1991 Vuelta a España

1991 Vuelta a España
Race details
Dates	29 April - 19 May
Stages	21, including one split stage
Distance	3,215.5 km (1,998 mi)
Winning time	82h 48' 07"
Results
	← 1990 1992 →

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 3,215.5 km (1,998 mi),^[1] and was won by Melchor Mauri of the ONCE cycling team.^[2]^[3]

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 Melchor Mauri was the revelation of the race and beat the future winner of the Tour de France Miguel Indurain 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^[4]
Stage	Date	Course	Winner	General Classification leader
1	29 April	Mérida (TTT)^{[nb 1]}	Melchor Mauri (ESP)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
2a	30 April	Mérida to Cáceres	Michel Zanoli (NED)	Anselmo Fuerte (ESP)
2b	30 April	Montijo to Badajoz (TTT)	ONCE (ESP)	Anselmo Fuerte (ESP)
3	1 May	Badajoz to Seville	Jesper Skibby (DEN)	Herminio Díaz Zabala (ESP)
4	2 May	Seville to Jaén	(ESP)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
5	3 May	Linares to Albacete	Uwe Raab (GER)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
6	4 May	Albacete to Valencia	Jean-Paul van Poppel (NED)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
7	5 May	Palma de Mallorca	Jesper Skibby (DEN)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
8	6 May	Cala d'Or (ITT)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
9	7 May	Sant Cugat del Vallès to Lloret de Mar	Jean-Paul van Poppel (NED)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
10	8 May	Lloret de Mar to Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Guido Bontempi (ITA)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
11	9 May	~~Andorra la Vella, Andorra to Pla-de-Beret~~	Stage cancelled	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
12	10 May	Bossòst to Cerler	Ivan Ivanov (URS)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
13	11 May	Benasque to Zaragoza	Jean-Paul van Poppel (NED)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
14	12 May	Ezcaray to Valdezcaray (ITT)	Fabio Parra (COL)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
15	13 May	Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Santander	Guido Bontempi (ITA)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
16	14 May	Santander to Lagos de Covadonga	Luis Herrera (COL)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
17	15 May	Cangas de Onís to Alto del Naranco	Laudelino Cubino (ESP)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
18	16 May	León to Valladolid	Antonio Miguel Díaz (ESP)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
19	17 May	Valladolid (ITT)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
20	18 May	Palazuelos de Eresma	Jesús Montoya (ESP)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)
21	19 May	Collado Villalba to Madrid	Jean-Paul van Poppel (NED)	Melchor Mauri (ESP)

Race overview[]

The opening stage consisted, on this occasion, of a three-man team time trial. The winning trio consisted of ONCE's Melchor 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 47 km (29 mi) 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[]

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Melchor 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-Postobon
14	Ignacio Gaston Crespo	CLAS-Cajastur
15	Laudelino Cubino Gonzalez	Amaya
16	Jon Unzaga Bombin	Seur
17	Udo Bölts	Telekom-Mercedes-Merckx
18	Marco Giovannetti	Gatorade-Chateau d'Ax
19	Ivan Ivanov	Seur
20		Puertas Mavisa
21	Francisco Javier Mauleon	CLAS-Cajastur
22	Alvaro Meija Castrillon	Ryalco-Postobon
23	Jesus Montoya Alarcon	Amaya
24	Fabrice Philipot	Banesto
25	Gerardo Moncada	Ryalco-Postobon