José Rujano

José Rujano

Rujano at the 2012 Giro d'Italia.
Personal information
Full name	José Humberto Rujano Guillen
Nickname	Jojo
Born	(1982-02-18) 18 February 1982 Santa Cruz de Mora, Venezuela
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	48 kg (106 lb)
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Professional team(s)
2003–2006	Colombia–Selle Italia
2006	Quick-Step–Innergetic
2007	Unibet.com
2008	Caisse d'Epargne
2009	Gobernación del Zulia
2010	ISD–NERI
2011–2012	Androni Giocattoli
2013	Vacansoleil–DCM
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia Mountains classification (2005) 3 individual stages (2005, 2011) Stage races Tour de Langkawi (2010) Vuelta a Colombia (2009) Vuelta al Táchira (2004, 2005, 2010) Vuelta a Venezuela (2009) One-day races and Classics National Time Trial Championships (2007, 2009, 2013)
Infobox last updated on 30 September 2013

José Humberto Rujano Guillen (born 18 February 1982) is a Venezuelan professional road bicycle racer who competed professionally between 2003 and 2013.

Career

Born in Santa Cruz de Mora, Mérida, Rujano made his debut in the professional peloton in 2003 with the Colombia–Selle Italia team. In 2005 Rujano had his best year to date, finishing third in the Giro d'Italia and winning the mountains classification. In 2006 he left the Colombia-Selle Italia team for Quick Step and he moved to the Spanish ProTour team Caisse d'Epargne in 2008. His results were not up to the expectations of team leaders, who did not renew his contract at the end of the season. In 2010, Rujano joined the Italian Professional Continental team ISD-Neri.^[1] He was not selected for the Giro d'Italia, his main objective for the season, so he left the team in May and returned to Venezuela.^[2]

At the end of 2010, Rujano signed a contract for two years with the Italian team Androni Giocattoli, directed by Gianni Savio who said that he "believed in his talent" and wanted "to revive his career." Rujano was recruited at the same time as the Italian climber Emanuele Sella, Savio referring to giving these two riders a "last chance".^[3]

His main objective for 2011 was the Giro d'Italia, and especially its mountain stages.^[4] He lived up to his objectives since he prevailed on 2 mountain stages in the race: stage 9 from Messina to Etna after original winner Alberto Contador was removed from the rankings due to a doping affair^[5] and stage 13^[6] from Spilimbergo to Grossglockner, while finishing sixth in the overall classification.

In the 2012 Giro d'Italia, Rujano pulled out of the race, reportedly suffering from mononucleosis.^[7]

Rujano left Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela at the end of 2012, and joined Vacansoleil–DCM for the 2013 season.^[8] Rujano reportedly retired during the 2013 season,^[9] but later in the season, he backtracked from his retirement and remained within the professional fold after terminating his contract with Vacansoleil–DCM.^[10]

Palmarès

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Giro	3	WD	-	49	-	-	6	WD
Tour	-	WD	-	-	-	-	-	-
Vuelta	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

WD = withdrew
NC = not classified

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to José Rujano.

• José Rujano profile at Cycling Archives
• Jose Rujano's profile on Cycling Base