1973 Vuelta a España


The 28th Vuelta a España, a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 26 to May 13, 1973. It consisted of 17 stages covering a total of 3,061 km, and was won by Eddy Merckx of the Molteni cycling team. As Merckx had already won several editions of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia with his win in the Vuelta, he became the third cyclist after Jacques Anquetil and Felice Gimondi to win all three grand tours in his career. Merckx went on to win the 1973 Giro d'Italia and became the first cyclist to win the Vuelta-Giro double. Merckx also won the points classification and José Luis Abilleira won the mountains classification. With Merckx finishing first, Ocaña second and Thévenet third the podium of the 1973 Vuelta contained one previous winner and two future winners of the Tour de France making it one of the best podiums in the history of the race, according to the official race website. Gerben Karstens won 4 stages in this Vuelta.

Teams

A total of eight teams were invited to participate in the 1973 Vuelta a España. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 80 cyclists. 62 cyclists reached the finish in San Sebastián.
The teams entering the race were:

Route and stages

Classification leadership

Four different jerseys were worn during the 1973 Vuelta a España. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages – wore a golden jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Vuelta.
For the points classification, which awarded a light blue jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15; additional points could also be won in intermediate sprints. The green jersey was awarded to the mountains classification leader. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. Each climb was ranked as either first, second or third category, with more points available for higher category climbs. The combination classification awarded a red jersey to its leader.
Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the stage finish times of the best three cyclists per team were added; the leading team was the one with the lowest total time.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

Final standings

General Classification

RankNameTeamTime
1 Molteni
2Bic+ 3' 46"
3Peugeot-B.P.+ 4' 16"
4KAS+ 5' 54"
5La Casera+ 7' 29"
6Bic+ 8' 15"
7La Casera+ 9' 15"
8La Casera+ 12' 26"
9Molteni+ 13' 27"
10La Casera+ 15' 01"

Points classification

RiderTeamPoints
1 Molteni215.5
2Molteni162.5
3Rokado154.5

Mountains classification

RiderTeamPoints
1 La Casera97
2 Molteni83
3La Casera60
4La Casera50

Combination classification

RiderTeamPoints
1 Molteni18
2 La Casera11
3Coelima-Benfica6

Team classification

TeamTime
1La Casera
2Bic+ 4' 44"
3Molteni+ 6' 24"
4KAS+ 11' 28"
5Monte Verde+ 29' 01"
6Coelima-Benfica+ 32' 03"
7Peugeot-B.P.+ 32' 51"
8Rokado+ 51' 22"

Intermediate sprints classification

RiderTeamPoints
1 Molteni26
2KAS24
3Coelima-Benfica15
4Coelima-Benfica10
5Rokado9
6 La Casera6
7KAS6
8Rokado6
9Molteni5
10Molteni5