Vuelta Rest Day #1 Trivia Quiz

The answers are below - no peeking!

1. Luis Ocaña won the final stage and the overall at the 1970 Vuelta. For which stages was he race leader and how many total stages did he win?

Luis Ocaña. © Unipublic.

2. How many total days has Jan Ullrich held the Vuelta Espana's leader's jersey?

Jan Ullrich, 1999 Vuelta winner. © Unipublic.

3. Who was the first Italian to win the Vuelta, and what year did he do it?

4. Who are the two riders to have won the King of the Mountains in all three Grand Tours?

5. Toni Rominger and Laurent Jalabert share a Vuelta winning distinction - what is it?

6. Who holds the record for the most Vuelta stage wins?

7. Who has the most consecutive overall Vuelta wins?

8. The longest winning finish time for an edition of La Vuelta was 150:07:54. What year was it, and who came in with this finishing time?

Who is this "150 hour man"? © Unipublic.

9. Which was the first year a US-registered team participated in the Vuelta?

10. Who is the rider to have won in a Grand Tour for the most consecutive years?

Answers!

1. In 1970, Luis Ocaña won the first and the last stage, both of which were Individual Time Trials. He was race leader on Stages 1, 9, 10, 11, 12 and the final stage, Stage 20. Ocaña, at that time, was considered the best rider in the international peloton behind the Belgian Eddy Merckx.

2. Ullrich has worn the leader's jersey ten times, from Stage 12 through 21, in the 1999 Vuelta.

3. The first Italian rider to win the Vuelta was Ángelo Conterno in 1956. He was race leader for every stage but the first, not a common occurence at that time. (However, Jacques Anquetil wore the leader's jersey continuously through the 1963 edition. Were there others?)

Ángelo Conterno. © Unipublic.

4. Luis Herrera and Federico Bahamontès are the only two riders to have won the KOM competitions in all three Grand Tours.

Herrera:
KOM Tour de France:1985, 1987
KOM Giro d'Italia 1989
KOM Vuelta a Espana: 1987, 1991

Bahamontes:
KOM Tour de France: 1954, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964
KOM Giro d'Italia: 1956
KOM Vuelta a Espana: 1957, 1958

5. Rominger and Jalabert each won the KOM, Points and Overall in a single edition of the Vuelta - Rominger in 1993 and Jalabert in 1995. The only other rider to have accomplished this feat was Eddy Merckx, who did it twice -  in the 1968 Giro d’Italia and in the 1969 Tour de France.

6. Delio Rodriguez has had the most Vuelta stage wins - 39. Rik Van Looy is second with 19.
Delio Rodriguez:
1941 12 stages
1942 8 stages
1945 Overall, Points Competition, 6 stages
1946 5 stages
1947 Points Competition, 8 stages

Delio Rodriguez in 1945. © Unipublic.

7. Tony Rominger has three consecutive Vuelta wins - 1992 (Clas-Cajastur team), 1993 (Clas-Cajastur) and 1994 (Mapei-GB). Alex Zulle is runner up with two consecutive wins, in 1996 and 1997, both with ONCE. Rominger was third overall in 1996 as well.

Tony Rominger 1993. © Unipublic.

8. Gustaaf Deloor of Belgium finished the 1936 edition of the Vuelta in 150:07:54 - the race consisted of 22 stages with a total length of 4407 km. He also won the first edition of the race, held in 1935.

Gustave Deloor. © Unipublic.

9. The first year a US-registered team rode La Vuelta was 1985 - the Xerox Filadelphia team. After that, it was not until 1995 that another US team participated, and that was Motorola.

10. Well, I'm not completely sure about this, but it sure looks like Eddy Merckx has the most consecutive-year wins in Grand Tours - from 1967 through 1975 he won in at least one of the GTs. Even if not, what an impressive record (see below)!

An interesting historical note from La Vuelta about Merckx, from the year 1973:

Eddy Merckx was lacking the victory in Vuelta a España on his list of achievements. In order to obtain this title, he enrolled himself in Vuelta a España 1973 and won it very easily, as was expected. Because of that, that year he did not take part in Le Tour and as a consequence, a Spanish rider was the winner in Le Tour de France. La Vuelta 73 was "La Vuelta de Merckx".

Courtesy Solo Velo Fixed Gear Bikes.

1967
2 stages, Giro d'Italia

1968
Giro d'Italia
KOM, Giro d'Italia
Points Competition, Giro d'Italia
4 stages, Giro d'Italia

1969
Tour de France
KOM, Tour de France
Points Competition, Tour de France
5 stages, Tour de France
4 stages, Giro d'Italia

1970
Tour de France
KOM, Tour de France
8 stages, Tour de France
Giro d'Italia
3 stages, Giro d'Italia

1971
Tour de France
Points Competition, Tour de France
4 stages, Tour de France

1972
Tour de France
Points Competition, Tour de France
6 stages, Tour de France
Giro d'Italia
4 stages, Giro d'Italia

1973
Giro d'Italia
Points Competition, Giro d'Italia
6 stages, Giro d'Italia
Vuelta a España
Points Competition, Vuelta a España
6 stages, Vuelta a España

1974
Tour de France
8 stages, Tour de France
Giro d'Italia
2 stages, Giro d'Italia

1975
2 stages, Tour de France

Thanks to Professional Cycling Palmares, La Vuelta, Cycling Hall of Fame, Solo Velo, toma.micoud.