1945 Vuelta a España

The 5th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 10 to 31 May 1945. It consisted of 18 stages covering a total of 3,818 km (2,372 mi), and was won by Delio Rodríguez.^[1] There was also a classification sponsored by Pirelli, Rodríguez also won the points classification and Julián Berrendero won the mountains classification.

A new introduction to this Vuelta was a classification on points, sponsored by Pirelli. It was calculated as follows:^[5]

• The winner of a stage received 100 points, the second 99, and so on. If cyclists arrived in a group that was given the same time, they all received the same number of points.
• The first five cyclists in a stage received 12 points for every minute that they arrived ahead of the number six of the stage.
• For every point scored for the mountains classification, two points were given for this points classification.
• On intermediate sprints, points could be won: 8 for the winner, 6 for the second, 4 and 2 for the next.

Although the sponsor said that the classification was a great success,^[6] it did not return the next edition.

There was also a team competition: the ranks in the general classification of the best two cyclists per cycling club were added, and the club with the lowest total won. Delio Rodríguez was in the same club as Alejandro Fombellida, and because they finished first and ninth, they scored 10 points; no other team had fewer points, so they won the team competition.^[7]