Vuelta a Espana Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1935

The first Vuelta was held after the Tour De France and the Giro D'Italia, and the main reason for it being held was because of the success of these two events. It was the Spanish newspaper "Informaciones" and its editor Juan Pujol who instigated the race.

He did this because the circulations of French and Italian papers L'Auto and Gazzetta Della Sport respectively had been boosted by the Tours in France and Italy, so he envisioned a similar thing happening in his home country. The first race was won by Belgian Gustaaf Deloor, who went on to win it in 1936 as well.

Answer: War

In 1936, the Spanish civil war meant that it would be impossible to stage a cycling race around Spain, as very few foreigners would want to race in a country gripped by civil war. The Spanish cyclists would also be uneasy about leaving their families, plus if any rider started to do well, it may lead to questions about their background and which side they were on.

The Vuelta was continued in 1941, but after the 1942 competition it was again stopped because of war. Due to Spain's neutrality in WWII, it could be held safely in Spain with the end of the Spanish Civil War, but it would be difficult to attract cyclists from across Europe, and it may have led to rivalries between German and French cyclists. Julian Berrendero of Spain won the two Vuelta's in 1941 and 1942.

Answer: Gold

Not to be confused with the Tour De France leaders jersey, the 'Jersey de Oro' is most definitely golden, clearly taking its inspiration from the Tour De France. The Giro D'Italia and the Vuelta both have green jerseys for the leader of the King of the Mountains classification, whilst in the Vuelta, the leader of the points classification wears a blue jersey with a yellow fish on it, as it is sponsored by the Spanish fishing industry.

Answer: Miguel Indurain

Indurain, or 'Big Mig' somewhat surprisingly never won the Vuelta, although did finish second in 1991, just after he had won the Tour De France. Indurain won the Tour De France 5 times and the Giro D'Italia twice, but had considerably less success in his home tour.

Despite that, he is still a very popular figure in Spain. Dutch rider Zoetemelk won the King of the Mountains jersey in 1971, but had to wait eight more years until 1979, until he won the Vuelta overall. He would win the Tour De France the year after. Frenchman Jacques Anquetil won the Vuelta in 1963, completing a major Tour double that year after winning Le Tour.

He would do the same the next year with the Tour De France and the Giro. Belgian Eddy Merckx only won the Vuelta once, but won six stages as well as the points classification as well. Like Indurain and Anqueti, he was much more successful in the Tour De France and Giro D'Italia.

He won both events five times, establishing himself as possibly the greatest cyclist of all-time.

Answer: Delio Rodriguez

The relatively unknown Spanish rider Delio Rodriguez has won a staggering 39 stages in just 5 years of competing in La Vuelta. 1941 saw Delio win 12 stages, and 8 stages the year after, but he failed to finish in the top five in either event. Rodriguez went on to win the 1945 Vuelta with six stage wins, and he also won the points classification the same year. Two years later he finished third and won the points classification again. Laurent Jalabert and Rik Van Looy were second in the most stage wins, with 18 each, two less than Rodriguez won in his first two years.

Heras has won 10 Vuelta stages.

Answer: Jose Luis Laguila

Spanish rider Laguila won five KOTM classification between 1981 and 1986. Richard Virenque has won the most in the Tour De France, but has never actually won any in the Vuelta, preferring to concentrate on the Tour De France only. Jimenez won four events in the Vuelta before his sad death in 2003. Bahamontes only won two but has won 9 of the King of the Mountains classifications in the three grand tours, a record shared with Gino Bartali, the great Italian rider before the war, and also achieved the Tour and Vuelta double in 1958.

Answer: 23.6%

The Alto de el Angliru reaches a staggering 23.6% gradient, three kilometres from the peak of the summit, making it one of the steepest climbs in road racing in Europe. This climb is 12 kilometres long, and the first half of the climb isn't really demanding for professional riders at all.

However, from the 6km mark, the average gradient is 13.1%, and after the 23.6% ramp, there are two more ramps with gradients between 18% and 21%. This climb is one of the most feared, despite only being used for the first time in the Vuelta in 1999. Jose Maria Jimenez, Gilberto Simoni, and Roberto Heras, have all won on this climb.

In 2003, heavy rain meant a lot of problems when the ascension to the summet of the Angliru began, meaning that race organisers have considered scrapping this climb from the Asturias region of Spain.

Answer: Tony Rominger and Roberto Heras

Swiss rider Rominger had won the race three times between 1992 and 1994, before Laurent Jalabert won in 1995 and Alex Zulle, also from Switzerland, won twice in 1996 and 1997. This marked the longest period of time Spain went without a winner of La Vuelta.

This drought for Spain was broken when Abraham Olano won the Vuelta in 1998, and Heras won his first Vuelta in 2000. He went on to win in 2003 with US Postal and Liberty-Seguros in 2004, becoming the only rider to win the Vuelta with three different teams (the 2000 win was with Spanish team Kelme).

Heras had also equalled Rominger's record of three straight Vuelta wins in 2005 when he won the Vuelta, but he was disqualified two monts later after testing positive for EPO. Denis Menchov was awarded the title instead; Menchov finished second originally after losing time on the last climb to Heras.

Answer: 11

The same number of countries have had winners in the Tour De France as in the Vuelta - 11. Just like the Tour De France, the Vuelta has historically been dominated by riders originating from the host country i.e. Spain. However, Spanish dominance is extremely convincing in the Vuelta, with 27 wins for Spain and 34 for the rest of the world. France have had nine Vuelta wins and Belgium 7 Vuelta wins. Colombia, Ireland, Russia and Kazakhstan are the four countries with just the one win.

Answer: Alexander Vinokourov

Vino won his first Vuelta in 2006, just edging out the Spanish favourite Alejandro Valverde. Valverde had originally been in the lead for eight stages, but on stage 17 Vinokourov took the lead and didn't relinquish the golden jersey until the finish. Thor Hushovd won the points classification ahead of Vinokourov, and Egoi Martinez was the winner of the King of the Mountains classification, with Pietro Caucchioli in second. Valverde was second in the Vuelta overall, with Vino's team-mate Kashechkin in third place