1988 Vuelta a España

Template:Short description 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.

List of stages

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner	GC leader
1	25 April	Santa Cruz de Tenerife		File:Time Trial.svg	Individual time trial	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
2	26 April	San Cristóbal de La Laguna– Santa Cruz de Tenerife				Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
3	27 April	Las Palmas–Las Palmas		File:Team Time Trial Stage.svg	Team time trial	Template:Cycling data ZOR
4	28 April	Alcalá del Río–Badajoz				Template:Flagathlete
5	29 April	Badajoz–Béjar				Template:Flagathlete
6	30 April	Béjar–Valladolid				Template:Flagathlete
7	1 May	Valladolid–León				Template:Flagathlete
8	2 May	León–Template:Ill				Template:Flagathlete
9	3 May	Oviedo–Monte Naranco		File:Time Trial.svg	Individual time trial	Template:Flagathlete
10	4 May	Oviedo–Santander				Template:Flagathlete
11	5 May	Santander–Valdezcaray				Template:Flagathlete
12	6 May	Logroño–Jaca				Template:Flagathlete
13	7 May	Jaca–Cerler				Template:Flagathlete
14	8 May	Benasque–Andorra				Template:Flagathlete
15	9 May	La Seu d'Urgell–Sant Quirze del Vallès				Template:Flagathlete
16	10 May	Valencia–Albacete				Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
17	11 May	Albacete–Toledo				Template:Flagathlete
18	12 May	Toledo–Ávila				Template:Flagathlete
19	13 May	Ávila–Segovia				Template:Flagathlete
20	14 May	Las Rozas–Villalba		File:Time Trial.svg	Individual time trial	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
21	15 May	Villalba–Madrid				Template:Flagathlete
	Total

Results

Final General classification

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Template:Flagicon Sean Kelly	Kas-Mavic	89h 19' 23"
2	Template:Flagicon Reimund Dietzen	Teka-Mavi-Alanc	+ 1' 27"
3	Template:Flagicon Anselmo Fuerte	Template:Cycling data ZOR	+ 1' 29"
4	Template:Flagicon Laudelino Cubino	Template:Cycling data ZOR	+ 2' 17"
5	Template:Flagicon Fabio Parra Pinto	Kelme	+ 2' 25"
6	Template:Flagicon Robert Millar	Fagor-MBK	+ 3' 22"
7	Template:Flagicon Jesús Blanco Villar	Teka-Mavi-Alanc	+ 8' 19"
8	Template:Flagicon Álvaro Pino	Template:Cycling data ZOR	+ 8' 25"
9	Template:Flagicon Eddy Schepers	Fagor-MBK	+ 9' 45"
10	Template:Flagicon Roberto Córdoba Asensi	Template:Cycling data ZOR	+ 10' 28"
11	Template:Flagicon Éric Caritoux	Kas-Mavic
12	Template:Flagicon William Palacio Navarro	Reynolds-Pinarello
13	Template:Flagicon Federico Echave Musatadi	Template:Cycling data ZOR
14	Template:Flagicon Jokin Mújika Aramburu	Template:Cycling data Artiach
15	Template:Flagicon Franco Votolo	Carrera Jeans–Vagabond
16	Template:Flagicon Martín Ramírez	Café de Colombia
17	Template:Flagicon José Luis Laguía	Reynolds-Pinarello
18	Template:Flagicon Mariano Sanchez Martinez	Teka-Mavi-Alanc
19	Template:Flagicon Martin Earley	Kas-Mavic
20	Template:Flagicon Luis Herrera	Café de Colombia
21	Template:Flagicon Carlos Jaramillo	Postobón
22	Template:Flagicon Luc Suykerbuyk	Template:Cycling data ZAH
23	Template:Flagicon Pello Ruiz Cabestany	Kas-Mavic
24	Template:Flagicon Vicente Ridaura	Template:Cycling data Artiach
25	Template:Flagicon Juan Tomas Martinez Gutierrez	Template:Cycling data ZAH

KOM Classification

	Cyclist	Team	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Álvaro Pino	BH	100
2	Template:Flagicon Anselmo Fuerte	BH	62
3	Template:Flagicon Sean Kelly	KAS	60

Points Classification

	Cyclist	Team	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Sean Kelly	KAS	248
2	Template:Flagicon Mathieu Hermans	CAJ	166
3	Template:Flagicon Benny Van Brabant	ZAH	138

Team classification

	Team	Country	Time
1	Template:Cycling data ZOR	Template:Flagu	-

Best First Year Professional

	Cyclist	Team	Time
1	Template:Flagicon Carlos Muñiz Menéndez	CLAS

External links

• Race website