41st Vuelta a Espana 1986

Pino's Biggest Victory

The 1986 Vuelta a Espana would vault Team Zor’s Alvaro Pino into the elites of Spanish racing. Since the untimely death of Alberto Fernandez in 1984, Team Zor had been seeking a new team leader for Grand Tours. The Team managers chose Pacho Rodriguez for the role, but because of injuries Alvaro Pino became head of Team.

The action of the race started on the Stage 6 mountain top finish on the Lagos de Covadonga. Marino Lejarreta set the pace early in the stage and reduced the peloton to 30 riders. At the foot of the final climb of the Covadonga Pedro Delgado shattered the 30 rider group. Delgado was joined by Raimund Dietzen, Ronan Pensac, and Robert Millar. Race leader Jesus Blanco-Villar and Alvaro Pino struggled with the pace and fell of the chase group. Robert Millar, wanting to redeem himself from the mistakes of the 1985 Vuelta, attacked. Millar soloed to the stage win, but an outstanding effort late on the climb by Pino cut his time loss to 23”.

Pino took back all of his time loss on the Stage 11 29.1 km Individual Time Trial in Valladolid. Pino beat Millar by 56” and took the Maillot Amarillo.

Pino covering Millar's attack

Pino rode solidly over the final 10 stages, covering all of the Scotsman’s moves. The Spaniard left no doubt on the final stage with a win in the 22 km ITT in Jerez de la Frontera. Millar did ride a great time trial but lost an additional 33”. Team Zor’s Alvaro Pino victory may have been unexpected but his outstanding effort throughout the Vuelta earned him the biggest victory of his career.

SPECIAL NOTE: On the 207 km Stage 15 from Aranjuez to Albacete Juan-Maria Eguiarte, who better known as a Spanish cyclo-cross rider, rode solo for 171 km to gain the stage win.

Stage and Distance	Stage Winner	Race Leader
Prologue Palma de Mallorca, 5.7 km ITT	Thierry Marie (Fra)	Thierry Marie (Fra)
Stage 1 Palma-Palma, 190 km	Marc Gomez (Spa)	Marc Gomez (Spa)
Stage 2 Barcelona-Barcelona, 182 km	Manuel-Jorge Dominguez (Spa)	Marc Gomez (Spa)
Stage 3 Lerida-Zaragoza, 212 km	Eddy Planckaert (Bel)	Marc Gomez (Spa)
Stage 4 Zaragoza-Logrono, 192 km	Alfonso Gutierrez (Spa)	Marc Gomez (Spa)
Stage 5 Haro-Santander, 202 km	Jesus Blanco-Villar (Spa)	Jesus Blanco-Villar (Spa)
Stage 6 Santander-Lagos de Covadonga, 191 km	Robert Millar (GBr)	Robert Millar (GBr)
Stage 7 Cangas de Onis-Oviedo, 180 km	Eddy Planckaert (Bel)	Robert Millar (GBr)
Stage 8 Oviedo-Alto de Naranco, 9.7 km ITT	Marino Lejarreta (Spa)	Robert Millar (GBr)
Stage 9 Oviedo-San Isidro, 180 km	Charly Mottet (Fra)	Robert Millar (GBr)
Stage 10 San Isidro-Palencia, 193 km	Sean Kelly (Ire)	Robert Millar (GBr)
Stage 11 Valladolid, 29.1 km ITT	Charly Mottet (Fra)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 12 Valladolid-Segovia, 258 km	Raimund Dietzen (Ger)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 13 Segovia-Vilalba, 148 km	Sean Kelly (Ire)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 14 Gran Madrid-Leganes, 165 km	Jose Recio (Spa)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 15 Aranjuez-Albacete, 207 km	Juan-Maria Eguiarte (Spa)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 16 Albacete-Jaen, 264 km	Alain Bondue (Fra)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 17 Jean-Sierra Nevada, 172 km	Felipe Yanez (Spa)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 18 Granada-Benalmadena, 191 km	Victor Demidenko (Urs)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 19 Benalmadena-Puerto Real, 234 km	Jesus Blanco-Villar (Spa)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 20 Puerto Real-Jerez de la Frontera, 239 km	Marc Gomez (Spa)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
Stage 21 Jerez-Jerez, 22 km ITT	Alvaro Pino (Spa)	Alvaro Pino (Spa)
	BEST CLIMBER PRIZE	José-Luis Laguia (Spa)
	POINTS COMPETITION	Sean Kelly (Ire)

VaE 1985

VaE 1987

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