Daniel Moreno

Daniel Moreno

Moreno in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Daniel Moreno Fernández
Nickname	Muñeco
Born	(1981-09-05) 5 September 1981 Madrid, Spain
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb; 9.3 st)
Team information
Current team	Team Katusha
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber
Amateur team(s)
2004	Relax-Bodysol (stagiaire)
Professional team(s)
2005–2007 2008–2009 2010 2011–	Relax-Gam Caisse d'Epargne Omega Pharma-Lotto Team Katusha
Major wins
Grand Tours Vuelta a España 3 individual stages (2011, 2013) Stage races Vuelta a Burgos (2012) One-day races and Classics Giro del Piemonte (2011) GP Miguel Indurain (2012) La Flèche Wallonne (2013)
Infobox last updated on 2 January 2014

Daniel Moreno Fernández (born 5 September 1981) is a Spanish professional road racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team Team Katusha.^[1] He specializes in mountain and high-mountain races along with Grand Tours like Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, winning three stages of the latter in 2011 and 2013.

Biography

Moreno launched his professional career in September 2004 with Team Relax-Gam Fuenlabrada. At his very first race, annual Tour of Britain, he already achieved a prominent result finishing 5th in its general classification. In 2005 he advanced further by ranking 2nd at Clásica de Ordizia and Vuelta a Andalucía.

Finally, in 2006 he won his first victories with taking a stage of Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas and another one of Volta ao Alentejo. He supplemented his triumphs with three podiums at Alentejo, Alcobendas and Vuelta a Burgos.

The year of 2007 also turned out to be successful for the rider. He took stages at Argentinian Tour de San Luis and Mexican Vuelta Chihuahua, won a final victory at Escalada a Montjuic.^[2] Along with that, he showed himself to good advantage by taking 2nd place at a stage of Vuelta a España and, thus, reaching the 12th position in the final classification. In September he announced on his move to French team Agritubel for the next year^[3] but then Moreno renounced his own statement.

However, with the collapse of Team Relax-Gam Fuenlabrada in late 2007, the rider lost his permanent contract together with an opportunity to compete at professional races. Moreno managed to return to peloton only in March 2008 after signing a contract with the Spanish team Caisse d'Epargne.

There he spent two seasons (2008–2009) working a stalwart domestique of Alejandro Valverde^[4] and then moved to Quick Step for a year.^[5]

In 2011 he joined Russian Team Katusha^[6] and became a domestique of his leader, Joaquim Rodriguez. Accompanying Purito in mountain races, Moreno managed himself to win several significant competitions including the Giro del Piemonte and the Vuelta a Burgos. On August 23 he triumphed at stage 4 of Vuelta a España, joining the lone escapee Chris Anker Sorensen in the final kilometers. Sorensen had been part of an earlier break and Moreno sit on his wheel, attacking in the final 400 metres (1,300 ft) as the peloton was charging behind.^[7] The next day he successfully assisted Rodriguez at Valdepenas de Jaen. The coordinated performance of the two Spaniards brought Moreno the 3rd place while Rodriguez topped the podium. During all three weeks of the Spanish Grand Tour 2011 Moreno rode at his full speed and, thus, ranked 9th in the general classification. In October, Moreno won the Italian classic Giro del Piemonte, after shaking off the leading group containing 13 units after the flamme rouge on an uphill false flat.^[8]

In 2012 Moreno kept on going forward. He won a victory at GP Miguel Indurain,^[9] took first place at stage 4 of Vuelta a Andalucia and won 2 stages of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The rider also firmly assisted Joaquim Rodriguez at the Giro d'Italia; that helped Purito to rank 2nd in general classification. Among his top priorities for the ongoing season Moreno calls Vuelta a España and other home races.^[10]

He went on to win the 2.HC classified Vuelta a Burgos, surviving a scare in the last stage after getting dropped on the Lagunas de Neila mountain finish by two serious overall classification contenders, Colombians Esteban Chaves of Colombia-Coldeportes and Sergio Henao of Team Sky. Moreno ultimately limited his losses to 22 seconds on that stage, retaining the leader's jersey by a slim 10 seconds margin over Henao. He also won 2 stages and the points classification of the race.^[11]

He also had a solid 5th place finish in the 2012 Vuelta a España, where he helped his leader Joaquim Rodriguez in the mountain stages. Rodriguez took the third step of the podium.^[12]

In 2013, Moreno won the World Tour race La Flèche Wallonne, after following an attack initiated by Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) on the final climb, the Mur de Huy. He passed Gilbert and Carlos Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale) to grab the victory.^[13] He later continued the good form into the Criterium du Dauphine where he finished 3rd overall.

Palmares

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Giro	—	—	—	—	26	29	20	—
Tour	—	—	—	—	21	—	—	17
Vuelta	36	12	12	11	—	9	5	10

WD = Withdrew; In Progress = IP

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel Moreno.

• Daniel Moreno profile at Cycling Archives