The 51st Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicyclestage race and one of the three Grand Tours, was held from 7 September to 29 September 1996. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of 3,898 km (2,422 mi), and was won by Alex Zülle of the ONCEcycling team.[1] This was the only time in cycling history that riders from Switzerland swept the Podium in a Grand Tour.[citation needed]
Five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain started his home tour for the first time since finishing second in 1991, having just recently been dislodged at the Tour by Bjarne Riis. He was initially reluctant to start, but convinced by his team to do so after a strong performance during the time trial at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. However, Indurain would eventually abandon the race, which would prove to be the last of his career, on stage 13 while lying in third place overall, having been dropped by the rest of the race favourites on the first-category climb of the Fito pass.[2][3][4]
