1968 Vuelta a España

The 23rd edition of Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 25 April to 12 May 1968. It consisted of 18 stages covering a total of 3,014 km (1,873 mi). Basque nationalist ETA terrorists detonated a bomb along the course on stage 15, causing that day's racing to be annulled.^[1][2] The race was won by Felice Gimondi of the Salvarani cycling team. With this win in the 1968 Vuelta a España, the 1967 Giro d'Italia and the 1965 Tour de France, Gimondi became the second cyclist after Jacques Anquetil to win all three grand tours in his career.^[3] Defending champion Jan Janssen won the points competition and 1966 champion Francisco Gabica won the mountains classification.^[4]

1968 Vuelta a España

Race details
Dates	25 April – 12 May
Stages	18
Distance	3,014 km (1,873 mi)
Winning time	78h 29' 00"
Results
Winner  Felice Gimondi (ITA) (Salvarani)   Second  José Pérez Francés (ESP) (Kas–Kaskol)   Third  Eusebio Vélez (ESP) (Fagor) Points  Jan Janssen (NED) (Pelforth)   Mountains  Francisco Gabica (ESP) (Fagor)   Sprints  Carlos Echeverría (ESP) (KAS)
← 1967 1969 →

Teams and riders

Main article: List of teams and cyclists in the 1968 Vuelta a España

Route

List of stages^[5][6]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1a	25 April	Zaragoza – Zaragoza	130 km (81 mi)			Jan Janssen (NED)
1b	25 April	Zaragoza – Zaragoza	4 km (2 mi)		Individual time trial	Jan Janssen (NED)
2	26 April	Zaragoza – Lleida	195 km (121 mi)			Michael Wright (GBR)
3a	27 April	Lleida – Barcelona	165 km (103 mi)			Tommaso de Pra (ITA)
3b	27 April	Barcelona – Barcelona	38 km (24 mi)			Rudi Altig (FRG)
4	28 April	Barcelona – Salou	108 km (67 mi)			Michael Wright (GBR)
5	29 April	Salou – Vinaròs	106 km (66 mi)			Rudi Altig (FRG)
6	30 April	Vinaròs – Valencia	148 km (92 mi)			Pietro Guerra (ITA)
7	1 May	Valencia – Benidorm	144 km (89 mi)			Wilfried Peffgen (FRG)
8	2 May	Benidorm – Almansa	167 km (104 mi)			Manuel Martín Piñera (ESP)
9	3 May	Almansa – Alcázar de San Juan	230 km (143 mi)			José María Errandonea (ESP)
10	4 May	Alcázar de San Juan – Madrid	173 km (107 mi)			Domingo Perurena (ESP)
11	5 May	Madrid – Palencia	242 km (150 mi)			Ramón Sáez (ESP)
12	6 May	Villalón de Campos – Gijón	236 km (147 mi)			José Pérez Francés (ESP)
13	7 May	Gijón – Santander	203 km (126 mi)			Victor Van Schil (BEL)
14	8 May	Santander – Vitoria	244 km (152 mi)			Eduardo Castelló (ESP)
15	9 May	Vitoria – Pamplona				Annulled
16	10 May	Pamplona – San Sebastián	204 km (127 mi)			Luis Santamarina (ESP)
17	11 May	San Sebastián – Tolosa	67 km (42 mi)		Individual time trial	Felice Gimondi (ITA)
18	12 May	Tolosa – Bilbao	206 km (128 mi)			Manuel Martín Piñera (ESP)
	Total		3,014 km (1,873 mi)

Results

Final General Classification

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Felice Gimondi	Salvarani	78h 29' 00"
2	José Pérez Francés	Kas–Kaskol	+ 2' 15"
3	Eusebio Vélez	Fagor	+ 5' 08"
4	José María Errandonea	Fagor	+ 5' 19"
5	Vittorio Adorni	Faema	+ 5' 26"
6	Jan Janssen	Pelforth	+ 5' 43"
7	Antonio Gómez del Moral	Kas–Kaskol	+ 5' 55"
8	Carlos Echeverría	Kas–Kaskol	+ 6' 00"
9	Lucien Aimar	Bic	+ 6' 40"
10	Jos Spruyt	Faema	+ 7' 50"
11	Luis Otaño Arcelus	Fagor
12	Jean-Pierre Ducasse	Pelforth
13	Francisco Gabica	Fagor
14	Michael Wright	Bic
15	Ventura Díaz Arrey	Ferrys
16	José Manuel Lopez	Fagor
17	José Antonio Momeñe	Fagor
18	Rudi Altig	Salvarani
19	Andrés Gandarias	Kas–Kaskol
20	Cees Haast	Bic
21	Fernando Manzaneque	Karpy
22	Wilfried Peffgen	Salvarani
23	Victor Van Schil	Faema
24	Domingo Perurena	Fagor
25	Sebastián Elorza Uria	Kas–Kaskol