Vuelta a Murcia

Vuelta a Murcia

Race details
Date	Early-March
Region	Murcia, Spain
English name	Tour of Murcia
Local name(s)	Vuelta Ciclistica a la Region di Murcia
Discipline	Road race
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	Stage race (until 2012) One-day race (2013)
History
First edition	1981 (1981)
Editions	33 (as of 2013)
First winner	Pedro Delgado (ESP)
Most wins	Alejandro Valverde (ESP) (3 wins)
Most recent	Daniel Navarro (ESP)

The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia (English: Tour of Murcia) is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. Originally the race consisted of five stages. However, due to financial troubles, the race consisted of three stages in 2011 and only two stages in 2012.^[1] It is part of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event.^[2] The first four editions were reserved to amateurs.

Controversy

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

Past winners

		Rider	Team
1981	ESP !	Delgado, PedroPedro Delgado (ESP)
1982	ESP !	Sanchis, SalvadorSalvador Sanchis (ESP)
1983	ESP !	Cedena, Francisco JavierFrancisco Javier Cedena (ESP)
1984	ESP !	Martinez, RicardoRicardo Martinez (ESP)
1985	ESP !	Recio, JoseJosé Recio (ESP)	Kelme
1986	ESP !	Indurain, MiguelMiguel Indurain (ESP)	Reynolds
1987	ESP !	Ruiz Cabestany, PelloPello Ruiz Cabestany (ESP)	Caja Rural-Seat
1988	ESP !	Hernández, CarlosCarlos Hernández (ESP)	Teka
1989	ESP !	Alonso, MarinoMarino Alonso (ESP)	Teka
1990	NED !	Cordes, TomTom Cordes (NED)	Buckler-Colnago-Decca
1991	ESP !	Villanueva, José LuisJosé Luis Villanueva (ESP)	ONCE
1992	COL !	Mejia, AlvaroÁlvaro Mejía (COL)	Postobón
1993	ESP !	Galarreta, CarlosCarlos Galarreta (ESP)	Deportpublic
1994	ESP !	Mauri, MelchorMelchor Mauri (ESP)	Banesto
1995	ITA !	Baffi, AdrianoAdriano Baffi (ITA)	Mapei-GB
1996	ESP !	Mauri, MelchorMelchor Mauri (ESP)	ONCE
1997	ESP !	Domínguez, Juan CarlosJuan Carlos Domínguez (ESP)	Kelme-Costa Blanca
1998	ITA !	Elli, AlbertoAlberto Elli (ITA)	Casino-Ag2r
1999	ITA !	Pantani, MarcoMarco Pantani (ITA)	Mercatone Uno-Bianchi
2000	ESP !	Cañada, DavidDavid Cañada (ESP)	ONCE-Deutsche Bank
2001	ESP !	González, AitorAitor González (ESP)	Kelme-Costa Blanca
2002	COL !	Peña, Victor HugoVíctor Hugo Peña (COL)	US Postal
2003	ESP !	Pascual Llorente, JavierJavier Pascual Llorente (ESP)	Kelme-Costa Blanca
2004	ESP !	Valverde, AlejandroAlejandro Valverde (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme
2005	ESP !	Gil, KoldoKoldo Gil (ESP)	Liberty Seguros-Würth
2006	ESP !	González, SantosSantos González (ESP)	3 Molinos Resort
2007	ESP !	Valverde, AlejandroAlejandro Valverde (ESP)	Caisse d'Epargne
2008	ESP !	Valverde, AlejandroAlejandro Valverde (ESP)	Caisse d'Epargne
2009	RUS !	Menchov, DenisDenis Menchov (RUS)	Rabobank
2010	CZE !	Raboň, FrantišekFrantišek Raboň (CZE)	Team HTC-Columbia
2011	FRA !	Coppel, JérômeJérôme Coppel (FRA)	Saur-Sojasun
2012	COL !	Quintana, NairoNairo Quintana (COL)	Movistar Team
2013	ESP !	Navarro, DanielDaniel Navarro (ESP)	Cofidis

References

1. ↑ "Economic crisis hits Tour of Murcia". Cyclingnews (Future Publishing Limited). 6 January 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2012. 
2. ↑ "2012 UCI Road Calendar". Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 27 February 2012. 
3. ↑ "Tour of Murcia bars Italian teams". Cyclingnews (Future Publishing Limited). 5 February 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2012. 
4. ↑ Stokes, Shane (6 February 2012). "Confirmed: Contador handed two year doping ban,loses 2010 Tour title". VeloNation. Retrieved 27 February 2012. 

External links

• Official site (Spanish)