Mikel Nieve

Mikel Nieve

Nieve at the 2010 Four Days of Dunkirk.
Personal information
Full name	Mikel Nieve Iturralde
Nickname	Frosty
Born	(1984-05-26) 26 May 1984 Leitza, Spain
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	67 kg (148 lb; 10.6 st)
Team information
Current team	Team Sky
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber
Amateur team(s)
2003	Café Baqué–Labarca 2 amateur
2004–2007	Caja Rural amateur
Professional team(s)
2008	Orbea–Oreka SDA
2009–2013	Euskaltel–Euskadi
2014–	Team Sky
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia Mountains classification (2016) 2 individual stages (2011, 2016) Vuelta a España 1 individual stage (2010)

Mikel Nieve Iturralde (born 26 May 1984) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI WorldTeam Team Sky.^[1]

Career

Euskaltel–Euskadi (2009–2013)

Nieve at the 2013 Tour de France

Born in Leitza, Nieve won the sixteenth stage of the 2010 Vuelta a España, shaking off four riders to win solo in the mountain finish at the Alto de Cotobello.^[2] He earned another prestigious victory in the fifteenth stage of the 2011 Giro d'Italia, the queen stage of that year's edition, which Alberto Contador later described as the most difficult stage of his life.^[3] Nieve had broken away early, and crested the penultimate climb of the day, the Passo Fedaia, with only Stefano Garzelli in front of him. On the lower slope of the final climb to Gardeccia-Val di Fassa, Nieve passed Garzelli, and held on to win the stage after having spent a little less than 7 hours and a half in the saddle.^[4]

He finished 10th twice in the Giro d'Italia in 2011 and 2012. He also finished 10th twice in the Vuelta a España in 2010 and 2011.

In 2013,^[5] Nieve rode his first Tour de France, where he finished 3rd on Mont Ventoux and 9th on Alpe d'Huez. He ended up finishing 12th overall. After the disbanding of the Euskaltel–Euskadi team was confirmed at the end of the 2013 season, Nieve agreed to join Team Sky on an initial two-year deal.^[1]

Team Sky (2014–present)

Nieve at the 2016 Paris–Nice

In 2014, he won stage 8, the final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné as well as finishing 8th overall.

In 2015, Nieve finished 8th overall in the Vuelta a España, his highest Grand Tour finish to date.

In 2016, Nieve won stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia. He also went on to win the mountains classification.^[6] Nieve also rode the Tour de France, where he helped Chris Froome take overall victory as one of his mountain domestiques.

Career achievements

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Giro d'Italia	—	10	10	—	—	17	25	—
Tour de France	—	—	—	12	18	—	17	14
Vuelta a España	10	10	—	23	12	8	—	—

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mikel Nieve.

• Mikel Nieve profile at Team Sky
• Mikel Nieve at Cycling Archives
• Mikel Nieve profile at Cycling Base