|
Stages:
|
16 |
|
Kms:
|
2.823,5 |
|
Riders:
|
90 |
|
Teams:
|
10 |
|
Kms/hour:
|
36,377 |
|
Retired:
|
49 |
The rider from valencia Angelino Soler, 21 years
old and making his debut in Vuelta a España, was the winner in this edition
of 1961; although he had already showed that he was a very good rider, seeing
him wearing the yellow Jersey in Bilbao the 16th of May, day of the end of
the race, was an absolute surprise.The other outstanding aspect of this edition
was the complete control of the Spanish rider in every Standing: Faema was
the winner in the Teams Standings, Karmany was the winner in the Climbers
Overall Standings for the second consecutive year, Antonio Suárez in the Per
Point Overall Standings and Vicente Iturat in the Sprints Standings. Despite
all this, when the race was about to be over, everything seemed to point that
it would be a foreign rider, the Belgian Messelis, the one who would climb
to the top of the podium in Bilbao. The very slight difference among the first
classified riders in the Overall Standings and the uncertainty which surrounded
the final result were other relevant elements in this edition.
It was necessary to wait till the last stages, when the mountainous stages
started, to get to know the outcome of the race; to be more specific, to the
penultimate one. This covered 172 kilometres between Bilbao and Vitoria, crossing
the mountain passes of Elgueta and Urkiola in which the very best Spanish
riders, who were in their best ground, attempted many times to breakaway.
It was Soler the one who, in Puerto de Urkiola, lead the attack of the famous
Spanish riders. Messelis who had been wearing the Yellow Maillot for nine
days, could not resist their rhythm and crossed the top of the climb one minute
below Soler. The suffering of the Belgian rider, who arrived at The Finish
seven minutes after Angelino´s group, was increased in the descent of Barázar:
first of all, he had a puncture and then, one of his wheels was broken. The
rider from Valencia was lifted to the first position in the Overall Standings;
however he was about of missing this chance.
Soler saw his victory at risk the following day, during the last stage. Just
as the race was started, in the very streets of Bilbao, he was involved in
a mass of riders. Fortunately, he was able to stay on his bicycle and achieve
his first great success.
It was not Angelino the only young rider who attracted the attention in this
edition. An unknown watchmaker from Avila achieved the second position in
the Climbers Overall Standings; his name, Julio Jiménez.
