The Tour of Galicia (Spanish: Vuelta a Galicia; Galician: Volta a Galicia) is an annual cycling race held in Galicia, Spain. It was first held in 1933 and was held a further five times between 1934 and 1984. The tour did not take place from the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, until the end of the Second World War in 1945. In 1986, it became a regular annual race. The final professional edition of the race was held in 2000. In 2002, after a year's hiatus, the race returned to the calendar as an amateur race.

Tour of Galicia
Race details
RegionGalicia, Spain
Local name(s)
  • Vuelta a Galicia (in Spanish)
  • Volta a Galicia (in Galician)
DisciplineRoad
TypeStage race
History
First edition1933 (1933)
Editions43 (as of 2023)
First winner Salvador Cardona (ESP)
Most wins Emilio Rodríguez (ESP) (3 wins)
Most recent Martí Márquez (ESP)

History edit

The first Vuelta a Galicia occurred in 1933 between August 9 and 13.[1]  Villalba's (Vilalba) local newspaper, Faro Villalbés, reported on the race.[2]  There were 33 initial competitors and eight were from the region of Galicia.

The race started in Vigo and the cyclists covered 195 kilometers to Orense, averaging about 31 kilometers per hour.

The second stage started with 29 competitors going from Orense to Lugo covering 125 kilometers and the cyclists averaged about 21 kilometers per hour.

On the third day, the competitors cycled 105 kilometers from Lugo to Ribadeo with the winner of this stage arriving in 3 hours, 18 minutes and 50 seconds.

The next stage, the fourth, the cyclist rode 153 kilometers from Ribadeo to Ferrol, averaging 28 kilometers an hour.  See article for order of arrival by the first 7 cyclists.[2]

In the fifth stage, the cyclists started in El Ferrol, traveled through Jubia (Xubia), Puentes de García Rodriguez, Cabreiros, Villalba (Vilalba), Trasparga Guitiriz, San Julian de Coirós, Betanzos, Espíritu Santo and ending in La Coruña.

On the sixth stage the cyclists rode 237 kilometers from La Coruña to Pontevedra.

In the final stage only 19 cyclists remained, riding 120 kilometers from Pontevedra to Vigo.  The winner was Cardona, finishing at 41 hours, 28 minutes and 5 seconds.  The winning purse was 3,000 pesetas which equates to about $320, in 1933.

Past winners edit

Year Country Rider Team
1933   Spain Salvador Cardona
1934 No race
1935   Spain Julián Berrendero
1936–1944 No race
1945   Spain Delio Rodríguez
1946   Spain Emilio Rodríguez
1947   Spain Emilio Rodríguez
1948–1954 No race
1955   Spain Emilio Rodríguez
1956–1983 No race
1984   Spain Vicente Belda
1985   Spain Jesús Blanco Villar
1986 No race
1987   Spain Jokin Mújika
1988   Spain Marino Lejarreta
1989   Spain Vicente Ridaura
1990   Spain Federico Echave
1991   Colombia Álvaro Mejía
1992    Switzerland Fabian Jeker
1993   United States Andrew Hampsten
1994   Spain Laudelino Cubino
1995   Spain Miguel Induráin
1996   Spain Abraham Olano
1997   Spain Aitor Garmendia
1998   Belgium Frank Vandenbroucke
1999   Spain Marcos-Antonio Serrano
2000   Kazakhstan Andrey Teteryuk
2001 No race
2002   Spain Fernando Torres Martín
2003   Costa Rica José Adrián Bonilla
2004   Spain Luis Fernández Oliveira
2005   Spain Manuel Jesús Jiménez
2006   Spain Óscar Laguna
2007   Spain Óscar Laguna
2008   Spain Óscar García-Casarrubios
2009   Spain Enrique Salgueiro
2010   Spain Raúl García de Mateos
2011   Spain José Belda
2012   Portugal Luís Afonso
2013   Spain Pedro Gregori
2014   Spain Aitor González Prieto
2015   Spain Aitor González Prieto
2016   Spain Samuel Blanco
2017   Spain Martín Lestido
2018   Spain Sergio Vega
2019   Spain Martí Márquez

References edit

  1. ^ Faro Villalbés, 1932-1936. Santiago de Compostela: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. 2002. p. 164. ISBN 9788497501309.
  2. ^ a b "Faro Villalbés, 1932-1936". Google Libros. 2005–2009. ISBN 9788497501309. Retrieved January 3, 2020.