Enlarge

Valladolid, the prologue of the 1994 Tour of Spain..

From the very beginning it was obvious there were two different battles in the Tour of Spain. On the one hand there was the solitary and unbeatable Tony Rominger and on the other was the exciting fight for the second and third podium places. Without the presence of the Swiss rider, perhaps the race would have been far more spectacular and exciting, because he nearly always stopped the attacks which never flourished.

Enlarge

A podium shot after the last stage of the 1994 Vuelta.

Pedro Delgado wanted to end his cycling career on a high note. This he achieved after 22 days, in an emotional fight with Alex Zulle in the last time trial. He was 3^rd behind Rominger and his team-mate Zarrabeitia.

Before finally hanging up his wheels he garnered an admirable 2nd place in the Tour of Asturias, won by Abraham Olano and was 3rd in the Tour of Catalunya behind Chiappucci and Escartín.

Pedro Delgado, fondly known as Perico in Spain, was the best-loved and most charismatic sportsman of the eighties in Spain. The man who brought Spanish cycling to its peak and who made his countrymen quiver with emotion at his attacks in the mountains, is now a part of Spanish sporting history.

Enlarge	Enlarge
Volta a Cataluña , 1994. Pedro tells José María Jiménez to up the pace on the climb to Montserrat.	The 1994 Worlds in Sicily, alongside Fernando Escartín.