19th Vuelta a Espana 1964

Poulidor Wins a Grand Tour!

Spain 's most powerful team, Ferrys, came to the 1964 Vuelta a Espana with three talented riders capable of taking the final victory. Teammates Jose Pérez-Francés, Fernando Manzaneque, and Luis Otaño all had individual ambitions and battled each other team control. This internal fighting opened the door for Frenchman Raymond Poulidor.

After several difficult stages and a hard stage 5 crash race leader Rik Van Looy abandoned with injuries. This set the stage for Jose Pérez-Francés to take the race lead. After three stages in the Amarillo Jersey team Ferry's internal struggles began to play a major role in the race.

During stage 9 from Pamplona to San Sebastian Luis Otaño joins a solid four rider breakaway. Otaño played the good teammate with 70 km to go and refused to help the pace of the elite group. The breakaway continued to gain time and with 30 km to go Otaño realized control of the race was his and began to roll through to take a turn on the front. He won the stage and took the Amarillo Jersey from his teammate. Immediately war broke out on the Team Ferry.

The drama continued on stage 14 from Aviles to Leon when Julio Jimenez of Team Kas broke away solo for the stage win. He gained 7'12” on the race leader and took the race lead. The embattled Team Ferry were losing the Vuleta.

There were three stages to the finish in Madrid, but the individual time trial was not a Jimenez strength. After Jimenez the highest placed contender was Luis Otaño, who led teammate Pérez-Francés by 1'17” and Raymond Poulidor by 2'49”.

Poulidor, a master of the ITT, covered the 65 km course 1h35'26”. The two Spanish hopefuls Pérez-Francés lost 2'13” and Otaño lost 2'22” to Poulidor. The Frenchman took over the race lead thanks to a generous 1 minute stage win time bonus. Poulidor led Otaño by 33” and Pérez-Francés 1'56” with two stages remaining.

Raymond “Pou-Pou” Poulidor held off a late charge and 30 second time bonus on the final stage by Jose Pérez-Francés to gain the 1964 Vuelta a Espana victory.

Stage 1a Benidorm-Benidorm, 42 km	Edward Sels (Bel)	Edward Sels (Bel)
Stage 1b Benidorm-Benidorm, 11 km ITT	Eusebio Velez (Spa)	Eusebio Velez (Spa)
Stage 2 Benidorm-Nules, 199 km	Rik Van Looy (Bel)	Rik Van Looy (Bel)
Stage 3 Nules-Salou, 212 km	Frans Melckenbeeck (Bel)	Rik Van Looy (Bel)
Stage 4a Salou-Barcelona, 115 km	Armand Desmet (Bel)	Rik Van Looy (Bel)
Stage 4b Barcelona-Barcelona, 49 km	Antonio Barrutia (Spa)	Rik Van Looy (Bel)
Stage 5 Barcelona-Puigcerda, 174 km	Julio Jimenez (Spa)	Rik Van Looy (Bel)
Stage 6 Puigcerda-Lerida, 187 km	Frans Melckenbeeck (Bel)	Jose Perez-Frances (Spa)
Stage 7 Lerida-Jaca, 201 km	Julio Sanz (Spa)	Jose Perez-Frances (Spa)
Stage 8 Jaca-Pamplona, 205 km	Mies Stolker (Hol)	Jose Perez-Frances (Spa)
Stage 9 Pamplona-San Sebastian, 205 km	Luis Otano (Spa)	Luis Otano (Spa)
Stage 10 San Sebastian-Bilbao, 197 km	Henri Dewolf (Bel)	Luis Otano (Spa)
Stage 11 Bilbao-Vitoria, 107 km	Victor Van Schil (Bel)	Luis Otano (Spa)
Stage 12 Vitoria-Santander, 211 km	Barry Hoban (GBr)	Luis Otano (Spa)
Stage 13 Santander-Aviles, 230 km	Barry Hoban (GBr)	Luis Otano (Spa)
Stage 14 Aviles-Leon, 163 km	Julio Jimenez (Spa)	Julio Jimenez (Spa)
Stage 15 Becilla-Valladolid, 65 km ITT	Raymond Poulidor (Fra)	Raymond Poulidor (Fra)
Stage 16 Valladolid-Madrid, 209 km	Antonio Barrutia (Spa)	Raymond Poulidor (Fra)
Stage 17 Madrid/Caso de Campa, 87 km	Frans Melckenbeeck (Bel)	Raymond Poulidor (Fra)
	BEST CLIMBER PRIZE	Julio Jimenez (Spa)
	POINT'S COMPETITION	Jose Perez-Frances (Spa)

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