| |
By Barry Boyce,
CyclingRevealed Historian
 Jose Pesarrodona
VaE April 27 - May 16, 1976 |
3,340.9 Km |
Starters: 80 |
Finishers: 24 |
Average Speed: 34.575 km/h x
|
|
|
Vuelta Champion with No Stage Wins
The 31st Edition Vuelta a Espana was held from April 27 to May 16, 1976. The race billed as a battle between Luis Ocana (Super Ser), Domingo Perurena (KAS), and Dutchman Hennie Kuiper. However, it was Perurena’s KAS teammate Jose Pesarrodona, whose consistent riding would vault the Spaniard onto the top step of the podium in San Sebastian.
Pesarrodona won the Vuelta thanks to solid stage finishes and dutiful attention to opportunities for time gains, he did not win a stage, but he was among the top places in the GC on every stage.
1976 Vuelta a Espana Race Route Details |
Teams:
- Ebo-Cinzia
- Flandria-Velda
- Frisol-Gazelle
- KAS Boxing Club
- Miko-Superia-De Gribaldy
|
- Novostil-Transmallorca
- Super Ser
- Teka
- TI-Raleigh-Campagnolo
- Zoppas-Splendor-Sinalco
|
Race Summary:
Prologue: The very promising German racer Dietrich Thurau won the prologue TT and put on the first AmarilloJersey.
Stage 4: As early as the fourth stage, 166 km from Jaen to Baza, the race took on an aggressive tone. Joaquim Agostinho launched the first brutal attack that caused the abandonment of twenty-seven riders. German Gunter Haritz won the stage, but after a positive doping check, he was assessed a 10-minute penalty.
Stage 6: A 14 km Individual Time Trial, Agostinho showed his superior fitness. He dominates all his opponents covering the 14 km course in 19'08". The race leader’s Jersey moved to Agostinho.
Stage 7: A lead group of fifteen riders formed on the category 3 climb of the Sierra Espina. The breakaway contained six riders from the powerful Super-Ser team, (Ocana, Manzaneque, Lazcano, Fuchs, Tamames and Torres). Solidly the race leader matched all the moves in the group. The aggressive pace of the breakaway saw GC contenders lose big time. Martinez Heredia finished +5'32", Perurena +5'44", and Den Hertog +14'15". The GC standings were falling apart.
Stage 8: Doping positives entered the race when Belgian Eric Jacques finished in second place on the eighth stage. He became the new race leader until a "positive test" at doping control, he was relegated after the stage. He received a ten-minute time penalty. The race found itself in the middle of scandal.
Stage 15: The fifteenth stage marked the beginning of the seriously hard racing with five major climbs. KAS’s Domingo Perurena launched a crazy attack and took a 2'06" in lead on the elite chasing group. At the summit of the Alto de la Llama Perurena crossed first but his lead was diminishing.
On the final climb, the Mirador del Fito (18 km to the finish in Cangas de Onis) Luis Ocana passed the stage leader and rode ahead of the elite group of GC contenders. Ten riders sail over the summit and plunge into Cangas de Onis. The breakaway group contested the stage on the descent into Cangas of Onis. Aggressively Vincente Lopez-Carril took the stage win and Agostinho took back the Amarillo Jersey.
Stage 16: The next day on the sixteenth stage from Cangas de Onis to Reinosa, Luis Ocana attacked relentlessly with help from his powerful Super Ser teammates. On the first category climb of the Alto de la Collada Super Ser’s Josef Fuchs broke away from the contenders. Over the Category 2 climb of the Reversa Fuchs held a 58” lead on Ocana and teammate Torres. With 27 km to the finish, a hard chasing group of six riders including Kuiper and Pesarrodona caught the two leaders. Thurau wins the breakaway sprint in Reinosa, and the Amarillo Jersey passed to the shoulders of Hennie Kuiper. The Dutchman holds a 25” lead on Ocana and 48” on Pesarrodona with three stages to go.
Stage 19b: The GC standings were close coming into the final stage, a 31.7 km indiviual time trial in San Sebastian. Hennie Kuiper started the stage in the race leader’s AmarilloJersey, but a very tight GC put the Vuelta's victory on the line. German Dietrich Thurau took the stage win +1” ahead of Pesarrodona. The race leader did not perform well and lost over 2 minutes to the Spaniard. He gave up the race lead to Pesarrodona at the very last second.
1976 Vuelta victory: Jose Pesarrodona (Spa)
The unsung Jose Pesarrodona (KAS) earned the 1976 Vuelta a Espana victory. Luis Ocana, the per-race favorite, finished second and Hennie Kuiper fell to sixth place in the final General Classification.
Stage and Distance |
Stage Winner |
Race Leader |
Prologue Estepona, 3.2 km ITT |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Stage 1 Estepona-Estepona, 135 km |
Joseph De Cauwer (Bel) |
Joseph De Cauwer (Bel) |
Stg 2 Estepona-Priego de Cordoba, 224 km |
Roger Gilson (Lux) |
Joseph De Cauwer (Bel) |
Stage 3 Priego de Cordoba-Jaen, 177 km |
Theo Smit (Ned) |
Joseph De Cauwer (Bel) |
Stage 4 Jaen-Baza, 166 km |
Hennie Kuiper (Ned) |
Javier Elorriaga (Spa) |
Stage 5 Baza-Cartagena, 201 km |
Theo Smit (Ned) |
Javier Elorriaga (Spa) |
Stage 6 Cartagena, 14 km ITT |
Joaquim Agostinho (Por) |
Joaquim Agostinho (Por) |
Stage 7 Cartagena-Murcia, 136 km |
Ferdi Van den Haute (Bel) |
Joaquim Agostinho (Por) |
Stage 8 Murcia-Almansa, 219 km |
Georges Pintens (Bel) |
Joaquim Agostinho (Por) |
Stage 9 Almansa-Nules, 208 km |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Stage 10 Nules-Cambrils, 226 km |
J-A Gonzalez-Linares (Spa) |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Stage 11 Cambrils-Barcelona, 151 km |
Antonio Vallori (Spa) |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Stage 12 Pamplona-Logrono, 168 km |
Gerben Karstens (Ned) |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Stage 13 Logrono-Palencia, 209 km |
Dirk Ongenae (Bel) |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Stage 14 Palencia-Gijon, 249 km |
Cees Priem (Ned) |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Stage 15 Gijon-Cangas de Onis, 141 km |
Vicente Lopez-Carril (Spa) |
Joaquim Agostinho (Por) |
Stage 16 Cangas de Onis-Reinosa, 156 km |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Hennie Kuiper (Ned) |
Stage 17 Reinosa-Bilbao, 183 km |
Arthur Van de Vijver (Bel) |
Hennie Kuiper (Ned) |
Stg 18 Bilbao-Santuario Oro/Murguia, 204 km |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
Hennie Kuiper (Ned) |
Stage 19a Murguia-San Sebastian, 139 km |
Dirk Ongenae (Bel) |
Hennie Kuiper (Ned) |
Stage 19b San Sebastian, 31.7 km ITT |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
 Jose Pesarrodona (Spa)
|
|
BEST CLIMBER PRIZE |
 Andres Oliva (Spa)
|
|
POINTS COMPETITION |
 Dietrich Thurau (Ger)
|
General Classification:
Final General Classification |
Rank |
Name |
Team |
Time |
1 |
Jose PESARRODONA (Spa) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
93h 19' 10" |
2 |
Luis Ocana (Spa) |
Super Ser |
1'03" |
3 |
Jose Nazabal (Spa) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
1'41" |
4 |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
TI-Raleigh-Campagnolo |
1'44" |
5 |
Vicente Lopez-Carril (Spa) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
1'50" |
6 |
Hennie Kuiper (Ned) |
TI-Raleigh-Campagnolo |
2'00" |
7 |
Joaquim Agostinho (Por) |
Teka |
3'16" |
8 |
Jozef Fuchs (Sui) |
Super Ser |
3'45" |
9 |
Pedro Torres (Spa) |
Super Ser |
4'43" |
10 |
Jose-Ant. Gonzalez-Linares (Spa) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
7'18" |
11 |
Ludo Loos (Bel) |
7'25" |
31 |
Juan Santisteban (Spa) |
1h18'55" |
12 |
Enriq Martinez-Heredia (Spa) |
9'19" |
32 |
Cees Priem (Ned) |
1h20'23" |
13 |
Andres Oliva (Spa) |
9'37" |
33 |
Paul Wellens (Bel) |
1h29'43" |
14 |
Gonzalo Aja (Spa) |
9'54" |
34 |
Ferdi Van den Haute (Bel) |
1h26'41" |
15 |
Jose Martins (Por) |
10'13" |
35 |
Andres Gandarias (Spa) |
1h27'39" |
16 |
Eric Jacques (Bel) |
12'13" |
36 |
Luis Balague (Spa) |
1h35'11" |
17 |
Domingo Perurena (Spa) |
20'00" |
37 |
Roland Berland (Fra) |
1h37'37" |
18 |
Jean-Pierre Baert (Bel) |
20'00" |
38 |
Henk Prinsen (Ned) |
1h44'16" |
19 |
Jose-Enrique Cima (Spa) |
24'05" |
39 |
Roger Rosiers (Bel) |
1h53'47" |
20 |
Fernando Mendes (Por) |
24'41" |
40 |
Daniel Verplancke (Bel) |
2h07'16" |
21 |
Ventura Diaz (Spa) |
29'04" |
41 |
Arthur Van de Vijver (Bel) |
2h12'43" |
22 |
Santiago Lazcano (Spa) |
29'10" |
42 |
Luis-Alberto Ordiales (Spa) |
2h15'12" |
23 |
Julian Andiano (Spa) |
29'22" |
43 |
Dirk Ongenae (Bel) |
2h16'11" |
24 |
Manuel Esparza (Spa) |
29'23" |
44 |
Ant. Jimenez-Lujan (Spa) |
2h19'34" |
25 |
Jesus Manzaneque (Spa) |
37'27" |
45 |
Roger Gilson (Lux) |
2h20'55" |
26 |
Javier Elorriaga (Spa) |
47'49" |
46 |
Jean-Luc Yansenne (Bel) |
2h25'16" |
27 |
Man Garcia-Rodriguez (Spa) |
49'50" |
47 |
Eddy Cael (Bel) |
2h25'45" |
28 |
Antonio Vallori (Spa) |
53'33" |
48 |
Willy Scheers (Bel) |
2h44'13" |
29 |
Herman Van Springel (Bel) |
55'05" |
49 |
Julien Van Lint (Bel) |
2h46'10" |
30 |
Willy Van Neste (Bel) |
56'37" |
|
|
|
Final Mountains Classification |
Rank |
Name |
Team |
Points |
1 |
Andres OLIVA (Spa) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
157 |
2 |
Ludo Loos (Bel) |
Ebo-Cinzia |
110 |
3 |
Joaquim Agostinho (Por) |
Teka |
87 |
4 |
Jose Nazabal (Spa) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
48 |
5 |
Luis Ocana (Spa) |
Super Ser |
47 |
6 |
Jose Martins (Por) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
45 |
7 |
Dietrich Thurau (Ger) |
TI-Raleigh-Campagnolo |
43 |
8 |
Pedro Torres (Spa) |
Super Ser |
40 |
Final Points Classification |
Rank |
Name |
Team |
Points |
1 |
Dietrich THURAU (Ger) |
TI-Raleigh-Campagnolo |
174.9 |
2 |
Javier Elorriaga (Spa) |
Super Ser |
174.5 |
3 |
Cees Priem (Ned) |
Frisol-Gazelle |
171 |
4 |
Domingo Perurena (Spa) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
153 |
5 |
Hennie Kuiper (Ned) |
TI-Raleigh-Campagnolo |
128 |
6 |
Gerben Karstens (Ned) |
TI-Raleigh-Campagnolo |
97 |
7 |
Joseph De Cauwer (Bel) |
TI-Raleigh-Campagnolo |
80 |
8 |
Dirk Ongenae (Bel) |
Flandria-Velda |
77.5 |
9 |
Joaquim Agostinho (Por) |
Teka |
76 |
10 |
Vicente Lopez-Carril (Spa) |
Kas-Campagnolo |
70.5 |
VaE 1975
VaE 1977
Return to the Timeline ToC
Return to the Race Snippets ToC |
|
