The 45th Edition Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 24 April to 15 May 1990. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of 3,680 km (2,287 mi), and was won by Marco Giovannetti of the Seur cycling team.
Defending champion Pedro Delgado was the principal favourite for the win of the race. Delgado was joined by a strong Banesto team that included Miguel Induráin and Julián Gorospe. The other Spanish favourites included 1986 winner Álvaro Pino as well as Anselmo Fuerte and 1982 winner Marino Lejarreta. Of the potential foreign winners were the strong Colombians which included Fabio Parra and Lucho Herrera.
Pello Ruiz Cabestany won the opening time trial and took the first leader’s jersey. The following day a breakaway got away and Viktor Klimov took the jersey. On the sixth stage a break won the day and took an advantage of over four minutes. Gorospe took the leader’s jersey. However on the eleventh stage, Gorospe had a bad day and lost the jersey to Marco Giovannetti who had been second on the general classification and had been in the break that gained the time on the favourites. Delgado tried to close the gap to Giovannetti over the remainder of the race but could not. Giovannetti won his first and only grand tour ahead of Delgado and Anselmo Fuerte.
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 24 April – 15 May | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 3,680 km (2,287 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 94h 36′ 40″ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stage | Date | Course | Distance | Type | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 April | Benicàssim – Benicàssim | 10.3 km (6 mi) |  |
Individual time trial |  Pello Ruiz Cabestany (ESP) |
|
| 2a | 25 April | Oropesa – Castellón | 108 km (67 mi) | Emilio Cuadrado (ESP) |
|||
| 2b | 25 April | Benicàssim – Borriana | 36.3 km (23 mi) |  |
Team time trial | Lotus–Festina | |
| 3 | 26 April | Dénia – Murcia | 196.3 km (122 mi) |  Silvio Martinello (ITA) |
|||
| 4 | 27 April | Murcia – Almería | 226.2 km (141 mi) |  Erwin Nijboer (NED) |
|||
| 5 | 28 April | Almería – Sierra Nevada | 198 km (123 mi) |  Patrice Esnault (FRA) |
|||
| 6 | 29 April | Loja – Ubrique | 195.2 km (121 mi) |  Jesper Worre (DEN) |
|||
| 7 | 30 April | Jerez – Seville | 190.3 km (118 mi) |  Benny Van Brabant (BEL) |
|||
| 8 | 1 May | Seville – Mérida | 187.6 km (117 mi) |  Atle Pedersen (NOR) |
|||
| 9 | 2 May | Cáceres – Guijuelo | 192.7 km (120 mi) |  Néstor Mora (COL) |
|||
| 10 | 3 May | Peñaranda de Bracamonte – León | 226.8 km (141 mi) |  Uwe Raab (DDR) |
|||
| 11 | 4 May | León – San Isidro | 203 km (126 mi) | Carlos Hernández (ESP) |
|||
| 12 | 5 May | San Isidro – Naranco | 156 km (97 mi) | Alberto Camargo (COL) |
|||
| 13 | 6 May | Oviedo – Santander | 193.3 km (120 mi) | Nico Emonds (BEL) |
|||
| 14 | 7 May | Santander – Nájera | 207.5 km (129 mi) |  Bernd Gröne (FRG) |
|||
| 15 | 8 May | Ezcaray – Valdezcaray | 24.1 km (15 mi) | |
Individual time trial | Jean-François Bernard (FRA) |
|
| 16 | 9 May | Logroño – Pamplona | 165.5 km (103 mi) | Uwe Raab (DDR) |
|||
| 17 | 10 May | Pamplona – Jaca | 155.3 km (96 mi) | Federico Echave (ESP) |
|||
| 18 | 11 May | Jaca – Cerler | 178.5 km (111 mi) | José Martín Farfán (COL) |
|||
| 19 | 12 May | Benasque – Zaragoza | 223.6 km (139 mi) |  Asiat Saitov (URS) |
|||
| 20 | 13 May | Zaragoza – Zaragoza | 40 km (25 mi) | |
Individual time trial | Pello Ruiz Cabestany (ESP) |
|
| 21 | 14 May | Collado Villalba – Palazuelos de Eresma | 188.6 km (117 mi) | Denis Roux (FRA) |
|||
| 22 | 15 May | Segovia – Madrid | 177 km (110 mi) | Uwe Raab (DDR) |
|||
| Total | 3,680 km (2,287 mi) | ||||||
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marco Giovannetti |
Seur | 94h 36′ 40s |
| 2 | Pedro Delgado |
Banesto | a 1′ 28s |
| 3 | Anselmo Fuerte |
ONCE | a 1′ 48s |
| 4 | Pello Ruiz Cabestany |
ONCE | a 2′ 16s |
| 5 | Fabio Parra |
Kelme-Ibexpress | a 3′ 07s |
| 6 | Federico Echave |
CLAS-Cajastur | a 3′ 52s |
| 7 | Miguel Induráin |
Banesto | a 6′ 22s |
| 8 | Ivan Ivanov |
Alfa Lum | a 6′ 48s |
| 9 | Uwe Ampler |
PDM-Concorde | a 7′ 15s |
| 10 | Denis Roux |
Toshiba | a 7′ 56s |
| 11 | José Martín Farfán |
Kelme-Ibexpress | |
| 12 | Luis Herrera |
Café de Colombia | |
| 13 | Carlos Jaramillo |
Postóbon | |
| 14 | Ignacio Gaston Crespo |
CLAS-Cajastur | |
| 15 | José Francisco Rodríguez |
Pony Malta-Avianca | |
| 16 |  Tony Rominger |
Chateaux d’Ax | |
| 17 | Alvaro Mejia |
Postóbon | |
| 18 | Jesús Montoya |
BH-Amaya | |
| 19 | Álvaro Sierra |
Café de Colombia | |
| 20 | Jon Unzaga Bombin |
Seur | |
| 21 | Julián Gorospe |
Banesto | |
| 22 | Alberto Luis Camargo |
Café de Colombia | |
| 23 | José Luis Laguia |
Lotus-Festina | |
| 24 | Pablo Wilches |
Pony Malta-Avianca | |
| 25 | Gerardo Moncada |
Postóbon |
