The 37th Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 20 April to 9 May 1982. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of , and was won by Marino Lejarreta of the Teka cycling team.
The Reynolds team controlled the race after team leader Ángel Arroyo took the leader's jersey on the tenth stage. Arroyo kept the jersey until the finish of the race where he won the final individual time trial. Arroyo won the grand tour ahead of Marino Lejarreta and Michel Pollentier. However 48 hours after his win, it emerged that in the doping control that was conducted after the stage 17 Arroyo tested positive. Three other riders also failed the doping test after stage 17: Alberto Fernández, Vicente Belda and Pedro Muñoz.
The four riders were said to have tested positive for Methylphenidate (which is also known as Ritalin) a stimulant. Methylphenidate was a popular drug for doping in cycling at that time. Arroyo and his team denied the allegations and asked for a second analysis of the sample. The B analysis confirmed the first positive test. Arroyo was assigned a 10-minute penalty and stripped of his Vuelta win which was given to Lejarreta. With the 10-minute penalty Arroyo went down to 13th place in the classification. The disqualification of the winner of the Vuelta has been called the worst scandal that has ever hit the race on the official La Vuelta website.
Teams and riders
Route
+List of stages Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner P 20 April Santiago de Compostela to Santiago de Compostela Individual time trial 1a 21 April Santiago de Compostela to A Coruña 1b A Coruña to Lugo 2 22 April Lugo to Gijón 3 23 April Gijón to Santander 4 24 April Santander to Reinosa 5 25 April Reinosa to Logroño 6 26 April Logroño to Zaragoza 7 27 April Zaragoza to Sabiñánigo 8 28 April Sabiñánigo to Lleida 9 29 April Artesa de Segre to Puigcerdà 10 30 April Puigcerdà to Sant Quirze del Vallès 11 1 May Sant Quirze del Vallès to Barcelona 12 2 May Salou to Nules 13 3 May Nules to Antella 14 4 May Antella to Albacete 15a 5 May Albacete to Tomelloso 15b Tomelloso to Campo de Criptana Individual time trial 16 6 May Campo de Criptana to San Fernando de Henares 17 7 May San Fernando de Henares to Navacerrada 18 8 May Palazuelos de Eresma (Destilerías DYC) to Palazuelos de Eresma (Destilerías DYC) 19 9 May Madrid to Madrid Total
Results Final General Classification
RankRiderTeamTime 1 Marino Lejarreta Teka 95h 47' 23" 2 Michel Pollentier Safir-Concorde + 18" 3 Sven-Åke Nilsson Wolber-Spidel + 1' 17" 4 Faustino Ruperez Rincon Zor-Helios + 2' 14" 5 José Luis Laguía Reynolds-Galli + 2' 37" 6 Pierre-Raymond Villemiane Wolber-Spidel + 2' 43" 7 Stefan Mutter Puch-Eurotex + 4' 18" 8 Jaime Vilamajo Ipiens Kelme-Merckx + 4' 19s 9 Marc Durant Wolber-Spidel + 5' 10" 10 Álvaro Pino Zor-Helios + 5' 53" 11 Enrique Martinez Heredia Kelme-Merckx 12 Celestino Prieto Rodriquez Kelme-Merckx 13 Ángel Arroyo Reynolds-Galli 14 Eduardo Chozas Zor-Helios 15 Alberto Fernandez Teka 16 Paul Wellens Splendor-Wickes 17 Bernardo Alfonsel Lopez Teka 18 Vicente Belda Kelme-Merckx 19 Ismael Lejarreta Teka 20 Juan Fernández Kelme-Merckx 21 Jo Maas Splendor-Wickes 22 Dominique Arnaud Wolber-Spidel 23 Luis-Vicente Otin Hueso 24 Benny Van Brabant Splendor-Wickes 25 Pedro Munoz Rodriguez Zor-Helios
References