The 36th Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 21 April to 10 May 1981. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of , and was won by Giovanni Battaglin of the cycling team.
Regis Clere won the prologue of the race and kept the leader's jersey until the mountain time trial where on the very long climb to Sierra Nevada, Giovanni Battaglin won the stage and took over the leader's jersey. The only threat to Battaglin's lead was Pedro Muñoz. The entire Teka team withdrew from the race withdrawing potential favourites Marino Lejarreta and Alberto Fernández. Battaglin and his Inoxpran team withstood the challenge from the Spanish and brought Battaglin to his first grand tour victory. Three days later after Battaglin's triumph in Spain, he began the 1981 Giro d'Italia which he would win becoming the second rider after Eddy Merckx to win the Vuelta-Giro double.
Teams and riders
Route
+List of stages Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner P 21 April Santander to Santander Individual time trial 1 22 April Santander to Avilés 2 23 April Avilés to León 3 24 April León to Salamanca 4 25 April Salamanca to Cáceres 5 26 April Cáceres to Mérida 6 27 April Mérida to Seville 7 28 April Écija to Jaén 8a 29 April Jaén to Granada 8b Granada to Sierra Nevada Individual time trial 9 30 April Baza to Murcia 10 1 May Murcia to Almussafes 11 2 May Almussafes to Peñíscola 12 3 May Peñíscola to Esparreguera 13 4 May Esparreguera to Rasos de Peguera 14 5 May Gironella to Balaguer 15a 6 May Balaguer to Alfajarín 15b Zaragoza to Zaragoza Individual time trial 16 7 May Calatayud to Torrejón de Ardoz 17 8 May Torrejón de Ardoz to Segovia 18 9 May Segovia to Los Ángeles de San Rafael 19 10 May Madrid to Madrid Total
Final standings General classification
+ Final general classification (1–10)RankRiderTeamTime1 98h 04' 49"2 Zor–Helios + 2' 09"3 Kelme–Gios + 2' 29"4 + 3' 33"5 Colchon C.R. + 4' 26"6 Zor–Helios + 4' 30"7 Reynolds–Galli + 6' 05"8 Zor–Helios + 7' 09"9 Miko–Mercier + 7' 23"10 Zor–Helios + 10' 54" Final general classification (11–25)11 Zor–Helios + 12' 48"12 + 13' 49"13 Zor–Helios + 16' 17"14 + 17' 17"15 HB Alarmsystemen + 19' 55"16 Hueso-Manzaneque + 22' 32"17 Colchon C.R. + 26' 16"18 Colchon C.R. + 27' 36"19 Colchon C.R. + 29' 46"20 Zor–Helios + 30' 36"21 Miko–Mercier + 31' 54"22 Colchon C.R. + 33' 24"23 Zor–Helios + 36' 30"24 + 37' 49"25 Reynolds–Galli + 44' 44"
Team classification +Final team classification Rank Team Time 1 Zor Helios 294h 09' 15" 2 Inoxpran + 17' 14" 3 Colchon CR + 43' 04" 4 Kelme + 1h 05' 01" 5 Miko Mercier + 1h 19' 31" 6 Reynolds + 1h 48' 41" 7 H.B. + 2h 06' 31" 8 Manzaneque + 2h 30' 41"
Points classification +Final points classification Rank Rider Team Points1 Colchon 2112 Kelme 1373 Zor 134
Mountains classification +Final mountains classification Rank Rider Team Points1 Reynolds 1442 Kelme 983 Zor 694 Inoxpran 605 Zor 57
Sprints classification +Final sprints classification Rank Rider Team Points1 Manzaneque 212 Reynolds 123 Kelme 10
References General
Specific