English name Tour of Murcia Editions 37 (as of 2017) First winner Pedro Delgado (ESP) First edition 1981 Date Mid-February | Discipline Road race Competition UCI Continental Circuits Region Region of Murcia Edition 37 (2017) | |
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Local name(s) Vuelta Ciclistica a la Region di Murcia Type Stage race (until 2012)
One-day race (2013 onwards) Most wins Alejandro Valverde (ESP) (5 wins) Instances 2017 Vuelta a Murcia, 2016 Vuelta a Murcia | ||
Vuelta a murcia 2017
The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia (English: Tour of Murcia) is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, due to Spain's financial turmoil, the race was scaled back to three stages in 2011 and two stages in 2012. Since 2013 the Vuelta a Murcia is organised as a single-day race and shifted to mid-February on the international calendar. It is part of the UCI Europe Tour as a 1.1 event.
Contents
Controversies
All Italian teams were banned from taking part in 2010 edition of the race by the race organizers. This decision was made due to the banning of Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde by the Italian Olympic Committee due to his links with the Operación Puerto blood doping ring.
In 2011 Alberto Contador won both the overall and points classification after winning Stage 2 and the Stage 3 individual time trial. However, in February 2012 he was suspended and all his results after July 2010 were voided, awarding Jérôme Coppel of Saur Sojasun the overall victory.