Born in
Etxebarria in the
Basque Country, Txurruka made his
Tour de France debut in 2007, memorably participating (alongside
Pierrick Fédrigo) in a breakaway during Stage 12 that was caught just from the finish line. This effort earned him the red back numbers for most combative rider the next day. He was also indirectly benefited when
Michael Rasmussen was withdrawn from the Tour; Txurruka was third in the
young rider classification, behind
Alberto Contador and
Mauricio Soler. With Contador wearing the yellow jersey as leader of the
general classification because of Rasmussen's withdrawal, and Soler wearing the polka dot jersey as leader of the
mountains classification, Txurruka wore the white jersey that is given to the leader of the young rider classification. He was also chosen as the
most combative rider of whole Tour, being the third Spanish rider in a row (after
Óscar Pereiro and
David de la Fuente) to earn that award. Txurruka was released by at the end of the 2012 season, and joined for the 2013 season. In August 2015 announced that they had signed Txurruka on a one-year deal for 2016. == Major results ==