Juan Antonio Flecha
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni | ||
| Nickname | The Spanish Flandrian Van der Flecha Jan Anton Pijl |
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| Born | September 17, 1977 Junín, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
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| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Weight | 72 kg (160 lb; 11.3 st) | ||
| Team information | |||
| Current team | Team Sky | ||
| Discipline | Road | ||
| Role | Rider | ||
| Rider type | Classics specialist | ||
| Professional team(s) | |||
| 2000–2001 2002–2003 2004–2005 2006–2009 2010– |
Relax-Fuenlabrada iBanesto.com Fassa Bortolo Rabobank Team Sky |
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| Major wins | |||
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| Infobox last updated on 6 January 2012 |
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Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (born September 17, 1977) is an Argentine-born Spanish professional road bicycle racer for the UCI ProTour team Team Sky.
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[edit] Career
He gained fame in 2003 when he became the first rider born in Argentina to win a Tour de France stage while riding for iBanesto.com. As he rode across the finish line he performed a unique victory salute: he pantomimed releasing an arrow from a bow in homage to his family name.
The 2004 season saw him as a co-leader in the Italian Fassa Bortolo team for the Classics and one-day races, with notable finishes in various races from the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris–Roubaix and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and victories in Züri-Metzgete and the Giro del Lazio. He often shared team leadership with Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, with whom he says he works very well.
The following season with Fassa Bortolo in 2005 saw podium finishes in Gent–Wevelgem and Paris–Roubaix, establishing him as one of the best one-day racers in the UCI ProTour today. Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Egoi Martínez said in an interview that in a race "one should have a head and an attitude like the one Juan Antonio Flecha has," in tribute to his perseverance and positive attitude in racing.
When the Fassa Bortolo team closed down after the 2005 season, Flecha moved on to Dutch team Rabobank. In 2007, Flecha took 2nd in the prestigious Paris–Roubaix race. In the 2008 Vuelta a España, Flecha displayed his sense of humor as he stole the "Moose Man"'s American flag and rode playfully with it for 200 meters. With again no victories in the 2009 season, Flecha declined a new offer from team Rabobank. He felt it was time for a new challenge.
Since 2010, he has ridden for the all new Team Sky. He got his first major one day victory in the 2010 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with a solo breakaway. He dedicated the win to his team and to his former team mate Frank Vandenbroucke who died in October 2009. At the 2011 Tour de France, 9th stage, Flecha was involved in a dramatic crash after he was sideswiped by a France Télévisions car, causing fellow breakaway rider, Johnny Hoogerland to crash into a barbed wire fence. He was treated on his bike for an injured elbow and finished the stage. He shared the Combativity award with Hoogerland for that stage.[1]
[edit] Palmarès
- 2003
- 1st Stage 11 Tour de France
- 2004
- 1st Züri-Metzgete
- 1st Giro del Lazio
- 7th Gent–Wevelgem
- 2005
- 1st Stage 4 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 2nd Gent–Wevelgem
- 3rd Paris–Roubaix
- 9th HEW Cyclassics
- 2006
- 2nd GP Ouest-France
- 4th Paris–Roubaix
- 7th Overall Eneco Tour
- 2007
- 2nd Paris–Roubaix
- 2008
- 1st Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
- 2nd Stage 4
- 3rd Ronde van Vlaanderen
- 2009
- 3rd Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- 6th Paris–Roubaix
- 2010
- 1st Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- 3rd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
- 3rd Paris–Roubaix
- Tour de France
- 2011
- 2nd Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- 9th Paris–Roubaix
- Tour de France
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Profile on Rabobank official website
- Juan Antonio Flecha profile at Cycling Archives
