1996 Vuelta a España


The 51st Vuelta a España, a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 7 September to 29 September 1996. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of, and was won by Alex Zülle of the ONCE cycling team. This was the only time in cycling history that riders from Switzerland swept the Podium in a Grand Tour.
Five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain started his home tour for the first time since finishing second in 1991, having just recently been dislodged at the Tour by Bjarne Riis. He was initially reluctant to start, but convinced by his team to do so after a strong performance during the time trial at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. However, Indurain would eventually abandon the race, which would prove to be the last of his career, on stage 13 while lying in third place overall, having been dropped by the rest of the race favourites on the first-category climb of the Fito pass.

Teams and riders

Route

General classification

RankRiderTeamTime
1 Alex ZülleONCE 97h 31' 46s
2 Laurent DufauxFestina + 6' 23s
3 Tony Rominger + 8' 29s
4 Roberto Pistore + 10' 13s
5 Stefano FaustiniAKI - Gipièmme + 11' 21s
6 Georg TotschnigTeam Polti + 11' 33s
7 Davide RebellinTeam Polti + 13' 16s
8 Andrea PeronMotorola + 14' 46s
9 Bobby JulichMotorola + 15' 10s
10 Fernando EscartínKelme-Artiach + 18' 35s
11 Marcos SerranoKelme-Artiach + 19' 19s
12 José María JiménezBanesto + 20' 19s
13 Mauro GianettiTeam Polti + 21' 15s
14 Daniel ClaveroMX Onda + 21' 49s
15 Daniele Nardello + 22' 37s
16 Vladislav Bobrik + 26' 00s
17 Axel MerckxMotorola + 27' 34s
18 Francisco Javier Mauleón + 27' 38s
19 Laurent JalabertONCE + 27' 44s
20 Peter Meinert Nielsen + 29' 56s
21 Pascal ChanteurCasino
22 Fabian JekerFestina-Lotus
23 Kai Hundertmarck
24 Ángel CaseroBanesto
25 Massimo Apollonio