42nd Vuelta a Espana 1987

The Pride of Columbia

SPECIAL NOTE: In 1985 professional Columbian cycling was becoming well established. Led by a group known as the "Colombian Beetles", Luis "Lucho" Herrera, Luis Felipe Laverde, Fabio Parra, Víctor Hugo Peña, Santiago Botero, Mauricio Soler, began to score victories on the World stage.

Columbian climber Lucho" Herrera, known as "El Jardinerito" ("the little gardener"), came to the 1987 Vuelta a Espana as part of the Columbian sponsored team CAFE DE COLOMBIA-VARTA.

Defending Vuelta champion Alvaro Pino was absent in this edition due to health problems. Irishman Sean Kelly was the pre-race favorite for victory.

SPECIAL NOTE: Cycling in Columbia is a sport which has a great number of passionate fans; therefore special cycling correspondents from RCN and Radio Caracol arrive early in Europe every year in order to broadcast the "big races" back to Columbia.

Stage 11 was a 179 km from Santander to Lagos de Covadonga. On the climb to Covadonga Herrera dropped all contenders to gain a 1’26” stage win. He took the race leader’s Maillot Amarillo.

Pre-race favorite Sean Kelly was not done and battled back in the 24 km Stage 18 time trial in Valladolid. Kelly finished the stage second but gained 2’07” on Herrera and re-gained the race lead with four stages to go.

With four more stage to the finish in Madrid Kelly was on his way to his first Grand Tour victory. Unfortunately, Kelly had a very painful saddle sore and was forced to withdraw from the race the following day. Herrera took back the race lead one stage later.

Lucho Herrera rode into Madrid 4 stages later to claim a 1’45” victory. The Herrera 1987 Vuelta a Espana victory constituted the first time a Colombian had won a Grand Tour. Herrera instantly became a National hero and gained the “Pride of Columbia”.

SPECIAL NOTE: Herrera also won the “King of the Mountains” classification.

Stage and Distance	Stage Winner	Race Leader
Prologue Benidorm, 6.6 km ITT	Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke (Bel)	Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke (Bel)
Stage 1 Benidorm-Albacete, 219 km	Sean Kelly (Ire)	Sean Kelly (Ire)
Stage 2 Albacete-Valencia, 217 km	Paolo Rosola (Spa)	Roberto Pagnin (Ita)
Stage 3 Valencia-Valencia, 34.8 km ITT	Sean Kelly (Ire)	Sean Kelly (Ire)
Stage 4 Valencia-Villareal, 169 km	Alfonso Gutierrez (Spa)	Sean Kelly (Ire)
Stage 5 Salou-Barcelona, 165 km	Roberto Pagnin (Ita)	Roberto Pagnin (Ita)
Stage 6 Barcelona-Andorra, 220 km	Jesus Ibanez-Loyo (Spa)	Sean Kelly (Ire)
Stage 7 Seo de Urgel-Cerler, 186 km	Laudelino Cubino (Spa)	Raimund Dietzen (Ger)
Stage 8 Benasque-Zaragoza, 219 km	Inaki Gaston (Spa)	Raimund Dietzen (Ger)
Stage 9 Zaragoza-Pamplona, 180 km	Antonio Esparza (Spa)	Raimund Dietzen (Ger)
Stage 10 Miranda de Ebro-Alto de Campoo, 213 km	Enrique Aja (Spa)	Raimund Dietzen (Ger)
Stage 11 Santander-Lagos de Covadonga, 179 km	Luis Herrera (Col)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 12 Canga de Onis-Oviedo, 142 km	Carlos Hernandez (Spa)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 13 Luarca-El Ferrol, 223 km	Carlos-Emiro Gutierrez (Spa)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 14 El Ferrol-Andorra, 220 km	Juan Fernandez (Spa)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 15 La Coruna-Vigo, 185 km	Antonio Esparza (Spa)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 16 Ponteareas-Ponferrada, 237 km	Dominique Arnaud (Fra)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 17 Ponferrada-Valladolid, 221 km	Roberto Pagnin (Ita)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 18 Valladolid-Valladolid, 24 km ITT	Jesus Blanco-Villar (Spa)	Sean Kelly (Ire)
Stage 19 Barco de Avila-Avila, 213 km	Laurent Fignon (Fra)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 20 Avila-DYC/Segovia, 183 km	Omar Hernandez (Col)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 21 Segovia-Collada Villalba, 160 km	Francisco Rodriguez (Spa)	Luis Herrera (Col)
Stage 22 Alcala de Henares-Madrid, 173 km	Jaime Vilamajo (Spa)	Luis Herrera (Col)
	BEST CLIMBER PRIZE	Luis Herrera (Col)
	POINTS COMPETITION	Alfonso Gutierrez (Spa)

VaE 1986

VaE 1988

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