The 47th Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 27 April to 17 May 1992. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of , and was won by Tony Rominger of the Clas-Cajastur cycling team.

Race preview and favorites

Among the starters in Jerez de la Frontera were such big names as Erik Breukink, Robert Millar, Steven Rooks and Stephen Roche. However, none of them seemed to arrive in good form, and none of them lived up to their reputation. Among the locals, the defending champion Melchor Mauri, Pedro Delgado and Laudelino Cubino were the favorites.

Route

+List of stages Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 27 April Jerez de la Frontera to Jerez de la Frontera Individual time trial 2a 28 April San Fernando to Jerez de la Frontera 2b Arcos de la Frontera to Jerez de la Frontera Team time trial 3 29 April Jerez de la Frontera to Córdoba 4 30 April Linares to Albacete 5 1 May Albacete to Gandia 6 2 May Gandia to Benicàssim 7 3 May Alquerías del Niño Perdido to Oropesa Individual time trial 8 4 May Lleida to Pla de Beret 9 5 May Vielha to Luz Ardiden (France) 10 6 May Luz-Saint-Sauveur (France) to Sabiñánigo 11 7 May Sabiñánigo to Pamplona 12 8 May Pamplona to Burgos 13 9 May Burgos to Santander 14 10 May Santander to Lakes of Covadonga 15 11 May Cangas de Onís to Alto del Naranco 16 12 May Oviedo to León 17 13 May León to Salamanca 18 14 May Salamanca to Ávila 19 15 May Fuenlabrada to Fuenlabrada Individual time trial 20 16 May Collado Villalba to Palazuelos de Eresma (Destilerías DYC) Óscar Vargas 21 17 May Palazuelos de Eresma (Destilerías DYC) to Madrid Total

Race overview

The first decisive stage was the first individual time trial, won by Dutch rider Erik Breukink. The big surprise that day was pure climber Jesús Montoya who managed second on the stage and took the leader's jersey. Rominger, suffering from a concussion and a knee injury due to an earlier crash, lost almost three minutes.

Two days later, during the queen stage in the Pyrenees, with 5 major mountain passes ending with the ascensions of the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden, the names of the contenders became clear, as Mauri lost over forty minutes and Rominger dropped the other contenders on the final climb, to finish second to the stage winner Lale Cubino who had spent the day in a breakaway. Cubino, who until then seemed like a candidate for the overall win, lost time on the ascension of Lagos de Covadonga, where Delgado took the stage and rose to second overall. Montoya limited his losses to Delgado, and Rominger finished right with him after being initially dropped.

As Montoya and Delgado closely marked each other's attacks, they were unable to increase their advantage on Rominger who took the lead with a commanding performance in the final flat time trial. After this, Montoya and Delgado joined forces over the final mountain stage, but were unable to unseat Rominger who once again won the stage.

Thus, Rominger became the first Swiss rider to win the Vuelta. He was joined on the final podium by Jesús Montoya and Pedro Delgado.

Doping Óscar Vargas initially won stage 20, but tested positive for caffeine in the subsequent doping test. He was stripped of his result and given a three-month suspension.

Results Final General Classification

RankRiderTeamTime 1 Tony Rominger CLAS-Cajastur 96h 14' 50" 2 Jesús Montoya Amaya Seguros 1' 04" 3 Pedro Delgado Banesto 1' 42" 4 Marco Giovannetti Gatorade – Chateau D'ax 5' 19" 5 Federico Echave CLAS-Cajastur 5' 34" 6 Laudelino Cubino Amaya Seguros 6' 24" 7 Fabio Parra Amaya Seguros 7' 24" 8 Raúl Alcalá PDM-Concorde 12' 50" 9 Francisco Javier Mauleón CLAS-Cajastur 15' 44" 10 Steven Rooks Buckler 18' 57" 11 Gert-Jan Theunisse TVM-Sanyo 19' 39" 12 Pello Ruiz Cabestany Gatorada-Chateaux d'Ax 19' 41" 13 Luis Camargo Ryalco–Postobón 14 Stephen Roche 15 Johan Bruyneel ONCE 16 Hernán Buenahora Kelme-Don Café 17 William Palacio Ryalco-Postobón 18 Piotr Ugrumov Seur 19 Edgar Corredor Sicasal-Arcal 20 Robert Millar TVM-Sanyo 21 Fabio Rodríguez Clas-Cajastur 22 Carlos Hernández Bailo Lotus-Festina 23 Jon Unzaga Bombín Clas-Cajastur 24 Arsenio González Clas-Cajastur 25 Luis Perez Garcia Lotus-Festina

References

External links La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French)