|
Stages:
|
17 |
|
Kms:
|
3.048,48 |
|
Riders:
|
90 |
|
Teams:
|
9 |
|
Kms/hour:
|
36,012 |
|
Retired:
|
49 |
None of the best figures who took part in Vuelta
a España 1959 showed the performance which was expected from them. In this
way, two riders, who were not among the favorites, were the ones who competed
for the final victory.
Fausto Coppi, the best rider in the history of cycling at that time, took
part in this edition of Vuelta a España as well.
The Italian champion, who had won two Tours, Five Giros one World Road Championship
and two World Pursuit Championship and who had also broken the record of the
Hour, was the most notable of the stars who started the race in Madrid the
twenty-fourth of April as well as the favorite leader. One significant detail,
was that the Organization had to pay eleven thousand pesetas per day for his
participation in Vuelta a España. However, almost at the end of his brilliant
career, coppi was almost unnoticed during the fourteen stages he covered before
abandoning. As regards, the two other foreign figures, Van Looy and Riviere,
we could say that they did not manage to rise to the occasion.
In this situation, everything seemed to point to a fight between Spanish riders,
and , of course, Loroño and Bahamontes were the two riders with more possibilities
of achieving the final victory. But it was not like that. The rider from Vizcaya,
did not show, in any moment, that he could be able to win the race and he
obtained the 18th position in the Overall Standings. On the other hand, Federico
Martín Bahamontes, though he won the third stage, he abandoned in the 11th
stage. The disappointment caused by his abandon was compensated, months later
when "El Aguila de Toledo" became the first Spanish rider who won Le Tour
de France.
Being the top leaders out of the race, Antonio Suárez and José Segú were the
riders who fought for the final triumph, which was finally achieved by the
former. Suárez , who was also the leader in the Climbers Overall Standings,
strengthened his final success in the Top Stage, a 62-kilometre-long time
trial between Eibar and Vitoria, crossing alto de Elgueta (3rd category) and
alto de Urkiola (1st category). Although it was Riviere, holding the record
of the Hour, who won this stage, Suárez snatched the first position in the
Overall Standings out of the hands of Segú; position which he kept during
the last two stages. He still had to resist, during these two stages, the
attacks of the French riders Riviere and Everaert. He relied, just for this
time, on the help of other Spanish riders, though they belonged to different
teams.
