Vuelta a España

The Vuelta a España (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbwelta a esˈpaɲa]; English: Tour of Spain) is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, the race was first organized in 1935. But the race was prevented from being run by the Spanish Civil War and World War II in the early years of its existence.

1935-1960
The first two races before the Spanish Civil War was created by Lopez Doriga who organised it to go from Madrid to Madrid. The race which would be fourteen stages would see Gustaaf Deloor take out the first edition from Mariano Cañardo. Deloor would also take the second edition of the tour with his brother in Alfons Deloor coming second. After that, the Spanish Civil War and World War II stopped the tour from happening.

Despite attempts of recreating the Tour during the middle of the war, the first edition came back in 1945 with the Journal hosing the edition. With our four foreign entries from Portugal, it would be Delio Rodríguez who would take out the first Spanish win in the tour as we won by over 28 minutes over his nearest rival. The next edition of the tour would see Jan Lambrichs taken in an ambulance when Julián Berrendero broke from the pack and with Lambrichs chasing he would be punched down by spectators and taken in an ambulance.

After a Belgian took out the next edition, Spanish riders won the next two races until 1950 where Spanish isolation happening because of the regime of Franco.