Roberto Heras

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Roberto Heras

Heras in 2005
Personal information
Full name	Roberto Heras Hernández
Nickname	King of the Spanish Mountains
Date of birth	February 1, 1974 (1974-02-01) (age 34)
Country	Spain
Height	1.72 m
Weight	59 kg
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Professional team(s)
1997-2000 2001-2003 2004-2005	Kelme-Costa Blanca US Postal Service Liberty Seguros-Würth
Major wins
Vuelta a España (2000, 2003, 2004), 10 stages Tour de France, 1 stage (TTT) Giro d'Italia, 1 stage
Infobox last updated on:
December 31, 2007

Roberto Heras Hernández (born 1 February 1974 in Béjar, Spain) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer who won the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) a record-tying three times. He broke the record with a fourth win in 2005, but was later disqualified after a urine sample during that year's Vuelta tested positive for the banned drug EPO.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Riding with Lance Armstrong 3 Dominating the Vuelta a España 4 Recent News 5 Accomplishments 6 See also

[edit] Early career

Heras turned professional in 1995 racing for the Spanish cycling team Kelme. His first win as a pro came in 1996, when he won the Subida al Naranco, and later that year he also took an important victory in the twelfth stage of the Vuelta a España. Next year he won yet another stage at the Vuelta and the Clásica de Amorebieta. In 1999 he won stages at the Volta a Catalunya and the Giro d'Italia, and he stood for the first time on the Vuelta's podium, where he was third despite not winning any stage. In 2000 he took two stages and the overall win at the Vuelta, which attracted the attention of US Postal cycling team.

[edit] Riding with Lance Armstrong

From 2001, he raced alongside Lance Armstrong on the US Postal Service team. As a climbing specialist, he greatly assisted Armstrong's progress in the mountain stages of the Tour de France. Heras achieved his highest finishing position to date in the 2000 Tour when he was fifth.

[edit] Dominating the Vuelta a España

He had, however, already established himself as a contender for leading honours in other Tours. He was fifth overall and a stage winner in the 1997 Vuelta, sixth (and another stage victory) a year later, and was on the podium in third place in 1999; that year he also finished sixth and won a stage in the Giro d'Italia. His first Vuelta win came the following year, 2000 (when he also won two stages and the points classification), followed by three consecutive victories in 2003, 2004 and 2005, earning him the distinction of the most wins in the Vuelta. As of 2004, he had won eight stages in the Vuelta.

At the end of the 2003 season, he left US Postal to become the leader of the Spanish Liberty Seguros team. He was thought to be a contender for the 2004 Tour de France, but was forced to abandon after the 16th stage due to lack of fitness[1].

His victory in the 2004 Vuelta a España was his third overall victory in the race, a record he shared at the time with Tony Rominger. During the first mountain stages of the Vuelta, it seemed it would be a rather easy win for him, but in the last week he had to see off an important challenge from Santiago Pérez.

[edit] Recent News

One year later in 2005, Heras won a record-breaking fourth time the Vuelta, winning two mountain stages, including an epic victory atop the Estación de Esquí de Pajares and excelling unpredictably in the last time trial, a completely flat one which he lost by less than a second.

However, a drug test finalized in November 2005, two months after the race's end, showed a positive test for EPO from the day of said time trial (stage 20). [2] He has been fired from his team, and faces a two year suspension from racing. He was stripped of his 2005 Vuelta win. The Vuelta victory was given to Russian Denis Menchov. Heras appealed this result, alleging inaccuracies in the testing process and mishandling of his samples, but the appeal was rejected.

He was planning to comeback to the peloton after his suspension ended in late 2007 but ProTour rules stated that he couldn't join a ProTour team for the next two years even after his suspension ends. At the end of 2007 he announced his retirement.

[edit] Accomplishments

All results are general classification (overall) rankings unless otherwise indicated:

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jan Ullrich	Winner of the Vuelta a España 2000	Succeeded by Ángel Casero
Preceded by Aitor González	Winner of the Vuelta a España 2003-2004	Succeeded by Denis Menchov

[edit] See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences