| 1956 Vuelta a España | |
| Date: | 26 April – 13 May |
| Stages: | 17 |
| Distance: | 3537 |
| Unit: | km |
| Time: | 105h 37' 52" |
| Speed: | 33.48 |
| First: | Angelo Conterno |
| First Nat: | ITA |
| First Color: | yellow |
| Second: | Jesús Loroño |
| Second Nat: | ESP |
| Second Natvar: | 1945 |
| Third: | Raymond Impanis |
| Third Nat: | BEL |
| Points: | Rik Van Steenbergen |
| Points Nat: | BEL |
| Points Color: | green |
| Mountains: | Nino Defilippis |
| Mountains Nat: | ITA |
| Previous: | 1955 |
| Next: | 1957 |
The 11th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 26 April to 13 May 1956. It consisted of 17 stages covering a total of 3531km (2,194miles), and was won by Angelo Conterno of the Bianchi cycling team.[1] Rik Van Steenbergen won the points classification and Nino Defilippis won the mountains classification.
The race was run with national teams of France, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium, and an additional four regional Spanish teams. Each fielded 10 cyclists, for a total of 90.[2]
See main article: List of teams and cyclists in the 1956 Vuelta a España.
| Stage | Date | Course | Distance | Type | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 April | Bilbao – Santander | 203km (126miles) | ||||
| 2 | 27 April | Santander – Oviedo | 248km (154miles) | ||||
| 3 | 28 April | Oviedo – Valladolid | 175km (109miles) | ||||
| 4 | 29 April | Valladolid – Madrid | 212km (132miles) | ||||
| 5 | 30 April | Madrid – Albacete | 241km (150miles) | ||||
| 6 | 1 May | Albacete – Alicante | 227km (141miles) | ||||
| 7 | 2 May | Alicante – Valencia | 182km (113miles) | ||||
| 8 | 3 May | Valencia – Tarragona | 249km (155miles) | ||||
| 9 | 5 May | Tarragona – Barcelona | 163km (101miles) | ||||
| 10a | 6 May | Barcelona – Barcelona | 21km (13miles) | Team time trial | France | ||
| 10b | 6 May | Barcelona – Tàrrega | 112km (70miles) | ||||
| 11 | 7 May | Tàrrega – Zaragoza | 238km (148miles) | ||||
| 12 | 8 May | Zaragoza – Bayonne (France) | 274km (170miles) | ||||
| 13a | 9 May | Bayonne (France) – Irun | 43km (27miles) | Individual time trial | |||
| 13b | 9 May | Irun – Pamplona | 111km (69miles) | ||||
| 14 | 10 May | Pamplona – San Sebastián | 195km (121miles) | ||||
| 15 | 11 May | San Sebastián – Bilbao | 225km (140miles) | ||||
| 16 | 12 May | Bilbao – Vitoria | 207km (129miles) | ||||
| 17 | 13 May | Vitoria – Bilbao | 190km (120miles) | ||||
| Total | 3531km (2,194miles) | ||||||
| 1 | Angelo Conterno | 105h 37' 52" | ||
| 2 | + 13" | |||
| 3 | Elvé-Peugeot | + 1' 54" | ||
| 4 | + 3' 27" | |||
| 5 | Rik Van Steenbergen | + 7' 48" | ||
| 6 | Elvé-Peugeot | + 8' 30" | ||
| 7 | + 19' 18" | |||
| 8 | + 20' 36" | |||
| 9 | + 23' 38" | |||
| 10 | + 24' 55" | |||
| 11 | ||||
| 12 | ||||
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| 14 | ||||
| 15 | ||||
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| 17 | ||||
| 18 | Nino Defilippis | |||
| 19 | ||||
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| 25 |