to this he was very weak and suffered hypoglycemia in the second stage, a decisive team time-trial. That day he would have been dropped by his team had they not waited, and Delgado lost more time than in the previous stage, 4:32. After that second stage, Delgado was last in the overall classification, more than seven minutes behind the best-classified of the favourites, Laurent Fignon. Delgado rode the rest of the race on the offensive. His reaction started in the 5th stage, a 73 km individual time-trial. He was second in the stage, 24 seconds behind an impressive Greg LeMond. In the first mountain stage, Delgado attacked during the last climb, gaining 29", but in the next stage Delgado, together with Robert Millar, finished 3:26 ahead of Fignon and 3:38 ahead of Lemond. Delgado was now 4th overall, 2:53 behind the leader, Fignon. After the 17th stage, finishing in Alpe d´Huez, final victory still seemed to be possible, Delgado was third overall, 1:55 behind Fignon and 1:29 behind Lemond. But Delgado, exhausted, was unable to make up all the time he had lost in the early stages, and the great final fight of that Tour had only two major figures: Laurent Fignon and the final winner, Greg LeMond. Major results 1979 1st Stage 11 Tour de l'Avenir 1980 1st Stage 8 Giro Ciclistico d'Italia 1st Stage 5 GP Tell 1981 1st Overall Vuelta a Murcia 1982 1st Clásica de Sabiñánigo 1st Stage 4a Vuelta a Cantabria 3rd Clásica de San Sebastián 1983 1st Overall Vuelta a Aragón 1st Stage 3 1st Stage 3a Vuelta a los Valles Mineros 2nd Subida al Naranco 4th Clásica de San Sebastián 5th Overall Volta a Catalunya 1984 4th Overall Vuelta a España Held after stages 7–11 9th Overall Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco 9th Overall Vuelta a Aragón 1985 1st Overall Vuelta a España 1st Stage 6 3rd Overall Vuelta a Murcia 5th Overall Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco 6th Overall Tour de France 1st Stage 17 9th Overall Volta a Catalunya 1986 1st Stage 12 Tour de France 2nd Subida al Naranco 3rd Overall Escalada a Montjuïc 6th Overall Tour de Suisse 7th Overall Volta a Catalunya 8th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 10th Overall Vuelta a España 1987 2nd Overall Tour de France 1st Stage 19 Held after stages 20–23 4th Overall Vuelta a España 7th Overall Volta a Catalunya 1988 1st