Joaquim Rodríguez

"Joaquín Rodríguez" redirects here. For other uses, see Joaquín Rodríguez (disambiguation).
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Rodríguez and the second or maternal family name is Oliver.
Joaquim Rodríguez

Rodríguez at the 2015 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver
Nickname El Purito
Born (1979-05-12) 12 May 1979
Barcelona, Spain[1]
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)[2]
Weight 57 kg (126 lb; 9.0 st)[2]
Team information
Current team Team Katusha
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Climber
Classics specialist
Puncheur
Professional team(s)
2001–2003 ONCE–Eroski
2004–2005 Saunier Duval–Prodir
2006–2009 Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears
2010– Team Katusha[3]
Major wins

Grand Tours

Tour de France
3 individual stages (2010, 2015)
Giro d'Italia
Points classification (2012)
2 individual stages (2012)
Vuelta a España
Mountains classification (2005)
Combination classification (2015)
9 individual stages (2003, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015)

Stage races

Volta a Catalunya (2010, 2014)
Tour of the Basque Country (2015)
Vuelta a Burgos (2011)
Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme (2004)

One-day races and Classics

National Road Race Championships (2007)
Giro di Lombardia (2012, 2013)
La Flèche Wallonne (2012)

Other

UCI World Tour (2010, 2012, 2013)
Infobox last updated on
16 July 2015

Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver (born 12 May 1979) is a Spanish professional road racing cyclist. He has been competing since 2001, and currently rides for the UCI ProTeam Team Katusha.[4] His notable results in Grand Tours include fourteen stage victories, second place overall in the 2012 Giro d'Italia, finishing 2nd overall in the 2015 Vuelta a España, third place in the general classification of the Vuelta a España in both 2010 and 2012 and third place in the 2013 Tour de France. He also finished first of the UCI world rankings in 2010, 2012 and 2013, and won classics such as the Flèche Wallonne and the Giro di Lombardia twice (2012 and 2013). He also won stage races including the Volta a Catalunya twice (2010 and 2014), the 2015 Tour of the Basque Country and the 2011 Vuelta a Burgos.

Personal life and early career

Rodríguez was born in Barcelona, the son of an amateur rider in the 1960s, and later lived in Parets del Vallès. Some years later he moved to the Basque country to ride for Iberdrola, an amateur team associated to the professional cycling team ONCE–Eroski.[1][5]

His nickname in the professional peloton is Purito, Spanish for little cigar, a name he was given in an early season training camp during his first year as a professional with ONCE–Eroski. When some of his teammates stepped up the pace on a small climb, he passed them making a hand gesture appearing to be smoking a cigar, suggesting he was climbing without much effort. The gesture was not welcomed by his teammates, who made him smoke a real cigar as a hazing ritual later in the evening.[6][7][8]

Professional career

ONCE (2000–2003)

In 2001 he turned professional with ONCE–Eroski after riding for the team in late 2000 as a stagiaire. In 2001, during his first season as a professional, he won the Escalada a Montjuïc, a race held in Barcelona.[9] In 2003 he won the sixth stage of the Paris–Nice,[10] while he also won team time trials with ONCE–Eroski at the Volta a Catalunya and Vuelta a España.

Saunier Duval-Prodir (2004–2005)

In 2004 he joined Saunier Duval–Prodir and won the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, a stage race held in Catalonia. The following year he won Subida a Urkiola and the Mountains classification of the Vuelta a España, while he finished second in the Clásica de San Sebastián and the Vuelta a Burgos.[11]

Caisse d'Epargne (2006–2009)

Rodriguez at the 2007 Tour de Pologne

After joining Caisse d'Epargne–Illes Balears in 2006, he won the fifth stage of the Paris–Nice. In 2007 he became the Spanish road race champion and also won the Klasika Primavera and Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia. In 2008 he won a stage to Montelupone at the third stage of Tirreno–Adriatico atop a 1.7 kilometers climb with sections over 20% in gradients which had many cyclists coming in after him get off and run while carrying their bikes or zig-zag up the climb since it was so steep, but he was one of the few who powered up the difficulty while riding a straight line.[12] He also finished eight at the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Later in the season he finished sixth in the Vuelta a España. In 2009 he repeated his stage victory at Montelupone, in the Tirreno–Adriatico, while he ended second in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The second half of the season was marked by a stage win at the Vuelta a Burgos, a seventh place in the overall classification of the Vuelta a España and a bronze medal in the World Championships road race in Mendrisio.[13]

Katusha (2010–)

In 2010 he joined the Russian team Team Katusha, which guaranteed him a position at the Tour de France and a leading role in certain races throughout the season.[13] Early in the season Rodríguez won the Volta a Catalunya, the UCI ProTour race held around Catalonia, and later won the Gran Premio Miguel Indurain and a stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco, where he eventually finished third. He also ended second behind Cadel Evans in the Flèche Wallonne. At the Tour de France he won the stage to Mende, which featured an uphill finish to the Côte de la Croix Neuve, with the finish line at the runway of the Mende Aerodrome.[14] Rodríguez finished eight at the Tour de France. He continued his strong performance during the season with a fifth place at the Clásica de San Sebastián and a fourth place at the overall classification of the Vuelta a España, winning the stage to Peña Cabarga.[15] Rodríguez topped the UCI World Ranking at the end of the season.[16]

2011

In 2011 he won a stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco and finished second behind Philippe Gilbert at both the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne. He later finished fifth at the Giro d'Italia and won the stages to Le Collet d’Allevard and La Toussuire in the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he won the points and mountains classifications and finished fifth overall. He skipped the Tour de France to concentrate on the races at the end of the season, mainly the Vuelta a España, where he was considered a possible candidate for winning the race.[17] He started the second half of the season by finishing fourth at the Clásica de San Sebastián and winning the overall classification and a stage at the Vuelta a Burgos. He started the Vuelta with stage victories at Valdepeñas de Jaén and San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where he captured the leader's jersey, but soon faded and eventually finished the race nineteenth overall.[18] He ended the season with a third place at the Giro di Lombardia.

2012

Rodriguez wearing the Maglia Rosa at the 2012 Giro d'Italia

On 18 April 2012, he won La Flèche Wallonne in Belgium with a superb climb on the Mur de Huy and finished second in the Tour of the Basque Country. Rodríguez took his good form into the Giro d'Italia where he won two stages and finished second overall to Canadian Ryder Hesjedal. He was always competitive with the general classification contenders in the high mountains, and held the maglia rosa coming in to the final Individual Time Trial, where he lost 47 seconds to Hesjedal, therefore losing the overall lead by 16 seconds. However, he won the points classification jersey, with a slim lead of one point (139 to 138) over Mark Cavendish.[19]

On the Vuelta a España, Rodriguez almost took the win on stage 3, but Alejandro Valverde popped up on his right to steal the victory in a photo finish, and snatched the red jersey.[20] On the next stage, a big crash occurred involving Valverde. Rodriguez took the lead in the overall classification, arriving to destination with the remnants of the bunch atop the climb of the Orduña.[21] He took the sixth stage, the majority of it was flat but the riders had to tackle with two Category 3 climbs near the conclusion, the line being situated atop the last one, the Fuerte del Rapitán in Jaca. With 500 m (1,600 ft) remaining, Chris Froome launched an attack which only Rodriguez could follow, before passing the Team Sky rider and grabbing both the victory and the twelve seconds bonus.[22] The scenario repeated itself on stage 12, where Rodriguez escaped from the lead group with Alberto Contador in the final difficulty of the day, the very steep climb Mirador de Ézaro. The pair broke away in a section that had a gradient approaching 20%, and Rodriguez soon powered away from Contador to take his second stage of the Vuelta with an eight second margin over the Spaniard.[23] On the mountainous stage 14, Rodriguez played the same trick on Contador again on the final climb, with Contador attacking with two kilometers to go and looking very likely to take the victory. Rodriguez got back to him, his rival attacked again and Rodriguez surged ahead to take the win.[24] Disaster struck for him on stage 17, where Contador slipped into a breakaway and went on to win the stage solo, as Rodriguez could not respond and was relegated to third place overall.[25] Despite his attacks on the penultimate stage in the steep climb of Bola del Mondo, Rodriguez could not improve his third placing although he gained some time on Contador.[26]

Rodriguez went in Italy to compete in the Giro di Lombardia, where he had the opportunity to take the first place in the 2012 UCI World Tour detained by Bradley Wiggins. He did exactly that by winning the race under heavy rain and temperatures oscillating around 10 °C (50 °F). He attacked on the final difficulty of the day, the Villa Vergano climb. He arrived at the top of the difficulty alone and descended to Lecco, claiming the victory with a gap of 9 seconds.[27]

2013

Rodríguez at the 2013 Vuelta a España

In 2013, Rodriguez started his season winning stage 4 in the Tour of Oman, where he ended up finishing fourth overall. He later won stage five of the Tirreno–Adriatico and went on to finish fifth overall, after following an attack from Peter Sagan and Vincenzo Nibali on stage 6 and gaining time on his rivals.[28] Rodríguez rode the Volta a Catalunya and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, where at both races he finished second behind Dan Martin. Rodríguez later aimed for a high finish in the Tour de France.

In the Tour, Rodríguez had a quiet start and after the first time trial on stage 11, Rodriguez was eleventh overall, over five minutes behind the race leader. Rodríguez picked up his form on stage 15 in which he finished fourth on Mont Ventoux, moving him into the top ten. He later finished third on the uphill time trial stage. On stage 18, he moved into the top five after finishing fifth on Alpe d'Huez, gaining a minute on race leader Chris Froome. On the mountainous stage 20 to Annecy-Semnoz, he finished second behind Nairo Quintana. However, Rodríguez managed to move into a podium position in the final general classification after gaining over a minute over Alberto Contador and Roman Kreuziger.[29]

After the Tour de France, he took a long break and then came as the leader of Katusha at the start of the 2013 Vuelta a España, a race he twice finished on the podium in the past. One of the favorites at the start of the race, Rodríguez won the 19th stage and finished fourth in the overall classification, more than three minutes behind winner Chris Horner.[30] Afterwards, he raced the World Championships, where he came short of winning the rainbow jersey, after being caught by eventual winner Rui Costa in the last kilometer. One week later, Rodríguez took revenge for his defeat at the Giro di Lombardia, winning for the second consecutive year with a perfectly timed attack on the Villa Vergano climb.[31]

2014

Rodriguez at the 2014 Tour de France

Rodríguez's first race of the season was the Tour de San Luis, where he finished 71st, without making an impact in the mountains. After this, Rodríguez went to the Dubai Tour and the Tour of Oman, where he eventually finished fourth, behind Chris Froome, Tejay van Garderen, and Rigoberto Urán.[32] For the first time in four years, Rodríguez skipped Tirreno–Adriatico, choosing instead to prepare for the Ardennes Classics on the Teide. He then came back to racing in the Volta a Catalunya, where he won the third stage and the general classification, for the second time in his career.[33] Rodríguez was forced to quit the Giro d'Italia after a serious crash in stage six where he suffered a broken rib and fractured thumb.[34] He finished the Vuelta a España just off the podium, in fourth place overall.[35]

2015

Rodríguez started his season somewhat late and quietly by taking the thirteenth place Overall in Tirreno–Adriatico. He mounted on the third step of the podium twice in stages of that race. He had his first win of the season on a mountainous third stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, outsprinting Nairo Quintana and Sergio Henao after a descent in Zumarraga.[36] He repeated his winning ways on the very next day, on the queen stage, winning the sprint after the final climb.[37] In the final time trial, Rodriguez finished second overall to overtake race leader Sergio Henao by 13 seconds to win the Tour of the Basque Country.[38] In the Ardennes Classics, Rodriguez finished fourth of the La Flèche Wallonne.[39] He then took a podium spot at Liège–Bastogne–Liège as he was outsprinted by Alejandro Valverde and Julian Alaphilippe.[40]

In the Tour de France, Rodríguez won the third stage finishing atop the Mur de Huy. "The Mur de Huy is something that I know extremely well — I’ve seen it before," said the Spaniard in reference to the difficulty being featured every year in the race La Flèche Wallonne.[41] Rodríguez also won the twelfth stage atop the Plateau de Beille, his first Tour de France win on a mountain stage.[42]

Palmarès

2001
1st Escalada a Montjuïc
3rd Subida a Urkiola
2003
1st Stage 8 Vuelta a España
1st Stage 6 Paris–Nice
2004
1st Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
2005
1st Mountains classification Vuelta a España
1st Subida a Urkiola
2nd Overall Vuelta a Burgos
2nd Clásica de San Sebastián
2006
1st Stage 5 Paris–Nice
17th Overall Vuelta a España
2007
1st National Road Race Championships
1st Klasika Primavera
1st GP Villafranca de Ordizia
2008
1st Stage 3 Tirreno–Adriatico
6th Overall Vuelta a España
6th World Road Race Championships
8th Amstel Gold Race
8th La Flèche Wallonne
8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
2009
1st Stage 4 Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 2 Vuelta a Burgos
2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
3rd World Road Race Championships
7th Overall Vuelta a España
17th Overall Giro d'Italia
2010
1st Overall UCI World Ranking
1st Overall Volta a Catalunya
1st GP Miguel Indurain
1st Stage 5 Tour of the Basque Country
2nd La Flèche Wallonne
3rd Overall Vuelta a España
1st Stage 14
5th Clásica de San Sebastián
7th Overall Tour de France
1st Stage 12
2011
1st Overall Vuelta a Burgos
1st Points classification
1st Stage 2
Vuelta a España
1st Stages 5 & 8
1st Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country
2nd Amstel Gold Race
2nd La Flèche Wallonne
3rd Giro di Lombardia
4th Overall Giro d'Italia
5th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
1st Stages 6 & 7
1st Points classification
1st Mountains classification
9th GP Miguel Indurain
2012
1st Overall UCI World Tour
1st La Flèche Wallonne
1st Giro di Lombardia
2nd Overall Giro d'Italia
1st Points classification
1st Stages 10 & 17
2nd Overall Tour of the Basque Country
1st Stages 4 & 5
3rd Overall Vuelta a España
1st Stages 6, 12 & 14
6th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 6
8th Clásica de San Sebastián
2013
1st Overall UCI World Tour
1st Giro di Lombardia
2nd World Road Race Championships
2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
2nd Overall Volta a Catalunya
3rd Overall Tour de France
4th Overall Vuelta a España
1st Stage 19
4th Overall Tour of Oman
1st Stage 4
5th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 5
6th La Flèche Wallonne
2014
1st Overall Volta a Catalunya
1st Stage 3
3rd Clásica de San Sebastián
4th Overall Tour of Oman
4th Overall Vuelta a España
5th Milano–Torino
8th Giro di Lombardia
Tour de France
Held after Stages 10–12, 14–15
2015
1st Overall Tour of the Basque Country
1st Points classification
1st Stages 3 & 4
2nd Overall Vuelta a España
1st Combination classification
1st Stage 15
Held after Stage 16
Held after Stages 15-20
3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
4th La Flèche Wallonne
5th Clásica de San Sebastián
8th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
Tour de France
1st Stages 3 & 12
Held after Stages 3–5, 18

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Pink jersey Giro 80 80 17 WD 4 2 WD
Yellow jersey Tour 7 3 54 29
red jersey Vuelta 26 42 37 17 6 7 3 19 3 4 4 2

WD = Withdrew; In Progress = IP

World road championships results timeline

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
UCI Road World Championships 72 65 6 3 39 2 33

References

  1. 1 2 "Biografía" (in Spanish). KEC Pro Sport SL. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver profile".
  3. Cycling News (2009-08-11). "Rodriguez signs for Katusha". Cycling News. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  4. "Team Katusha (KAT) – RUS". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  5. Alain Laiseka (April 6, 2011). "La llama del Purito". deia.com (in Spanish). Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  6. "Rodríguez aims for the top". letour.fr. April 18, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  7. P.L (July 17, 2010). "Tour de France. "Purito" Rodriguez fume la pipe!". ladepeche.fr (in French). Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  8. P.L (January 15, 2009). "Hola, soy Purito". Ciclismo en Ruta (in Spanish). KEC Pro Sport SL. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  9. "38th Escalada a Montjuic – Rodriguez ascends to the top in Barcelona". Cycling News. October 21, 2001. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  10. Tim Maloney (March 15, 2003). "Rodríguez profits, as Vino maintains Paris-Nice lead". Cycling News. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  11. "Joaquim Rodríguez, del equipo Saunier Duval, Rey de la Montaña en la Vuelta". Sonitron.net (in Spanish). September 20, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  12. Brown, Gregor (14 March 2008). "Joaquím Rodríguez howls on Montelupone". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Joaquim Rodríguez ready for fresh start with Katusha". velonation.com. January 2, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  14. Ben Atkins (July 16, 2010). "Tour de France: Joaquin Rodriguez climbs to victory in Mende as Alberto Contador goes on the offensive". Velo Nation. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  15. ""Purito" Rodríguez ya conocía las mieles del liderato". EFE (in Spanish). elcorreo.com. September 7, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  16. Nigel Wynn (October 18, 2010). "Rodriguez tops 2010 World Ranking". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  17. "Classics, Giro and Vuelta for Rodriguez in 2012". Cycling News. November 2, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  18. Andrew Hood (August 27, 2011). "Joaquim Rodriguez takes stage 8, lead in 2011 Vuelta a España". Velo News. competitor.com. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  19. Pete Cossins (27 May 2012). "Ryder Hesjedal wins the Giro d'Italia". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  20. Daniel Benson (21 August 2012). "Valverde claims photo finish on Eibar". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  21. Ben Atkins (21 August 2012). "Vuelta a España: Simon Clarke wins in stage four breakaway as Valverde loses to a crash". Velo Nation. Velo Nation LLC. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  22. "Joaquim Rodriguez defends Vuelta lead with stage-6 victory". Velo News (2012 Competitor Group, Inc.). 23 August 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  23. Shane Stokes (30 August 2012). "Vuelta a España: Rodriguez scoops second stage win with powerful finishing surge". Velo Nation (Velo Nation LLC). Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  24. Shane Stokes (1 September 2012). "Vuelta: Devastating surge sees Rodriguez overhaul Contador for another stage win". Velo Nation (Velo Nation LLC). Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  25. Susan Westemeyer (5 September 2012). "Contador solos to stage win, Vuelta lead". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  26. "Menchov prevails on the Bola del Mundo". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). 8 September 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  27. Ben Atkins (29 September 2012). "Joaquim Rodríguez solos to a rainy Lombardia victory and grabs WorldTour lead". CyclingNation (CyclingNation LLC). Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  28. "Sagan wins wild Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6". VeloNews (Competitor Group, Inc.). 11 March 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  29. Andrew Hood (20 July 2013). "After late-Tour surge, Joaquim Rodriguez casts one eye toward Vuelta". VeloNation (VeloNation LLC). Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  30. Simon McMichael (13 September 2013). "Vuelta Stage 19: Joaquin Rodriguez takes the stage – and Chris Horner snatches race lead". RoadCC (Farrelly Atkinson Ltd). Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  31. Simon McMichael (6 October 2013). "Joaquim Rodriguez doubles up to win il Lombardia for second year running". RoadCC (Farrelly Atkinson Ltd). Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  32. Westby, Matt (23 February 2014). "Chris Froome retains Tour of Oman title as Andre Greipel triumphs on final stage". Sky Sports (BSkyB). Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  33. "Rodriguez seals second Tour of Catalunya triumph". Yahoo! Eurosport (TF1 Group). Reuters. 30 March 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  34. Brown, Gregor (15 May 2014). "GC contender Rodriguez abandons Giro after stage 6 crash". VeloNews (Competitor Group, Inc.). Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  35. "Contador seals overall 2014 Vuelta a España victory". Cyclingnews.com (Future plc). 14 September 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  36. Stuart Clarke (8 April 2015). "Joaquim Rodriguez pips Sergio Henao to win Tour of the Basque Country stage three". Cycling Weekly (IPC Media Sports & Leisure network). Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  37. Kirsten Frattini (9 April 2015). "Pais Vasco: Rodriguez wins stage 4 in Arrate". Cyclingnews.com (Future plc). Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  38. http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/joaquim-rodriguez-wins-tour-of-the-basque-country-166158
  39. "Valverde wins La Fleche Wallonne 2015". Cyclingnews.com (Future plc). 22 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  40. Nigel Wynn (26 April 2015). "Alejandro Valverde wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2015". Cycling Weekly (IPC Media Sports & Leisure network). Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  41. Powlison, Spencer (6 July 2015). "Rodriguez wins Tour stage 3, Froome takes yellow jersey". VeloNews (Competitor Group, Inc.). Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  42. Wynn, Nigel (16 July 2015). "Chris Froome safe in Tour de France lead as Joaquim Rodriguez wins stage 12". Cycling Weekly (Time Inc. UK). Retrieved 16 July 2015.

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