![BiciMAD](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/BiciMAD.jpg)
Cycling is a mode of transport in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
with 20% of the people listing the bicycle as their mode of transport, though some Spanish cities as
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
,
Vitoria
Vitoria or Vitória may refer to :
People
* Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian
* Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer
* Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer
* Steven Vitória (b ...
and
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
well exceed that with 45%.
There is some
cycling infrastructure
Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except whe ...
such as
cycle path
A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...
s,
cycle tracks,
protected intersections, and
bicycle parking
Bicycle parking typically requires a degree of security to prevent theft. The context for bike parking requires proper infrastructure and equipment ( bike racks, bicycle locks etc.) for secure and convenient storage. Parking facilities include l ...
, but lacks cycle paths in regional and, mainly, national roads.
On the other hand, in an overview about the traffic, Spain had 8.1 deaths in annual number of deaths from injuries (unintentional and intentional) among 1 to 14-year-old children during 1991–95, expressed per 100,000 children in the age group.
A ''
Plan Estratégico Estatal de la Bicicleta'' (State Strategy Plan of the Bicycle) has been planned, but only two of the more than forty measures have been approved from the reform of the ''
Reglamento General de Circulación'' (National Road Rules).
List of cycleways
*
TransAndalus
* 1800 km of public
greenways
Greenway or Greenways may refer to:
* Greenway (landscape), a linear park focused on a trail or bike path
* Another term for bicycle boulevards in some jurisdictions
People
* Greenway (surname)
Places
Australia
* Electoral Division of Greenway ...
on former railway routes throughout Spain
*
TransCAM - Trans-Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid
Sport
Cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
has been an important sport in Spain since the 1940s. The
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...
(Spanish for "Tour of Spain") is one of the most important cycling events in the world, together with the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
(French for "Tour of France") and
Giro d'Italia (Italian for "Tour of Italy") racing tournaments.
Several Spanish cycling athletes have won the Tour de France, including
Federico Bahamontes
Federico MartÃn Bahamontes, born Alejandro MartÃn Bahamontes (; born 9 July 1928), is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won the 1959 Tour de France and a total of 11 Grand Tour stages between 1954-1965. He won a total of ...
,
Luis Ocaña
Jesús Luis Ocaña PernÃa (; 9 June 1945 – 19 May 1994) was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the 1973 Tour de France and the 1970 Vuelta a España. During the 1971 Tour de France he launched an amazing solo breakaway that put him ...
,
Pedro Delgado
Pedro Delgado Robledo (; born 15 April 1960), also known as Perico (), is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989.
Delgado is 171 centimetres tall (5& ...
,
Óscar Pereiro
Óscar Pereiro SÃo (; born 3 August 1977) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. Pereiro was declared the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, after the original winner Floyd Landis was disqualified for failing a doping test afte ...
,
Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice ( 2007, 2009), the Giro d'Italia twice (2008, 2015), and the Vue ...
, and
Carlos Sastre.
The most successful Spanish cyclist is
Miguel Indurain
-->
Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to:
Places
* Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands
* São Miguel (disam ...
. He won the Tour de France in five consecutive years between 1991 and 1995. He also won the
Giro d'Italia in two consecutive years (
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
), the
1995 Road World Championship time trial and the gold medal in the
1996 Olympic time trial.
More recently,
in 2008, Sastre became the seventh and third consecutive Spaniard to win the Tour de France, then followed by Contador winning his second tour in
2009's edition. Contador was thought to have repeated his win in 2010 but the day before Stage 17, the queen stage finishing with atop the
Col du Tourmalet, Contador tested positive for performance-enhancing substance
Clenbuterol, although he claimed it was a result of consuming contaminated beef and in January 2012, the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...
ruled him guilty and gave him a two-year ban backdated from July 21, 2010 and had all his results achieved after July 21 erased, including victory in the
2010 Giro d'Italia
The 2010 Giro d'Italia was the 93rd edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race started off in Amsterdam on 8 May and stayed in the Netherlands for three stages, before leaving the country. The route included climbs ...
and a 5th-place finish and most aggressive rider award for stage 19 at the
2011 Tour de France
The 2011 Tour de France was the 98th edition of the race. It started on 2 July at the Passage du Gois and ended on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 24 July. The cyclists competed in 21 stages over 23 days, covering a distance of . The route en ...
. Since returning from the ban, Contador has won the Vuelta twice, in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
and
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
.
Óscar Freire shares the distinction of being one of four men to win the
World Road Racing Championship three times, as well as being a three-time winner of one of the most prestigious
one-day classic cycle races, the
Milan–San Remo
Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...
.
Abraham Olano won the
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...
in 1998, and is the only man to win World Championships in both the road race (1995) and time trial (
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
).
Spain has also produced some notable mountain bikers like
José Antonio Hermida
José Antonio Hermida Ramos (born August 24, 1978 in Puigcerdà , Girona) is a Spanish cyclist of Galician origin specializing in competitive mountain biking. He won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece after havin ...
and track racers like olimpic medalists
Joan Llaneras,
José Manuel Moreno Periñán,
José Antonio Escuredo
José Antonio Escuredo Raimondez (born 19 January 1970 in Girona) is a former Spanish racing cyclist, specialising in track cycling. He has won three silver and one bronze world championship medals and a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. ...
or
Sergi Escobar as well as multi-world champion
Guillermo Timoner.
See also
*
Cycling in Madrid
*
EuroVelo
''EuroVelo'' is a network of currently 17 long-distance cycling routes criss-crossing Europe, in various stages of completion. When completed, the EuroVelo network's total length will almost be . more than were in place. EuroVelo is a project of ...
*
Transport in Spain
Transport in Spain is characterised by an extensive network of roads, railways (including the world's second longest high speed rail network), rapid transit, air routes, and ports. Its geographic location makes it an important link between Eu ...
*
Bicycle culture
Bicycle culture can refer to a mainstream culture that supports the use of bicycles or to a subculture. Although "bike culture" is often used to refer to various forms of associated fashion, it is erroneous to call fashion in and of itself a cult ...
*
List of countries by traffic-related death rate
This list of countries by traffic-related death rate shows the annual number of road fatalities ''per capita per year'', ''per number of motor vehicles'', and ''per vehicle-km'' in some countries in the year the data was collected.
According to ...
*
Outline of cycling
References
External links
ConBiciCon AlforjasBikesharing and Bike Free Tours Bike with locals
{{Cycling in different countries and cities