1976 Vuelta a España

The 31st Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 27 April to 16 May 1976. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of 3,340 km (2,080 mi), and was won by José Pesarrodona of the Kas-Campagnolo cycling team.^[1] Andres Oliva won the mountains classification while Dietrich Thurau won the points classification.^[2]

1976 Vuelta a España

Race details
Dates	27 April – 16 May
Stages	19 stages + Prologue, including 1 split stages
Distance	3,340 km (2,075 mi)
Winning time	93h 19' 10"
Results
Winner  José Pesarrodona (ESP) (Kas - Campagnolo)   Second  Luis Ocaña (ESP) (Super Ser)   Third  José Nazabal (ESP) (Kas - Campagnolo) Points  Dietrich Thurau (FRG) (TI Raleigh) Mountains  Andrés Oliva (ESP) (Kas - Campagnolo)   Sprints  Daniel Verplancke (BEL) (Flandria - Velda)   Team Kas - Campagnolo
← 1975 1977 →

Teams and riders

Main article: List of teams and cyclists in the 1976 Vuelta a España

Route

List of stages^[3][4]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
P	27 April	Estepona – Estepona	3.2 km (2 mi)		Individual time trial	Dietrich Thurau (FRG)
1	28 April	Estepona – Estepona	135 km (84 mi)			José De Cauwer (BEL)
2	29 April	Estepona – Priego de Córdoba	224 km (139 mi)			Roger Gilson (LUX)
3	30 April	Priego de Córdoba – Jaén	177 km (110 mi)			Theo Smit (NED)
4	1 May	Jaén – Baza	166 km (103 mi)|			Hennie Kuiper (NED)
5	2 May	Baza – Cartagena	201 km (125 mi)			Theo Smit (NED)
6	3 May	Cartagena – Cartagena	14 km (9 mi)		Individual time trial	Joaquim Agostinho (POR)
7	4 May	Cartagena – Murcia	136 km (85 mi)			Ferdi Van Den Haute (BEL)
8	5 May	Murcia – Almansa	219 km (136 mi)			Georges Pintens (BEL)
9	6 May	Almansa – Nules	208 km (129 mi)			Dietrich Thurau (FRG)
10	7 May	Castellón – Cambrils	226 km (140 mi)			José Antonio González (ESP)
11	8 May	Cambrils – Barcelona	151 km (94 mi)			Antonio Vallori (ESP)
12	9 May	Pamplona – Logroño	168 km (104 mi)			Gerben Karstens (NED)
13	10 May	Logroño – Palencia	209 km (130 mi)			Dirk Ongenae [fr] (BEL)
14	11 May	Paredes de Nava – Gijón	249 km (155 mi)			Cees Priem (NED)
15	12 May	Gijón – Cangas de Onís	141 km (88 mi)			Vicente López Carril (ESP)
16	13 May	Cangas de Onís – Reinosa	156 km (97 mi)			Dietrich Thurau (FRG)
17	14 May	Reinosa – Bilbao	183 km (114 mi)			Arthur Van De Vijver (BEL)
18	15 May	Galdácano – Santuario de Oro (Zuia)	204 km (127 mi)			Dietrich Thurau (FRG)
19a	16 May	Murgia (Zuia) – San Sebastián	139 km (86 mi)			Dirk Ongenae [fr] (BEL)
19b	17 May	San Sebastián – San Sebastián	31.7 km (20 mi)		Individual time trial	Dietrich Thurau (FRG)
	Total		3,340 km (2,075 mi)

Doping cases

When Belgian cyclist Eric Jacques finished in second place in the eighth stage, he became the new leader. Later, it became known that he tested positive for doping after that stage, and he received a penalty of ten minutes.^[5] Previously, Günter Haritz had been penalized for the same offence, and had left the race.^[6][7]

Results

Final General Classification

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	José Pesarrodona	Kas-Campagnolo	93h 19' 10"
2	Luis Ocaña	Super Ser Zeus	+ 1' 03"
3	José Nazabal Merendia	Kas-Campagnolo	+ 1' 41"
4	Dietrich Thurau	TI–Raleigh	+ 1' 44"
5	Vicente Lopez	Kas-Campagnolo	+ 1' 50"
6	Hennie Kuiper	TI–Raleigh	+ 2' 00"
7	Joaquim Agostinho	Teka	+ 3' 16"
8	Joseph Fuchs	Super Ser Zeus	+ 3' 45"
9	Pedro Torres	Super Ser Zeus	+ 4' 43"
10	José Antonio Gonzalez	Kas-Campagnolo	+ 7' 18"
11	Ludo Loos	Ebo
12	Enrique Martinez	Kas-Campagnolo
13	Andres Oliva	Kas-Campagnolo
14	Gonzalo Aja Barguin	Teka
15	José Martins Freitas	Kas-Campagnolo
16	Eric Jacques	Ebo
17	Domingo Perurena	Kas-Campagnolo
18	Jean-Pierre Baert	Miko-De Gribaldy
19	José Enrique Cima	Novostil
20	Fernardo Mendes Dos	Teka
21	Ventura Diaz	Teka
22	Santiago Lazcano	Super Ser Zeus
23	Julian Andiano	Teka
24	Manuel Esparza	Teka
25	Jesus Manzaneque	Super Ser Zeus

References

1. "General Information 1976". La Vuelta.com. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
2. "XXXI Vuelta Ciclista a España - Clasificaciones Oficiales" (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 17 May 1976. p. 27. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 March 2022.
3. "1976 » 31st Vuelta a Espana". Procyclingstats. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
4. "31ème Vuelta a España 1976". Memoire du cyclisme (in French). Archived from the original on 25 October 2004.
5. "Eric Jacques teruggezet". Nieuwsblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). De Krant van Toen. 12 May 1976. p. 23. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
6. "Thurau: etappetriomf, Haritz: dopinggebruik" [Thurau: stage victory, Haritz: used doping.]. Nieuwsblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). Delpher. 7 May 1976. p. 25. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
7. "Haritz stapt eruit" [Haritz quits.]. De Waarheid (in Dutch). Delpher. 10 May 1976. p. 4. Retrieved 18 April 2017.