Igor Antón

Igor Antón

Antón at the 2008 Euskal Bizikleta.
Personal information
Full name	Igor Antón Hernández
Nickname	Fuji
Born	(1983-03-02) 2 March 1983 Galdakao, Basque Country, Spain
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	58 kg (128 lb)
Team information
Current team	Movistar Team
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Professional team(s)
2005–2013 2014–	Euskaltel-Euskadi[1] Movistar Team
Major wins
Giro d'Italia, 1 Stage Vuelta a España, 4 Stages Tour de Romandie, 2 Stages Tour de Suisse, 1 Stage
Infobox last updated on 3 January 2014

Igor Antón Hernández (born 2 March 1983) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team, the Movistar Team.^[2]

Career

Born in Galdakao, Basque Country, Antón's first major achievement since turning professional in 2005, was winning the sixteenth stage of the 2006 Vuelta a España, between Almería and the Calar Alto Observatory.^[3]

After impressing his team directors in 2007, where he won a stage at the Tour de Romandie, Antón was soon picked out to be the team leader for the general classification (GC) in the 2008 Vuelta a España where he ended up finishing 8th overall. The year started well, and in June he came second in the Euskal Bizikleta. Later in the same month, Antõn won the second stage in the UCI ProTour race Tour de Suisse. In the GC he came home third. In September at the Vuelta a España, Antón was in the best form of his career and held the pace of the likes of Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde up the mountains. A fall on the stage to Alto de L'Angliru ended his ambitions in the Vuelta. The fall caused a fractured collarbone, and Antón's season came to an early end.

The 2009 season started slowly for Antón. He started the Tour de France in July, but failed to make a great impression. The Tour was filled with bad luck for Antón as he had at least three falls during the start of the three-week race. However, Antón came out of the Tour in great form and took the season's only victory on 2 August, when he won the Subida a Urkiola.

In 2010, Anton proved to be a formidable rider in the Classics, taking 4th at La Fleche Wallonne and 6th at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. In the Vuelta a Espana, Anton won Stage 4 and Stage 11 giving him the leader's jersey. However on Stage 14 whilst wearing the leader's jersey, Anton crashed heavily on a descent and he was forced to retire after the crash.

In 2011, Anton won two grand tour stages. He won Stage 14 in the Giro d'Italia and Stage 19 in the Vuelta a Espana which were both summit finishes.

In 2012, Anton build his whole season on the 2012 Vuelta a Espana. He ended up finishing 9th overall after an impressive race in the mountains.

Antón joined the Movistar Team for the 2014 season, after his previous team – Euskaltel-Euskadi – folded at the end of the 2013 season.^[2]

Major results

Grand Tours overall classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Giro d'Italia	83	—	—	—	—	—	17	—	—
Tour de France	—	—	WD	—	66	—	—	—	23
Vuelta a España	—	15	8	WD	33	WD	33	9	20

References

1. ↑ "Euskaltel-Euskadi (EUS) – ESP". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 4 January 2013. 
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Igor Anton signs two-year deal with Movistar after folding of Euskaltel-Euskadi team". Sky Sports (BSkyB). 10 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013. 
3. ↑ "Anton reaches heights of Calar Alto". Eurosport.com. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Igor Antón.

• Official website
• Team Profile (in Spanish)
• Palmares on CyclingBase.com (French)
• Igor Antón profile at Cycling Archives