Eddy Merckx’s only Vuelta a Espana victory (1973)

Eddy Merckx, arguably the greatest cyclist ever, participated in Vuelta a Espana  only once during his extraordinary successful career. The significance of this singular achievement is not just that Merckx became the first cyclist to achieve a Vuelta-Giro double, but also that he joined the elite ranks of Jacques Anquetil and Felice Gimondi as only the third rider to win all three grand tours at least once.

Sometimes Vuelta a Espana is seen as the poor stepsibling of the two other big three-week events. The first edition of the race was organized in 1935, decades after the creation of both Tour de France (1903) and Giro d'Italia (1909). Although some editions were held during World War II, they had very little influence on the international professional racing for obvious reasons. During the 1940s and 1950s Vuelta a Espana was fighting for survival, there was no race for a decade.

Unfortunately, its place in the international racing calendar, springtime, few weeks before Giro d'Italia, did not help either to create a big significant event. No wonder that some of the greatest legends, like Gino Bartali never rode Vuelta a Espana. Many of them participated only once in the event. Fausto Coppi rode Vuelta only in his last season, in 1959,  but he did not finished it. Also

Eddy Merckx attempted only once to succeed at Vuelta a Espana.

Of course, he managed to win it.

In order to achieve this, he had to skip one of the other two grand tours of the season, and he picked Tour de France.

It might have been a difficult decision for Merckx. Since 1969, his first appearance, he won Tour de France four times in a row. (He also won already three Giro d'Italia editions since 1968.) At that point, only Jacques Anquetil managed to win 5 editioms of Tour de France, but not in a row. (This happened only to Miguel Indurain in the first half of the 1990s.)

Winning Tour de France for the fifth time in five consecutive years would have been also an extraordinary achievement. But Merckx was chasing glory rather on the Iberian Peninsula that year.

The 28th Vuelta a Espana was held between 26 April and 15 May 1973. The race covered 3,017 kilometers over 17 stages, including several time trials, also mountain stages with very steep ascents, as usual. Merckx won amtotal of six stages. In a typical Cannibal style,

Merckx took the lead on his very first Vuelta a Espana stage already.

(The same happened in 1969, when Merckx took the yellow jersey on his very first day by winning the opening time trial of the Tour de France.)

But he did not manage a "from dawn to sunset" victory. Between the stages 2 and 11 there were other leaders of the general classification too, first Gerben Karstens, then José Pesarrodona. Merckx claimed the leader jersey for the second time on the 11th stage.  (Please note, because of the several A and B half-stages,  regarded sometimes as different stages, the numeration in different sources can be  contradictive and a bit confusing. )

During those years, The peloton of Vuelta a Espana included only one or two big stars. The winner of the race had rarely serious rivals. 1973 was a bit differnt year in that sense too. Merckx had to compete with Luis Ocaña (winner of Vuelta a Espana 1970, and future Tour de France winner in 1973), and Bernard Thévenet (future 2-time Tour de France winner from 1975 and 1977, who also rode Vuelta a Espana for only one time.)

Merckx with six stages victories secured the lead till the end of the race and won Vuelta a Espana for the first and only time.

Eddy Merckx's only Vuelta a Espana victory was part of an incredible record. Because he won both Giro and Tour in the previous season, also he managed to achieved the Vuelta-Giro double in 1973,

he won four grand tours in a row.