Public bicycles for renting in Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid
Cycling is a mode of transport in Spain with 20% of the people listing the bicycle as their mode of transport, though some Spanish cities as Valencia, Vitoria and Zaragoza well exceed that with 45%.[1]
On the other hand, in an overview about the traffic, Spain had 8.1 deaths in annual number of deaths from injuries (unintentional and intentional) among 1 to 14-year-old children during 1991–95, expressed per 100,000 children in the age group.[2]
Cycling has been an important sport in Spain since the 1940s. The Vuelta a España (Spanish for "Tour of Spain") is one of the most important cycling events in the world, together with the Tour de France (French for "Tour of France") and Giro d'Italia (Italian for "Tour of Italy") racing tournaments.
More recently, in 2008, Sastre became the seventh and third consecutive Spaniard to win the Tour de France, then followed by Contador winning his second tour in 2009's edition. Contador was thought to have repeated his win in 2010 but the day before Stage 17, the queen stage finishing with atop the Col du Tourmalet, Contador tested positive for performance-enhancing substance Clenbuterol, although he claimed it was a result of consuming contaminated beef and in January 2012, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled him guilty and gave him a two-year ban backdated from July 21, 2010 and had all his results achieved after July 21 erased, including victory in the 2010 Giro d'Italia and a 5th-place finish and most aggressive rider award for stage 19 at the 2011 Tour de France. Since returning from the ban, Contador has won the Vuelta twice, in 2012 and 2014.
