|
Stages:
|
15 |
|
Kms:
|
2.442 |
|
Riders:
|
90 |
|
Teams:
|
9 |
|
Kms/hour:
|
37,694 |
|
Retired:
|
25 |
Hurt in his pride of champion due to the defeat
of the previous year before Altig, Jacques Antequil showed himself in Vuelta
a España 1963: he wore the Yelow Jersey from the very beginning to the very
end of the race, becoming the winner in the three big races in stages: Tour
de France, Giro de Italia and Vuelta a España. The truth is that if he had
not won, the failure would had been even worse than that of the previous edition,
since the route of the race seemed to have been made specially to suit him,
and yet, it was not like that.
The organizers had designed the route of the race thinking about Rik Van Looy´s
conditions, who was a experienced sprinter: a short race, only fourteen stages,
most of them flat; only four 1st category mountain pass, seven of second category
and three of third category. Besides, the stage which opened the race was
a 52-kilometre-long time trial.
It happened, then, that Van Looy decided not to take part in the race, fact
which Antequil made good use of because he saw more chances to achieve the
victory and he enrolled in the race. When this was known, so many riders thought
that he would be the winner that some of them asked for the withdrawal of
the first stage, request which was not considered by the organization.
Antequil wore the Yellow Jersey since the first day taking an advantage of
more than two minutes in the time trial which opened the race, exactly as
his wife had predicted, with whom the rider had a bet against. Then, the only
thing he had to do was to control the race, for what he relied on the collaboration
of one of the best riders of the moment: Jean Stablinsky, winner in Vuelta
1958. Antequil even allowed himself the luxury of learning new things about
the culture and customs of the cities he crossed.
Regarding the performance of the Spanish riders, we could highlight the victory
in the climbers Overall Standings of Julio jiménez, who beat Antonio Karmany,
winner in the last three editions. It is also important to mention Barrutia´s
performance, who won two stages. The shortage of mountainous stages was, no
doubt, an obstacle for the Spanish riders.
