The day José Luis Abilleira prevented Eddy Merckx from winning all the classifications of the 1973 Vuelta a Espana
Cycling
The colleagues of Pedal Vingage have recalled through their Twitter account the story of José Luis Abilleira, the man who prevented Eddy Merckx from taking all the classifications of the 1973 Vuelta a España. The Cannibal, who finished his career with 5 Tour de France and 5 Giro d'Italia, rode his only Vuelta that 1973 in which he would do a double with the Giro.
Merckx won the Vuelta with clarity with almost 4 minutes of advantage over Luis Ocaña and something more with Bernard Thévenet, in a podium that could have been of the Grande Boucle. Thus, the insatiable Belgian dominated that Spanish round with clarity taking 6 stages and almost all the classifications at stake: Points, Metas Volantes and Combined. The only one he failed to win was the Mountain classification, which went to our protagonist, José Luis Abilleira.
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The Madrid-born rider, who turns 76 today, was the one who scored the most points in that classification (97), to Merckx's 83. However, in those days you had to finish the race in the top 15 to win the classification.
Thus, there was a team tactic in the La Casera - Bahamontes. The 15th overall was Juan Santiago Zurano, Abilleira's teammate, who left some time so that his colleague could finish the Vuelta 15th and thus take home the final Mountain jersey. Curious story of a Vuelta in which Merckx wanted to sweep everything and was very close to achieving it.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Hoy, cumple años José Luis Abilleira. El corredor que, con una treta de su equipo, impidió que Merckx se llevase todas las clasificaciones de La Vuelta 73:
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