Isidro Nozal Vega (born 18 October 1977) is a Spanish former professional

road racing Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

. Nozal was runner-up in the

2003 Vuelta a España The 58th edition of the ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 6 September to 28 September 2003. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Rob ...

and an instrumental domestique in

Roberto Heras Roberto Heras Hernández (born 1 February 1974) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer who won the Vuelta a España a record four times. Between 1997 and 2005 he finished in the top 5 of the Vuelta every year except 1998 when he f ...

' 2004 Vuelta a España win.

Doping

In 2005, Vega was suspended for two weeks after being tested with a

hematocrit The hematocrit () (Ht or HCT), also known by several other names, is the volume percentage (vol%) of red blood cells (RBCs) in blood, measured as part of a blood test. The measurement depends on the number and size of red blood cells. It is norm ...

level above 50 before the start of Dauphine Libere. In 2006, he was initially implicated in the

Operación Puerto doping case Operación Puerto (''Operation Mountain Pass'') is the code name of a still unfinished Spanish Police operation against the pro sports doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. It started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved se ...

, but was cleared of any wrongdoing by Spanish officials. He later admitted his involvement, saying he did three blood transfusions with Fuentes in the season before the 2005 Dauphine Libere, but denying he doped. For the 2008 and 2009 seasons Nozal rode for the Portuguese Pro Continental team of

Liberty Seguros Liberty Seguros is an international subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Group, a Boston-based insurance company. Sponsorships Liberty Seguros sponsored the UCI ProTour cycling team, Liberty Seguros – Würth, but dropped the sponsorship on 25 May 20 ...

. In September 2009 Nozal and two teammates (Nuno Ribeiro and Hector Guerra) were announced to have tested positive for EPO-CERA in samples taken for the previous month's Tour of Portugal. Liberty Seguros immediately announced that it would cease sponsorship of the team and its participation in cycling. Ribeiro's win was withdrawn and the second-placed rider, Spain's David Blanco, was elevated to the overall win. Nozal, Ribeiro, and Guerra all received two-year suspensions from cycling.www.cyclingnews.com 24 July 2010

Career achievements

Major results

;2001 : 6th Overall Vuelta Ciclista a la Rioja ;2002 : 1st Stage 3 Clasica de Alcobendas : 1st Stage 3

Vuelta a Burgos Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos is an elite professional road bicycle racing event held annually in the Burgos province of Spain. The men's Vuelta a Burgos has been a multi-day stage race as part of the UCI Europe Tour since 2005. In 2019, a multi-day wo ...

: 4th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y Leon : 7th Overall

Deutschland Tour The Deutschland Tour (English: ''Tour of Germany'' and sometimes ''Deutschland-Rundfahrt'' in German) is the most important multi-stage road bicycle race in Germany. Initially the race was held in May/June, but from 2005 until 2008 it was moved t ...

;2003 : 2nd Overall

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...

::1st Stage 6 ( ITT) & 13 ( ITT) ::Held Jersey gold

after Stages 4–19 : 4th

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

: 6th Overall

;2004 : 7th Overall

: 10th

Subida al Naranco Subida al Naranco is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in early June each year. The event was first run in 1941 but was not held consistently until 1981. Between 2005 and 2010, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Euro ...

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

DNF = did not finish

References

1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Barakaldo Spanish male cyclists Cyclists from Cantabria Doping cases in cycling Spanish sportspeople in doping cases Spanish Vuelta a España stage winners Cyclists from the Basque Country (autonomous community) People from the Eastern Coast of Cantabria 20th-century Spanish people 21st-century Spanish people {{Spain-cycling-bio-1970s-stub