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. Several Spanish cycling athletes have won the Tour de France, including
Federico Bahamontes,
Luis Ocaña,
Pedro Delgado,
Óscar Pereiro,
Alberto Contador, and
Carlos Sastre. The most successful Spanish cyclist is
Miguel Indurain. He won the Tour de France in five consecutive years between 1991 and 1995. He also won the
Giro d'Italia in two consecutive years (
1992 and
1993), the
1995 Road World Championship time trial and the gold medal in the
1996 Olympic time trial. 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.
Óscar Freire shares the distinction of being one of four men to win the
World Road Racing Championship three times, as well as being a three-time winner of one of the most prestigious
one-day classic cycle races, the
Milan–San Remo.
Abraham Olano won the
Vuelta a España in 1998, and is the only man to win World Championships in both the road race (1995) and time trial (
1998). Spain has also produced some notable mountain bikers like
José Antonio Hermida and track racers like olimpic medalists
Joan Llaneras,
José Manuel Moreno Periñán,
José Antonio Escuredo or
Sergi Escobar as well as multi-world champion
Guillermo Timoner. ==See also==