1973 Vuelta a España

A total of eight teams were invited to participate in the 1973 Vuelta a España.[9] Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 80 cyclists.[9] 62 cyclists reached the finish in San Sebastián.[10]

The teams entering the race were:[9]

Four different jerseys were worn during the 1973 Vuelta a España. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages – wore a golden jersey.[10] This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Vuelta.

For the points classification, which awarded a light blue jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15; additional points could also be won in intermediate sprints. The green jersey was awarded to the mountains classification leader.[10] In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. Each climb was ranked as either first, second or third category, with more points available for higher category climbs. The combination classification awarded a red jersey to its leader.[10]

Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the stage finish times of the best three cyclists per team were added; the leading team was the one with the lowest total time.

The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

Classification leadership by stage

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Combination classification	Team classification
P	Eddy Merckx	Eddy Merckx	not awarded	not awarded	not awarded	not awarded
1	Pieter Nassen		Pieter Nassen	Domingo Perurena		Rokado
2	Gerben Karstens	Gerben Karstens	Gerben Karstens		Javier Elorriaga & Jean-Jacques Fussien
3	Pieter Nassen		Pieter Nassen	José Luis Abilleira	Jean-Jacques Fussien
4	Jos Deschoenmaecker	José Pesarrodona				KAS
5	Gerben Karstens		Gerben Karstens
6a	Roger Swerts				José Luis Galdamez	Molteni
6b	Molteni
7	Gerben Karstens				Eddy Merckx
8	Eddy Merckx
9a	Juan Manuel Santisteban
9b	Jacques Esclassan
10	Eddy Merckx
11	Bernard Thévenet	Eddy Merckx				La Casera
12	Gerben Karstens
13	Domingo Perurena
14	Juan Zurano
15a	Eddy Peelman		Eddy Merckx
15b	Eddy Merckx
16	Eddy Merckx
17a	Eddy Peelman
17b	Eddy Merckx
Final		Eddy Merckx	Eddy Merckx	José Luis Abilleira	Eddy Merckx	La Casera

Citations