Eddy Merckx rode Vuelta a España only once during his extremely successful carreer, in 1973. He won the race, managed to achieve the first ever Vuelta-Giro double in the history of road cycling races, also became the third cyclist after Jacques Anquetil and Felice Gimondi, who has won all the three grand tours at least once.
The 28th edition of Vuelta Cyclista a España was held between 26 April and 13 May 1973. Merckx won six stages (3 of them were individual time trials). He took the overall lead only after the 11th stage.
The biggest rivals of Merckx were Luis Ocaña ( who that year, with the absence of Merckx would win the Tour de France) and Bernard Thévenet (another future Tour de France winner), which makes the race one of the best editions of Vuelta a España ever.
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