1983 Vuelta a España


The 38th Vuelta a España, a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 19 April to 8 May 1983. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of, and was won by Bernard Hinault of the Renault-Elf-Gitane cycling team.
The foreign favourites for the race included Bernard Hinault who had won the Vuelta once before in 1978 and World Champion Giuseppe Saronni. The Spanish favourites for the race included the de facto defending champion Marino Lejarreta, Julián Gorospe and Alberto Fernández.
Hinault took the leadership of the race after the fifth stage only to lose it the following day to Lejarreta. Lejarreta then won the stage 8 mountain time trial and increased his lead over Hinault. On the stage from Zaragoza to Soria that was won by Saronni, Lejarreta had a fall and lost the jersey to Gorospe. Fernández took the leadership the following day. Lejarreta came back and won the stage 13 to Lagos de Covadonga. However Fernández kept the leader’s jersey. On the following stage Álvaro Pino took the jersey and wore it for two days. Hinault won the individual time trial but did not win by enough time to take the jersey which passed again to Gorospe. Two days later Hinault’s pace on the climb to Puerto de Serranillos was too hot for his opponents and he won the stage in Ávila and took back the leader’s jersey to win his second Vuelta and his eighth grand tour with Lejarreta second and Fernández in third. The great battle waged between Hinault and the Spanish riders has led to the 1983 race being described as its most spectacular edition. However, due to tendinitis that had developed in his knee which was greatly aggravated by the climb to Puerto de Serranillos, Hinault was unable to ride in that year's Tour de France.

Teams and riders

Route

Results

Final General Classification

RankRiderTeamTime
1 Bernard HinaultRenault-Elf-Gitane 94h 28' 26"
2 Marino LejarretaAlfa Lum-Olmo + 1' 12"
3 Alberto FernándezZor-Gemeaz + 3' 58"
4 Alvaro PinoZor-Gemeaz + 5' 09"
5 Hennie KuiperJacky Aernoudt-Rossin + 10' 26"
6 Eduardo Chozas OlmoZor-Gemeaz + 11' 11"
7 Laurent FignonRenault-Elf-Gitane + 11' 27"
8 Pedro Munoz RodriguezZor-Gemeaz + 12' 25"
9 Vicente BeldaKelme + 13' 28"
10 Faustino RupérezZor-Gemeaz + 13' 36"
11 Guillermo De La PenaHueso-Motta
12 Julián GorospeReynolds-Galli
13 Alain VigneronRenault-Elf-Gitane
14 Claudio BortolottoDel Tongo-Colnago
15 Pedro DelgadoReynolds-Galli
16 José Antonio CabreroHueso-Motta
17 Faustino Cueli ArceTeka
18 Leonardo NataleDel Tongo-Colnago
19 Lucien DidierRenault-Elf-Gitane
20 Angel De Las HerasKelme
21 Jesus Rodriguez MagroZor-Gemeaz
22 Jesus Hernandez UbedaReynolds-Galli
23 Roberto CerutiDel Tongo-Colnago
24 José Luis LaguíaReynolds-Galli
25 Martial GayantRenault-Elf-Gitane