The 3rd Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicyclestage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 12 June to 6 July 1941. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 4,409 km (2,740 mi). Delio Rodríguez won 12 of the 21 stages and finished in 4th place overall. Fermin Trueba won three stages and the mountains classification and finished only about one minute behind Julián Berrendero, in a race where the winner's time was nearly 170:00:00.[1][2]
This was the first time that the Vuelta was won by a Spanish rider. The race was organized by "Educacion y Descanco", an organisation in the Franco dictatorship with the goal to promote arts, culture and sports. Teams from several countries (Belgium, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) were invited to send a team of four riders, but the countries involved in World War II were unwilling or unable to do so, and only riders from Spain and neutral Switzerland competed in the race.[3]
Rodriguez rose to fame after this race and later became a significant figure in Spanish cycling history.[4][5]
^"Manana Empieza en Madrid la III Vuelta Ciclista a España" [The third Tour of Spain begins in Madrid tomorrow] (PDF). El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo S.A. 11 June 1941. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^"La Vuelta Ciclista a España "tesoro de propaganda nacional"" [The cycling Tour of Spain "treasure of national propaganda"] (PDF). El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 8 June 1941. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
^van den Akker, Pieter. Vuelta a España rules and statistics: 1935-2021. p. 4. ISBN979-8837468667.
^"General Information 1941". La Vuelta.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
^Boyce, Barry. "The Return of the Vuelta". CyclingRevealed. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
^"1941 » 3rd Vuelta a Espana". Procyclingstats. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
^"3ème Vuelta a España 1941". Memoire du cyclisme (in French). Archived from the original on 25 October 2004.
^"1941 Stage Results". La Vuelta. Unipublic. Retrieved 11 July 2011.