The 1988 Vuelta a España was the 43rd Edition Vuelta a España, taking place from 25 April to 15 May 1988. It was a bicycle race which consisted of 20 stages over , ridden at an average speed of . Sean Kelly started the race as the principal favourite after performance in the 1987 Vuelta a España in which he was leading the General classification with several days remaining in the race when he was forced to withdraw due to injury. Luis "Lucho" Herrera returned to defend his title while 1985 Vuelta winner Pedro Delgado had decided to ride the 1988 Giro d'Italia in preparation for the 1988 Tour de France. The BH team directed by Javier Mínguez, presented solid opposition with the strong climbers Álvaro Pino (winner of the 1986 Vuelta a España) and Anselmo Fuerte. In the end, Kelly won the race and became the first Irish winner of the Vuelta a España, completing a hat-trick of consecutive Irish Grand Tour victories: Stephen Roche having won the 1987 Giro d'Italia and the 1987 Tour de France.
Route The first stage introduced an innovative format of five heats, each with two riders per team, with the team leaders appearing in the final heat.Una primera etapa innovadora produjo el desconcierto en el pelotón de la Vuelta – Robert Álvarez, El País, 26 April 1988
+List of stages Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 25 AprilSanta Cruz de Tenerife Individual time trial 2 26 AprilSan Cristóbal de La Laguna to Santa Cruz de Tenerife 3 27 AprilLas Palmas to Las Palmas Team time trial 4 28 AprilAlcalá del Río to Badajoz 5 29 AprilBadajoz to Béjar 6 30 AprilBéjar to Valladolid 7 1 MayValladolid to León 8 2 MayLeón to 9 3 MayOviedo to Monte Naranco Individual time trial 10 4 MayOviedo to Santander 11 5 MaySantander to Valdezcaray 12 6 MayLogroño to Jaca 13 7 MayJaca to Cerler 14 8 MayBenasque to Andorra 15 9 MayLa Seu d'Urgell to Sant Quirze del Vallès 16 10 MayValencia to Albacete 17 11 MayAlbacete to Toledo 18 12 MayToledo to Ávila 19 13 MayÁvila to Segovia 20 14 MayLas Rozas to Villalba Individual time trial 21 15 MayVillalba to Madrid Total
Results
Final General classification RankRiderTeamTime1 Sean Kelly Kas-Mavic 89h 19' 23"2 Reimund Dietzen Teka-Mavi-Alanc + 1' 27" 3 Anselmo Fuerte + 1' 29"4 Laudelino Cubino + 2' 17" 5 Fabio Parra Pinto Kelme + 2' 25"6 Robert Millar Fagor-MBK + 3' 22"7 Jesús Blanco Villar Teka-Mavi-Alanc + 8' 19"8 Álvaro Pino + 8' 25"9 Eddy Schepers Fagor-MBK + 9' 45"10 Roberto Córdoba Asensi + 10' 28"11 Éric Caritoux Kas-Mavic 12 William Palacio Navarro Reynolds-Pinarello 13 Federico Echave Musatadi 14 Jokin Mújika Aramburu 15 Franco Votolo 16 Martín Ramírez Café de Colombia 17 José Luis Laguía Reynolds-Pinarello 18 Mariano Sanchez Martinez Teka-Mavi-Alanc 19 Martin Earley Kas-Mavic 20 Luis Herrera Café de Colombia 21 Carlos Jaramillo Postobón 22 Luc Suykerbuyk 23 Pello Ruiz Cabestany Kas-Mavic 24 Vicente Ridaura 25 Juan Tomas Martinez Gutierrez
KOM Classification
CyclistTeamPoints1 Álvaro PinoBH1002 Anselmo FuerteBH623 Sean KellyKAS60
Points Classification
CyclistTeamPoints1 Sean KellyKAS2482 Mathieu HermansCAJ1663 Benny Van BrabantZAH138
Team classification TeamCountryTime1-
Best First Year Professional CyclistTeamTime1 Carlos Muñiz MenéndezCLAS
References
External links Race website