|
Stages:
|
Pról.+17 |
|
Kms:
|
2.983,15 |
|
Riders:
|
110 |
|
Teams:
|
11 |
|
Kms/hour:
|
37,829 |
|
Retired:
|
42 |
All the indications were that Vuelta a España
1971 was going to be very similar to the previous edition. Being absent the
best foreign riders, Ocaña and Tamames started as favorite riders to the final
victory. Only Raymond Puolidor and the young Joop Zoetemelk were given a chance
in the bets at the beginning of the race. However, the Belgian rider Ferdinand
Bracke, who was 32, slipped among them all when no one considered him among
the protagonists thinking that he was at the end of his professoinal career.
Bracke shared the podium with his countryman Wilfred David and with Ocaña
himself, who was third, 1´51´´below the leader in the Overall Standings; however,
the hardest rival for Bracke was Schepers, who was disqualified after having
proved positive, for a second time that year, in a medical test, though in
this occasion LaVuelta was already over.
It was disappointing not to see Ocaña or Tamames on the top of the podium,
but even more was the performance of the rest of the Spanish riders. Only
Ocaña, Perurena and González Linares were able to win several of the stages
of the race. The rest of the stages were under an absolute foreign control.
Besides the first place achieved by Bracke in the Overall Standings, we have
to add the victory of the Dutch rider Zoetemelk in the Climbers Overall Standings
and the leadership of the French rider in the Sprints Standings.
