1989 Vuelta a España


The 44th Vuelta a España, a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 24 to May 15, 1989. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of, and was won by Pedro Delgado of the Reynolds cycling team. The route was released on January 21, 1989.
Pedro Delgado had won the previous Tour de France and was seen as the favourite for the race. Delgado came with a Reynolds team that contained Miguel Indurain, who had just won Paris–Nice and was also seen as a potential favourite. The first few days of the race saw the leaders jersey change shoulders from Gino de Bakker, Benny van Brabant and Roland LeClercq. The Colombian Omar Hernández took the lead on the sixth stage. On the 12th stage to Cerler, Delgado battled with four Colombians and won the stage. He won the stage 15 time trial, where Colombian Martin Farfan took the leader's jersey. On the following stage to Santander, Delgado took the jersey. However Delgado's team had a bad day several stages later, when Indurain fell and broke his wrist; Delgado had difficulty keeping the jersey from Fabio Parra. Parra was only two seconds behind Delgado on the general classification at one stage. The final time trial was the last chance for Parra to try to take the jersey from Delgado, but Delgado won and increased his lead to win his third grand tour.

Route

Results

Final General Classification

RankRiderTeamTime
1 Pedro DelgadoReynolds 93h 01' 47s
2 Fabio ParraKelme + 35s
3 Óscar VargasPostobón + 3' 09s
4 Federico EchaveBH-Sport + 3' 24s
5 Álvaro PinoBH-Sport + 4' 28s
6 Ivan IvanovAlfa Lum + 5' 00s
7 Iñaki GastónKelme + 7' 24s
8 Pedro Saúl MoralesKelme + 7' 59s
9 Jean Claude BagotR.M.O. + 8' 23s
10 Luc SuykerbuykLotus-Zahor + 9' 44s
11 Angel Ocana PerezLotus-Zahor + 12' 08s
12 Martín RamírezCafé de Colombia + 12' 18s
13 Carlos JaramilloPostobón + 12' 41s
14 Jaanus KuumAD Renting
15 José Martín FarfánCafé de Colombia
16 Jesús Blanco VillarSeur
17 Héctor PatarroyoPostobón
18 Pello Ruiz CabestanyONCE
19 Gerardo MoncadaPostobón
20 Marino LejarretaCaja Rural-Orbea
21 Enrique Aja CagigasTeka
22 Javier MurguialdayBH Sport
23 Jon Unzaga BombinSeur
24 Eduardo Chozas OlmoONCE
25 Didier VirvaleixHistor-Sigma