1956 Vuelta a España

1956 Vuelta a España

Race details
Dates	26 April – 13 May
Stages	17
Distance	3,537 km (2,198 mi)
Winning time	105h 37' 52"
Results
Winner  Angelo Conterno (ITA)   Second  Jesús Loroño (ESP)   Third  Raymond Impanis (BEL) Points  Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)   Mountains  Nino Defilippis (ITA)

The 11th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 26 April to 13 May 1956. It consisted of 17 stages covering a total of 3,531 km (2,194 mi), and was won by Angelo Conterno of the Bianchi cycling team.^[1] Rik Van Steenbergen won the points classification and Nino Defilippis won the mountains classification.

The race was run with national teams of France, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium, and an additional four regional Spanish teams. Each fielded 10 cyclists, for a total of 90.^[2]

Teams and riders

Main article: List of teams and cyclists in the 1956 Vuelta a España

Route

List of stages^[3]^[4]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	26 April	Bilbao – Santander	203 km (126 mi)			Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
2	27 April	Santander – Oviedo	248 km (154 mi)			Angelo Conterno (ITA)
3	28 April	Oviedo – Valladolid	175 km (109 mi)			Miguel Poblet (ESP)
4	29 April	Valladolid – Madrid	212 km (132 mi)			Claude Le Ber (FRA)
5	30 April	Madrid – Albacete	241 km (150 mi)			Miguel Poblet (ESP)
6	1 May	Albacete – Alicante	227 km (141 mi)			Miguel Poblet (ESP)
7	2 May	Alicante – Valencia	182 km (113 mi)			Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
8	3 May	Valencia – Tarragona	249 km (155 mi)			Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
9	5 May	Tarragona – Barcelona	163 km (101 mi)			Hugo Koblet (SUI)
10a	6 May	Barcelona – Barcelona	21 km (13 mi)		Team time trial	France
10b	6 May	Barcelona – Tàrrega	112 km (70 mi)			Gilbert Bauvin (FRA)
11	7 May	Tàrrega – Zaragoza	238 km (148 mi)			Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
12	8 May	Zaragoza – Bayonne (France)	274 km (170 mi)			Giancarlo Astrua (ITA)
13a	9 May	Bayonne (France) – Irun	43 km (27 mi)		Individual time trial	Claude Le Ber (FRA)
13b	9 May	Irun – Pamplona	111 km (69 mi)			Roger Walkowiak (FRA)
14	10 May	Pamplona – San Sebastián	195 km (121 mi)			Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
15	11 May	San Sebastián – Bilbao	225 km (140 mi)			Nino Defilippis (ITA)
16	12 May	Bilbao – Vitoria	207 km (129 mi)			Benigno Azpuru [es] (ESP)
17	13 May	Vitoria – Bilbao	190 km (118 mi)			Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
	Total		3,531 km (2,194 mi)

Results

Final general classification^[5]

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Angelo Conterno	Bianchi	105h 37' 52"
2	Jesús Loroño		+ 13"
3	Raymond Impanis	Elvé-Peugeot	+ 1' 54"
4	Federico Bahamontes		+ 3' 27"
5	Rik Van Steenbergen		+ 7' 48"
6	Miguel Chacón Díaz	Elvé-Peugeot	+ 8' 30"
7	Gilbert Bauvin		+ 19' 18"
8	Brian Robinson		+ 20' 36"
9	José Serra Gil		+ 23' 38"
10	Manuel Rodríguez Barros		+ 24' 55"
11	Emilio Rodríguez
12	Giancarlo Astrua
13	Giuseppe Buratti	Bianchi
14	Carmelo Morales Erostarbe
15	Cosme Barrutia
16	Hilaire Couvreur
17	Juan Bibiloni
18	Nino Defilippis	Bianchi
19	Arrigo Padovan
20	Antonio Barrutia
21	René Marigil
22	Edgard Sorgeloos
23	Vicente Iturat
24	Giovanni Pettinati	Bianchi
25	Remo Pianezzi

References

1. "General Information 1956". La Vuelta.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
2. "Lista de participantes" [List of participants]. El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 25 April 1956. p. 3. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
3. "1956  » 11th Vuelta a Espana". Procyclingstats. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
4. "11ème Vuelta a España 1956". Memoire du cyclisme (in French). Archived from the original on 25 October 2004.
5. "Clasificacion General" [General Classification] (PDF). El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 14 May 1956. p. 8. Retrieved 5 August 2018.