1979 1979 Vuelta a España The 34th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 24 to May 13, 1979. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of 3,373 km, and was won by Joop Zoetemelk of the Miko-Mercier cycling team... << Vuelta a España 1980 >> 1981 1981 Vuelta a España The 36th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 21 to May 10, 1981...
Classifications	20 etapas, 3225 km
General	Faustino Rupérez Faustino Ruperez Faustino Rupérez Rincón is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist who raced between 1979 and 1985... 88:23:21 h
Points	Sean Kelly Seán Kelly (cyclist) John James 'Sean' Kelly is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest classics riders of all time. From turning professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won nine monument classics, and 193... 313 p..
Mountains	Juan Fernández Juan Fernández (cyclist) Juan Fernández Martín is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist and directeur sportif. During his career, he won four stages at the Vuelta a España, as well as the Mountains classification in 1980... 94 p.
Teams	Splendor 265:07:23 h

The 35th Vuelta a España

Vuelta a España

The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...

(Tour of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

), a long-distance bicycle

Bicycle racing

Bicycle racing is a competition sport in which various types of bicycles are used. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, bike trials, and cycle speedway. Bicycle racing is recognised as an Olympic sport...

 stage

Stage (bicycle race)

In sports, a stage, or leg, or heat, is a unit of a race which has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages are held as an individual time trial or a...

 race and one of the 3 grand tours

Grand Tour (cycling)

In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...

, was held from April 22 to May 11, 1980. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of 3225 km, and was won by Faustino Rupérez

Faustino Ruperez

Faustino Rupérez Rincón is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist who raced between 1979 and 1985...

 of the Zor cycling team

Cycling team

A cycling team is a group of cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle races whether recreational or professional - and the supporting personnel...

.

Roberto Visentini

Roberto Visentini

Roberto Visentini is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist.Visentini was born in Gardone Riviera, in the province of Brescia, and had a brilliant junior career. In 1975, he was both Junior Italian champion and World Champion. As an amateur he won the 1977 time-trial World...

 won the prologue of the race and kept the leader’s jersey for the first five days of the race. Sean Kelly

Seán Kelly (cyclist)

John James 'Sean' Kelly is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest classics riders of all time. From turning professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won nine monument classics, and 193...

 finished second in the prologue and won the next two stages but did not get to wear the leader’s jersey. On the first mountain stage, Faustino Rupérez came solo to the finish and took the leader’s jersey which he kept until the end of the race. Pedro Torres put in an attack on the penultimate stage on the climb to Puerto de la Morcuera. However Rupérez together with Miguel Mari Lasa bridged up to Torres half way to Alto de Cotos and the leader’s jersey was safe. Rupérez won the race ahead of Torres and Claude Criquielion

Claude Criquielion

Claude Criquielion is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer who raced between 1979 and 1990. In 1984, Criquielion became the world road race champion in Barcelona, Spain on a gruelling course. He had five top-ten finishes in the Tour de France.Criquielion was well placed to win a medal...

. Criquielon’s Splendor teammate Kelly won five stages of the race, the points jersey and finished fourth overall. Marino Lejarreta

Marino Lejarreta

Marino Lejarreta Arrizabalaga is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist. His biggest victory was capturing the 1982 Vuelta a España, a Grand Tour stage race, and he is the inaugural and record three-time winner of the Clásica de San Sebastián , which is now considered a one-day classic...

 finished the race fifth overall. Juna Fernández won the Mountains competition.

Final General Classification

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Faustino Rupérez Faustino Ruperez Faustino Rupérez Rincón is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist who raced between 1979 and 1985...	Zor-Vereco	88h 23' 21s
2	Pedro Torres	Kelme-Gios	a 2' 15s
3	Claude Criquielion Claude Criquielion Claude Criquielion is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer who raced between 1979 and 1990. In 1984, Criquielion became the world road race champion in Barcelona, Spain on a gruelling course. He had five top-ten finishes in the Tour de France.Criquielion was well placed to win a medal...	Splendor-Admiral	a 3' 00s
4	Sean Kelly Seán Kelly (cyclist) John James 'Sean' Kelly is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest classics riders of all time. From turning professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won nine monument classics, and 193...	Splendor-Admiral	a 3' 31s
5	Marino Lejarreta Marino Lejarreta Marino Lejarreta Arrizabalaga is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist. His biggest victory was capturing the 1982 Vuelta a España, a Grand Tour stage race, and he is the inaugural and record three-time winner of the Clásica de San Sebastián , which is now considered a one-day classic...	Teka	a 4' 32s
6	Guido Van Calster	Splendor-Admiral	a 4' 44s
7	Johan De Muynck Johan de Muynck Johan de Muynck is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist from 1971 to 1983. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1978 Giro d'Italia...	Splendor-Admiral	a 4' 58s
8	Francisco Galdos Gauna	Kelme-Gios	a 5' 00s
9	Miguel Maria Lasa	Zor-Vereco	a 5' 25s
10	Vicente Belda Vicente Belda -External links:...	Kelme-Gios	a 6' 41s
11	Manuel Esparza Sanz	Teka
12	Faustino Fernandez	Henninger-Aquila Rossa
13	Jos Borguet	Splendor-Admiral
14	Bernard Thevenet Bernard Thévenet Bernard Thévenet, born 10 January 1948, in Saint-Julien-de-Civry, Saône-et-Loire, is a retired French bicycle racer. He is a two-time winner of the Tour de France and known for ending the reign of five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx...	Teka
15	Roberto Visentini Roberto Visentini Roberto Visentini is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist.Visentini was born in Gardone Riviera, in the province of Brescia, and had a brilliant junior career. In 1975, he was both Junior Italian champion and World Champion. As an amateur he won the 1977 time-trial World...	San Giacomo-Benotto
16	Juan Fernandez Martin	Zor-Vereco
17	Angel Arroyo Ángel Arroyo Angel Arroyo Lanchas is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. In the 1983 Tour de France, Arroyo won one stage and finished 2nd place in the general classification....	Zor-Vereco
18	Pedro Vilardebo	Flavia-Gios
19	Francisco Codony	Manzaneque-Alan
20	Antonio Gonzalez	Colchon C.R.
21	José-Luis Laguia	Reynolds-Benotto
22	José Enrique Cima	Henninger-Aquila Rossa
23	Ricardo Zuniga Xarrasco	Manzaneque-Alan
24	Juan Pujol Pages	Kelme-Gios
25	Peter Zijerveld	HB Alarmsystemen

External links

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