Dates 24 April - 15 May Distance 3,711 km (2,306 mi) | Stages 21 + Prologue Winning time 94h 36' 40" | |
Winner Marco Giovannetti (ITA) | ||
The 45th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 24 to May 15, 1990. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 3,711 km (2,306 mi), and was won by Marco Giovannetti of the Seur cycling team.
Defending champion Pedro Delgado was the principal favourite for the win of the race. Delgado was joined by a strong Banesto team that included Miguel Induráin and Julian Gorospe. The other Spanish favourites included 1986 winner Álvaro Pino as well as Anselmo Fuerte and 1982 winner Marino Lejarreta. Of the potential foreign winners were the strong Colombians which included Fabio Parra and Lucho Herrera.
Pello Ruiz Cabestany won the prologue and took the first leader's jersey. The following day a breakaway got away and Viktor Klimov took the jersey. On the sixth stage a break won the day and took an advantage of over four minutes. Gorospe took the leader's jersey. However on the tenth stage, Gorospe had a bad day and lost the jersey to Marco Giovannetti who had been second on the general classification and had been in the break that gained the time on the favourites. Delgado tried to close the gap to Giovannetti over the remainder of the race but could not. Giovannetti won his first and only grand tour ahead of Delgado and Anselmo Fuerte.