Fausto Coppi and the Vuelta a España

Unlike the other two grand tours with a history started before the first world war, the first Vuelta a Espana was held in 1935. It was a spring race until the 1990s, right before (or sometimes almost at the same time as) the Giro d'Italia. Also, for almost two decades, it was really unpredictable, when the race will be held or not. It's little wonder, that many of the biggest stars of the first half or the middle of the 20th century never competed Vuelta.

But Fausto Coppi did. He participated the race in 1959 with his own Tricofilina-Coppi team and abandoned it only on the 15th stage (of a total of 17 stages).

The Vuelta was Coppi's penultimate race. A few weeks later he attended Giro di Toscana where he finished 11th.