Sport,Media, Politics and Nationalism on the Eve of the Spanish Civil War: The First Vuelta Ciclista a España (1935)

The Vuelta Ciclista a España, whose 75th anniversary will be celebrated in 2010, is one of the three big stage races in the world, alongside the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. It is arguably a major yearly sporting event with a wide popular appeal and media coverage, not only at a national level but also increasingly at a global one. Yet, unlike the Tour and the Giro, it remains unexplored from a socio-scientific perspective. This article aims, therefore, at breaking some new ground while analysing the socio-political dimension of this long-lasting, successful sporting event's first instalment in 1935, putting it against the backdrop of the turbulent Second Republic and the path leading to the Civil War. The media-confected nature of the Vuelta is highlighted, which brings it close to its fellow races of the Big Three Tours (also set up and managed by daily newspapers), but a major difference is pointed out: the first Vuelta's predominant political-ideological rationale, its overwhelming propagandistic aim put to the service of Spanish reactionary forces, compared to the mainly commercial purposes of the first Tour's and Giro's marketing-driven organizers.