1946 Vuelta a España


The 6th Vuelta a España, a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 7 to 30 May 1946. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of, and was won by Dalmacio Langarica. Emilio Rodríguez won the mountains classification.
After the 22nd stage, Jan Lambrichs was in second place. The Dutch team then received a letter, saying that Lambrichs should give up his second place, otherwise he would reach the finish in Madrid in an ambulance. The team manager decided not to tell Lambrichs about this threat, but gave him extra security. In the final stage, Berrendero escaped and left everybody behind, including Lambrichs, and took over the second place. The next day, the Dutch team received a box of Cuban cigars from the unknown person who had sent the threat.

Teams and riders

Route

Results

Final General Classification

RankRiderTeamTime
1 Dalmacio Langarica 137h 10' 38"
2 Julián Berrendero + 17' 32"
3 Jan Lambrichs + 23' 54"
4 Manuel Costa + 24' 19"
5 Delio Rodríguez + 45' 04"
6 Alejandro Fombellida + 46' 09"
7 Antonio-Andres Sancho + 1h 00' 10"
8 Emilio Rodríguez + 1h 03' 45"
9 José Gutierrez + 1h 18' 48"
10 Joao Rebelo + 1h 53' 37"
11 Georges Aeschlimann
12 Cipriano Aguirrezabal
13 Bernardo Ruiz
14 Pastor Rodríguez
15 Joaquim Olmos
16 Antonio Martin
17 Ernest Kuhn
18 Vicente Miro
19 José Lopez Gandara
20 Frans Pauwels
21 Joaquim Jiménez
22 Pedro Font
23 Cees Joosen
24 Gabriel Palmer
25 Theo Perret