1992 1992 Vuelta a España The 47th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 27 to May 17, 1992... << Vuelta a España 1993 >> 1994 1994 Vuelta a España The 49th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 25 to May 15, 1994. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of 3531 km, and was won by Tony Rominger of the cycling team.Tony Rominger, winner of the past two editions, was once...
Classifications	20 stages, 3605 km
General	Tony Rominger Tony Rominger Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother... 96:07:03 h
Points	Tony Rominger Tony Rominger Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother... 247 p.
Mountains	Tony Rominger Tony Rominger Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother... 214 p.
Teams	Amaya-Seguros 288:36:41 h

The 48th 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 26 to May 15, 1993. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of 3605 km, and was won by Tony Rominger

Tony Rominger

Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother...

 of the Clas-Cajastur 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...

.

Tony Rominger, winner of the previous edition, started the race as the big favorite 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 Melchor Mauri, Laudelino Cubino and Oliverio Rincón), and Pedro Delgado. The ONCE team with Erik Breukink as team leader and riders of the caliber of Laurent Jalabert and Johann Bruyneel was also a strong candidate. Other candidates included italian Marco Giovanetti and scotsman Robert Millar, although they weren't supported by strong teams.
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. Throghout 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 44km 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.

Final General Classification

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Tony Rominger Tony Rominger Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother...	CLAS-Cajastur	96h07'03’’
2	Alex Zülle Alex Zülle Alex Zülle is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the best cyclists in the world, winning the Vuelta a España twice and taking the second place in 1999 Tour de France. He was world time-trial champion in Lugano in 1996.-Early career:Zülle was born and...	ONCE	29’’
3	Laudelino Cubino Laudelino Cubino Laudelino Cubino González is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He was born in Béjar, Spain.- Palmarès :19861987Laudelino Cubino González is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist...	Amaya Seguros	8'54’’
4	Oliverio Rincón Oliverio Rincón Oliverio Rincón Quintana is a Colombian former road bicycle racer. He is the older brother of Daniel Rincón.-Palmarès:1989...	Amaya Seguros	9'25’’
5	Jesús Montoya Jesús Montoya Jesús Montoya Alarcon is a Spanish former road bicycle racer.-Palmarès:19861990...	Amaya Seguros	10'27’’
6	Pedro Delgado Pedro Delgado Pedro Delgado Robledo , also known as Perico, is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989....	Banesto	11'17’’
7	Erik Breukink Erik Breukink Erik Breukink is a former professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, Breukink reached the podium in Paris, finishing 3rd in the 1990 Tour de France...	ONCE	17'58’’
8	Melchor Mauri Melchor Mauri Melcior Mauri Prat is a retired Spanish professional cyclist who won the 1991 Vuelta a España. He has also won numerous other small stage races, mainly due to his abilities as a time triallist, and is a former World silver medallist in this discipline.In November 2007 he won the second edition of...	Amaya Seguros	19'53’’
9	Johan Bruyneel Johan Bruyneel Johan Bruyneel is a former road bicycle racer in professional cycling and a directeur sportif for UCI ProTour team . Retiring from racing in 1998, he became director of , a US-based UCI ProTour cycling team...	ONCE	20'01’’
10	Fernando Escartín Fernando Escartín Fernando Escartín Coti is a Spanish former road racing cyclist. He won a stage and finished third overall in the 1999 Tour de France.He was born in Biescas, Aragon.- Major achievements :Tour de France record* 1992: 45th overall...	CLAS-Cajastur	23'27’’
11	Ignacio Gaston	CLAS-Cajastur
12	Mikel Zarrabeitia Mikel Zarrabeitia Mikel Zarrabeitia Uranga is a Spanish former road bicycle racer.In the 11th stage of the Vuelta a España 2000 Zarrabeitia cut off the top of his finger. He was trying to repair his distance counter during the descent from Alt de la Rabassa when the accident happened.-Palmarès:1992...	Amaya Seguros
13	Hernán Buenahora Hernan Buenahora Hernán Buenahora Gutíerrez is a Colombian road racing cyclist, who was nicknamed El Cabrito de Barichara during his career...	Kelme-Zacobeo'93
14	Luca Gelfi	Banesto
15	Robert Millar Robert Millar Robert Millar is a former Scottish professional cyclist who won the “King of the Mountains” competition in the 1984 Tour de France and finished fourth overall – sharing the highest Tour position for a British cyclist with Bradley Wiggins, and the first time a Briton had won a major Tour...	TVM-Bison TVM (cycling team) TVM was a Dutch road bicycle racing team. It folded in 2000, two years after suffering a doping scandal. Farm Frites continued as a sponsor in 2001 with the new team, .-Names:-Riders:...
16	Javier Muriguialday	Amaya Seguros
17	José Ramon Uriarte Zubero	Banesto-Pinarello
18	Jon Unzaga Bombín	CLAS-Cajastur
19	Peter Meinert Nielsen Peter Meinert Nielsen Peter Meinert Nielsen is a retired road bicycle racer from Denmark, who was a professional rider from 1990 to 2000...	TVM-Bison TVM (cycling team) TVM was a Dutch road bicycle racing team. It folded in 2000, two years after suffering a doping scandal. Farm Frites continued as a sponsor in 2001 with the new team, .-Names:-Riders:...
20	Francisco Javier Mauleón	CLAS-Cajastur
21	Marino Alonso Monje	Banesto
22	Eduardo Chozas Olmo	Artiach-Filipinos
23	Arsenio González Gutiérrez	CLAS-Cajastur
24	Federico Echave Musatadi	CLAS-Cajastur
25	Jesús Blanco	Deportpublic-Otero

External links

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