Óscar Sevilla

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Óscar Sevilla
Sevilla during the 2005 Vuelta a España
Sevilla during the 2005 Vuelta a España
Personal information
Full name Óscar Miguel Sevilla Ribera
Nickname El Niño
Date of birth September 29, 1976 (1976-09-29) (age 31)
Country Flag of Spain Spain
Team information
Current team Rock Racing
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Climbing specialist
Professional team(s)
1998–2003
2004
2005–2006
2007
2008–
Kelme
Phonak
T-Mobile
Relax-Gam
Rock Racing
Major wins
Vuelta Asturias (2006)
Infobox last updated on:
June 2, 2007

Óscar Miguel Sevilla Ribera (born 29 September 1976, in Ossa de Montiel, Spain), nicknamed el niño, is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer. He is a climber with a pedigree in stage races, having finished in the top ten of the Tour de France and Vuelta a España several times. He currently rides for Rock Racing.

Contents

[edit] Biography

He turned professional in 1998 for Spanish team Kelme, and his big breakthrough came in the 2001 edition of the Tour de France. Here, he showed himself as a great climber, ranking 7th in the overall General Classification, and winning the maillot blanc as the best rider of 25 years of age or younger. After the Tour de France, he continued his great form in the 2001 Vuelta a España. He wore the leader's jersey until the final uphill time trial stage in Madrid, which he lost to winner Ángel Casero.

In the 2002 Vuelta a España, intra-team rivalry with Aitor González saw him again finish second in the General Classification, despite the team's initial assurances that he would be the only leader. González's racing in the very difficult Angliru mountain stage saw Sevilla lose valuable time that he was not able to recover in the stage race.

After a lacklustre 2003 season, Sevilla was injured in the 2003 World Cycling Championship in a crash, resulting in a serious back injury. The 2004 season saw Sevilla start with the Swiss team Phonak in support of Tyler Hamilton's bid for the 2004 Tour de France. As Hamilton sustained an injury, Sevilla assumed the leader's mantle, although without good results. He then switched to T-Mobile Team for the 2005 season.

Since then he has fought to achieve the same great results, but his 2005 season on German team T-Mobile Team initially saw him ride as a domestique for Jan Ullrich in the 2005 Tour de France. Here, he helped Ullrich finish 3rd overall, and Sevilla's climbing improved, as well as his morale. He rode the 2005 Vuelta a España as team captain and ranked 7th overall.

He was linked to Operación Puerto doping case. After he was initially named in the investigation, Sevilla was still able to ride and won the Vuelta Asturias. On the day before the Tour de France, Ullrich and Sevilla were explicitly linked to the investigation and not allowed to start the 2006 Tour de France. On 20 July 2006, Oscar Sevilla was fired from T-Mobile in relation to the aforementioned accusations.

He switched to Relax-GAM for the 2007 season.

[edit] Honors

1999
Stage 4, Tour de Romandie
2000
Trofeo Luis Ocana
Memorial Manuel Galera
2001
Winner Maillot blanc and 7th overall, 2001 Tour de France
2nd overall, Vuelta a España
2002
4th overall, Vuelta a España
2003
12th overall, Vuelta a España
2004
3rd overall, Dauphiné Libéré
24th overall, 2004 Tour de France
2005
18th overall, 2005 Tour de France
7th overall, Vuelta a España
2006
1st, overall and 1 stage Vuelta Asturias
2007
1st overall and 1 stage Route du Sud
2008
1st stage 9 Vuelta a Colombia

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