José Luis Rubiera Vigil (born 27 January 1973 in Gijón) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He last rode for the UCI ProTour team Team RadioShack. Rubiera won his first professional race at the 1997 Giro d'Italia, winning stage 19. He won another stage in the 2000 Giro d'Italia[1] and was part of three consecutive team time trial (TTT) stage wins in the Tour de France.

José Luis Rubiera
Personal information
Full nameJosé Luis Rubiera Vigil
NicknameChechu
Born (1973-01-27) January 27, 1973 (age 51)
Gijón, Spain
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Professional teams
1995Artiach–Chiquilin
1996–2000Kelme–Artiach
2001–2007U.S. Postal Service
2008–2009Astana
2010Team RadioShack
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
3 TTT stages (2003, 2004, 2005)
Giro d'Italia
2 individual stages (1997, 2000)

He has also finished in the top 10 of both the Vuelta a España and Giro d'Italia, on two occasions apiece.[2]

His climbing ability was instrumental in leading Lance Armstrong to five of his Tour de France victories, most famously leading Armstrong up the start of Alpe d'Huez in 2001. It was also on this stage that "The Look" incident happened between Armstrong and Jan Ullrich just prior to Armstrong's launch of his attack. In reality, Armstrong was not looking at Ullrich, but rather at Rubiera as he was checking to be sure Rubiera would be there to save him if he cracked and his attack failed.

He earned an engineering degree in 2004, while balancing his race schedule and studies. Rubiera was elected as deputy to the cyclists' representative council of the UCI ProTour.

Career achievements

edit

Major results

edit
1997
10th Overall, Giro d'Italia
1st, Stage 19
1999
1st Overall, Volta ao Alentejo
1st, Stage 3b (ITT)
6th Overall, Vuelta a España
2000
1st, Subida al Naranco
8th Overall, Giro d'Italia
1st, Stage 13
2001
2nd Overall, Vuelta a Burgos
1st, King of the Mountains
7th Overall, Vuelta a España
2002
2nd Overall, Vuelta a Burgos
2003
1st, Stage 4 (TTT), Tour de France
2004
1st, Stage 4 (TTT), Tour de France
2nd, Châteauroux Classic
2005
1st, Stage 4 (TTT), Tour de France
3rd Overall, Volta ao Algarve
2006
3rd Overall, Vuelta a Castilla y León
9th Overall, Paris–Nice
10th Overall, Volta ao Algarve
2007
1st, Stage 8, Tour of Qinghai Lake
2008
1st, Stage 2, Vuelta a Murcia
2009
10th Overall, Tour of California
2010
10th Overall, Vuelta a Castilla y León

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

edit
Grand Tour 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Giro d'Italia 10 13 DNF 8 13 39 15 44
Tour de France 38 22 19 19 35 91
Vuelta a España 26 6 11 7 51 80 85 22 DNF
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References

edit
  1. ^ McGann Publishing, Bike Race Info (4 June 2000). "Giro 2000". Bikeraceinfo.com. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  2. ^ Report, Race (26 September 1999). "Vuelta a España 1999". procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
edit