The 31st 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 16 May 1976. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of , and was won by José Pesarrodona of the Kas-Campagnolo cycling team. Andres Oliva won the mountains classification while Dietrich Thurau won the points classification.
Teams and riders
Route
+List of stages Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner P 27 April Estepona to Estepona Individual time trial 1 28 April Estepona to Estepona 2 29 April Estepona to Priego de Córdoba 3 30 April Priego de Córdoba to Jaén 4 1 May Jaén to Baza 5 2 May Baza to Cartagena 6 3 May Cartagena to Cartagena Individual time trial 7 4 May Cartagena to Murcia 8 5 May Murcia to Almansa 9 6 May Almansa to Nules 10 7 May Castellón to Cambrils 11 8 May Cambrils to Barcelona 12 9 May Pamplona to Logroño 13 10 May Logroño to Palencia 14 11 May Paredes de Nava to Gijón 15 12 May Gijón to Cangas de Onís 16 13 May Cangas de Onís to Reinosa 17 14 May Reinosa to Bilbao 18 15 May Galdácano to Santuario de Oro (Zuia) 19a 16 May Murgia (Zuia) to San Sebastián 19b 17 May San Sebastián to San Sebastián Individual time trial Total
Doping cases When Belgian cyclist Eric Jacques finished in second place in the eighth stage, he became the new leader. Later, it became known that he tested positive for doping after that stage, and he received a penalty of ten minutes. Previously, Günter Haritz had been penalized for the same offence, and had left the race.
Results
Final General Classification
RankRiderTeamTime 1 José Pesarrodona Kas-Campagnolo 93h 19' 10" 2 Luis Ocaña Super Ser Zeus + 1' 03" 3 José Nazabal Merendia Kas-Campagnolo + 1' 41" 4 Dietrich Thurau TI–Raleigh + 1' 44" 5 Vicente Lopez Kas-Campagnolo + 1' 50" 6 Hennie Kuiper TI–Raleigh + 2' 00" 7 Joaquim Agostinho Teka + 3' 16" 8 Joseph Fuchs Super Ser Zeus + 3' 45" 9 Pedro Torres Super Ser Zeus + 4' 43" 10 José Antonio Gonzalez Kas-Campagnolo + 7' 18" 11 Ludo Loos Ebo 12 Enrique Martinez Kas-Campagnolo 13 Andres Oliva Kas-Campagnolo 14 Gonzalo Aja Barguin Teka 15 José Martins Freitas Kas-Campagnolo 16 Eric Jacques Ebo 17 Domingo Perurena Kas-Campagnolo 18 Jean-Pierre Baert Miko-De Gribaldy 19 José Enrique Cima Novostil 20 Fernardo Mendes Dos Teka 21 Ventura Diaz Teka 22 Santiago Lazcano Super Ser Zeus 23 Julian Andiano Teka 24 Manuel Esparza Teka 25 Jesus Manzaneque Super Ser Zeus
References