi)  Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (UZB)
10 5 May Valencia – La Sénia 206 km (128 mi)  Juan Carlos González Salvador (ESP)
11 6 May Lleida – Cerler 221 km (137 mi)  Tony Rominger (SUI)
12 7 May Benasque – Zaragoza 220.7 km (137 mi)  Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (UZB)
13 8 May Zaragoza – Zaragoza 37.1 km (23 mi) Individual time trial  Melcior Mauri (ESP)
14 9 May Tudela – Alto de la Cruz de la Demanda (Ezcaray) 197.2 km (123 mi)  Tony Rominger (SUI)
15 10 May Santo Domingo de la Calzada – Santander 226.2 km (141 mi)  Dag Otto Lauritzen (NOR)
16 11 May Santander – Alto Campoo 160 km (99 mi)  Jesús Montoya (ESP)
17 12 May Santander – Lakes of Covadonga 179.5 km (112 mi)  Oliverio Rincón (COL)
18 13 May Cangas de Onís – Gijón 170 km (106 mi)  Serguei Outschakov (UKR)
19 14 May Gijón – Alto del Naranco 153 km (95 mi)  Tony Rominger (SUI)
20 15 May Salas – Ferrol 247 km (153 mi)  Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (UZB)
21 16 May Padrón – Santiago de Compostela 44.6 km (28 mi) Individual time trial  Alex Zülle (SUI)
Total 3,605 km (2,240 mi)

Race overview

A Swiss youngster, Alex Zülle, Breukink's ONCE teammate, who had been the revelation of the previous year's Tour de France, surprised by winning the prologue with a commanding lead of over half a minute over the rest of the contenders. He would keep the leader's jersey for the first week.

It was expected that the Swiss youngster, who had so far not shown climbing abilities, would lose the lead on the stage 5 mountain time trial to the Puerto de Navacerrada. Zülle not only kept his lead, he won the stage. Only Rominger seemed to be close to the rhythm of his young compatriot, as most of the favorites including Pedro Delgado lost over two minutes that day.

The high mountain stages started with the 11th, ending at Cerler. Rominger launched his first attack on the yellow jersey, winning the stage and taking almost a minute out of Zülle. He was now only 18 seconds down on the general classification. The rest of the favorites saw their chances slip away as they were now many minutes down. Only Cubino kept in touch, albeit at a deficit of two minutes.

After a close fought time trial in Zaragoza won by Mauri, the general classification was now solely a two-man fight. Two days later Rominger managed to distance Zülle on the climb to Valdezcaray and took the lead. Throughout most of the mountain stages on the Cordillera Cantabrica mountain range Rominger and Zülle closely marked each other, finishing together; However, on the final of those stages, Rominger hatched a plan to attack on a wet descent, taking advantage of Zülle's weak descending skills. Rominger managed to distance Zülle, which led to the inexperienced Zülle panicking, running wide at a corner and crashing, losing further time. By the end of the stage, Rominger had taken a famous solo win atop the Alto del Naranco and had taken another minute out of Zülle and his chasing ONCE team. This time gain would loom large by the end of the Vuelta.

The Vuelta's final stage was a 44 km individual time trial where Zülle was determined to take back Rominger's general classification lead of little over a minute. Rominger voiced his concern that a stomach illness he had contracted the day after the Naranco stage may cost him the overall win. In the end, Zülle took a dominant stage win but was unable to take back all the time he needed. Rominger thus took his second Vuelta with Zülle second and Cubino third.

Rominger dominated all three classifications and became only the second rider after Eddy Merckx in the 1968 Giro d'Italia and the 1969 Tour de France to achieve this in a Grand Tour.

Results

Final General Classification
RankRiderTeamTime
1 Tony RomingerCLAS-Cajastur96h07'03’’
2 Alex ZülleONCE29’’
3 Laudelino CubinoAmaya Seguros8'54’’
4 Oliverio RincónAmaya Seguros9'25’’
5 Jesús MontoyaAmaya Seguros10'27’’
6 Pedro DelgadoBanesto11'17’’
7 Erik BreukinkONCE17'58’’
8 Melchor MauriAmaya Seguros19'53’’
9 Johan BruyneelONCE20'01’’
10 Fernando EscartínCLAS-Cajastur23'27’’
11 Ignacio GastonCLAS-Cajastur
12 Mikel ZarrabeitiaAmaya Seguros
13 Hernán BuenahoraKelme-Zacobeo'93
14 Luca GelfiBanesto
15 Robert MillarTVM-Bison
16 Javier MuriguialdayAmaya Seguros
17 José Ramon Uriarte ZuberoBanesto-Pinarello
18 Jon Unzaga BombínCLAS-Cajastur
19 Peter Meinert NielsenTVM-Bison
20 Francisco Javier MauleónCLAS-Cajastur
21 Marino Alonso MonjeBanesto
22 Eduardo Chozas OlmoArtiach-Filipinos
23 Arsenio González GutiérrezCLAS-Cajastur
24 Federico Echave MusatadiCLAS-Cajastur
25 Jesús BlancoDeportpublic-Otero

References
  1. http://hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com/EMD01/HEM/1993/05/16/MD19930516-037.pdf
  2. "1993 » 48th Vuelta a Espana". Procyclingstats. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  3. "48ème Vuelta a España 1993". Memoire du cyclisme (in French). Archived from the original on 12 January 2005.
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