The 53rd edition of the Vuelta a España was held 5 to 27 September 1998 and began in Córdoba and ended in Madrid. The 1998 Vuelta had 22 stages over with the winning average speed of . Spaniard Abraham Olano took the leader's jersey after the first individual time trial with 41 seconds over Frenchman Laurent Jalabert. Olano's lead in the mountains decreased each stage as teammate José María Jiménez marked Olano's rivals and took several stage wins in the process until Jiménez took the jersey from Olano on the final mountain stage to Alto de Navacerrada with Olano in third place at 38 seconds. On the following day's individual time trial, Olano took back the lead to win the only Grand Tour of his career.
The race also saw the astonishing comeback of Lance Armstrong after he was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer in 1996. Armstrong's fourth-place finish was stripped by USADA in 2012 due to doping.
Teams
A total of 22 teams were invited to participate in the 1998 Vuelta a España. Seventeen of the competing squads were Trade Team I teams, four teams were Trade Team II teams, while the other team was Trade Team III. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Vuelta began with a peloton of 198 cyclists, a total of 108 riders made it to the finish in Madrid.
The 22 teams invited to the race were:
Stages +Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 5 September Córdoba Hilly stage 2 6 September Córdoba to Cádiz Flat stage 3 7 September Cádiz to Estepona Flat stage 4 8 September Málaga to Granada Hilly stage 5 9 September Olula del Río to Murcia Flat stage 6 10 September Murcia to Xorret de Catí Mountain stage 7 11 September Alicante to Valencia Flat stage 8 12 September Palma de Mallorca Hilly stage 9 13 September Alcúdia Individual time trial 14 September Province of Barcelona Rest day 10 15 September Vic to Estación de Pal (Andorra) Mountain stage 11 16 September Andorra la Vella (Andorra) to Cerler Mountain stage 12 17 September Benasque to Jaca, Canfranc International station Hilly stage 13 18 September Sabiñánigo Hilly stage 14 19 September Biescas to Zaragoza Flat stage 15 20 September Zaragoza to Soria Flat stage 16 21 September Soria to Mountain stage 17 22 September Burgos to León Flat stage 18 23 September León to Salamanca Flat stage 19 24 September Ávila to Segovia Mountain stage 20 25 September Segovia to Alto de Navacerrada Mountain stage 21 26 September Fuenlabrada Individual time trial 22 27 September Madrid Flat stage Total
Classification leadership
+Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Sprints rider classification Team classification 1 Markus Zberg Markus Zberg Markus Zberg Francisco Cerezo Giancarlo Raimondi 2 Jeroen Blijlevens 3 Jaan Kirsipuu Laurent Jalabert Jaan Kirsipuu Laurent Jalabert 4 Fabrizio Guidi Fabrizio Guidi Giovanni Lombardi 5 Jeroen Blijlevens Jeroen Blijlevens 6 José María Jiménez José María Jiménez 7 Giovanni Lombardi Giancarlo Raimondi 8 Fabrizio Guidi 9 Abraham Olano Abraham Olano Laurent Jalabert 10 José María Jiménez José María Jiménez 11 José María Jiménez 12 Gianni Bugno 13 Andrei Zintchenko Fabrizio Guidi 14 Marcel Wüst 15 Andrei Zintchenko 16 José María Jiménez 17 Marcel Wüst 18 Fabrizio Guidi 19 Roberto Heras 20 Andrei Zintchenko José María Jiménez 21 Alex Zülle Abraham Olano 22 Markus Zberg Final Abraham Olano
Final standings Legend Denotes the winner of the general classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the winner of the sprints classification
General classification
+ Final general classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 2 + 1' 23" 3 + 2' 12" DSQ + 2' 18" 5 + 2' 37" 6 + 2' 58" 7 + 5' 51" 8 + 6' 05" 9 + 8' 58" 10 + 10' 17" Final general classification (11–108) Rank Rider Team Time 11 + 13' 33" 108 + 4h 09' 30"
Points classification + Final points classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 206 2 158 3 127 4 124 5 115 6 108 7 102 8 102 9 101 10 96
Mountains classification
+ Final mountains classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 184 2 93 3 92 4 75 5 62 6 60 7 59 8 56 9 54 10 48
Sprints classification + Final sprints classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 53 2 40 3 29 4 27 5 14 6 12 7 11 8 10 9 9 10 9
Team classification
+ Final team classification (1–10) Rank Team Time 1 281h 14' 43" 2 + 8' 58" 3 + 28' 59" 4 + 46' 10" 5 + 1h 04' 17" 6 + 1h 06' 36" 7 Avianca–Telecom + 1h 41' 49" 8 + 2h 30' 29" 9 + 2h 48' 23" 10 + 3h 07' 14"
References