| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Íñigo Cuesta López de Castro | ||
| Born | June 2, 1969 Villarcayo, Spain |
||
| Height | 1.76 m | ||
| Weight | 62 kg | ||
| Team information | |||
| Current team | Caja Rural | ||
| Discipline | Road | ||
| Role | Rider | ||
| Rider type | Domestique/Climber | ||
| Professional team(s) | |||
| 1994–1995 1996–2000 2001–2004 2005 2006–2008 2009–2010 2011 |
Euskadi-Petronor ONCE Cofidis Saunier Duval-Prodir Team CSC Cervélo TestTeam Caja Rural |
||
| Major wins | |||
|
|||
| Infobox last updated on 8 august 2011 |
|||
Íñigo Cuesta López de Castro (born 2 June 1969 in Villarcayo, Burgos) is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer. Cuesta turned professional in 1994 for the Basque Euskadi-Petronor team. Here his results included a second place in 1995 Vuelta a Asturias, and in 1996 he signed a contract with Spanish team ONCE. Cuesta would have to wait until 1998 before he won his first race, the overall victory in the stage race Vuelta al País Vasco. In securing the stage race win, he proved his talent as both a climber and time trialist, though not on the level of the Grand Tours.
Even though he won a second triumph, a stage in the 2000 Dauphiné Libéré, he didn't get his contract renewed. Instead he signed with Cofidis, after his initial new employer, Linda McCartney Racing Team, went bankrupt before the season started. His four years at Cofidis didn't provide Cuesta with any more wins, his biggest result a 13th place in the 2001 Vuelta a España. In 2005 he changed to Saunier Duval, where he won stage 5 in Volta a Catalunya, during the early ProTour season. Though he still had one year remaining of his contract, Íñigo Cuesta changed to Team CSC before the 2006 season. Here he assisted team captain Carlos Sastre in the Vuelta a España.
Cuesta continued to help Sastre in 2009, after the announcement that he changed team and joined the new Cervélo TestTeam.
During the 2010 Vuelta a España, Cuesta started for the 17th consecutive year, a new record. To commemorate this, the race organizers gave him jersey number one, normally worn by the winner of the previous edition.[1]
He announced his retirement in August 2011 after his team were not selected for the 2011 Vuelta a España [2]