Joseba Beloki Dorronsoro (born 12 August 1973) is a Spanish former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

Tour successes

Beloki turned professional in 1998 with , joined in 2000, and then in 2001. A strong climber in the high mountains and a top performer in

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...

s, he made it to the podium in each of his first three rides in the Tour de France: in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

(3rd place),

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

(3rd place) and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

(2nd place). He is the only runner-up during

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 Tour de ...

's run of seven consecutive Tour wins to have not been found guilty of doping, though he was not retroactively awarded the victory in the

general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...

of 2002 after Armstrong's wins were stripped. In 2001, Beloki also finished first overall in the

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; en, Tour of Catalonia, es, Vuelta a Cataluña, link=no) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of th ...

Crash and recovery

On 14 July 2003, during the 9th stage of the

2003 Tour de France The 2003 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 5 to 27 July, and the 90th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti- ...

, Beloki was in second place overall (just 40 seconds behind Armstrong) and negotiating a turn at speed while descending from Cote de La Rochette, shortly after passing the

Col de Manse The Col de Manse () is a mountain pass located in the Massif des Écrins approximately north-east of Gap in the Hautes-Alpes department of France. The pass connects Gap with the high Champsaur valley and the ski resort of Orcières-Merlette. T ...

, just 4 km from the stage finish at Gap. He lost control of his bicycle after he locked his rear brake and the rear tire came off the wheel on a patch of tarmac that was softened by the sun, sending his rear wheel skidding first in one direction and then the other. Beloki suffered a hard fall that broke his right

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...

in two places, his

elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the media ...

and his

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the Carpal bones, carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known ...

. Armstrong was following immediately behind Beloki and, to avoid the fallen rider, headed off the road to go down the hill through the underbrush and across a small field. The crash effectively ended Beloki's career as a premier bicycle racer. For the 2004 season, Beloki opted to sign for the French team Brioches La Boulangère in preparation for the 2004

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

. He was reported as being fully recovered from his injuries by early 2004, but it later transpired that those injuries were taking longer to heal than initially anticipated. By mid-April 2004, Beloki had yet to begin serious competition for the season. He started his home race, the

Tour of the Basque Country The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: ''Itzulia Basque Country'', es, Vuelta al País Vasco, links=no, eu, Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race held in the Basque Country (autonomous community) ...

, but failed to even complete the first stage before retiring in pain from his injuries. Citing incompatibility with the French team, he switched to the Spanish Saunier Duval-Prodir team for the remainder of the 2004 season. Beloki switched back to

Manolo Saiz Manuel "Manolo" Saiz Balbás (born 16 October 1959 in Torrelavega, Cantabria) is the former team manager of one of the most successful Spanish professional road bicycle racing teams, first called Team ONCE, then Liberty Seguros-Würth, Astana-Wü ...

's team (now called

Liberty Seguros-Würth ONCE cycling team, () also known as Liberty Seguros, Liberty Seguros–Würth and in succession in its final year, Astana–Würth and Astana was a Spanish cycling team. It competed in the UCI ProTour circuit. On 25 May 2006, Liberty Mutual ( ...

) for 2005. Beloki completed the

2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong origin ...

and finished in 75th place. In the Vuelta a España, he also completed the race without being recognized, since he was only 39th overall. In 2006 he was among those implicated in Operación Puerto and was withdrawn from the Tour de France. However, on 26 July he was cleared by Spanish officials of any wrongdoing. Payment records from Beloki as well as his race schedule were found in

Eufemiano Fuentes Eufemiano Fuentes (born 1955) is a Spanish sports doctor who was implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case. Biography Fuentes was once an athlete. He then became the team doctor of Team ONCE, Amaya and Kelme. The former Kelme rider Jes� ...

' possession in his office; however, Beloki denies any claim he doped with Fuentes.

Career achievements

Major results

;1997 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Vuelta a Alava ::1st Stage 1 : 2nd

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 ...

, National Road Championships ;1998 : 5th Overall

Tour de l'Avenir Tour de l'Avenir ( en, Tour of the Future) is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961 as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independents ...

::1st

Mountains classification ;1999 : 3rd Road race, National Road Championships : 4th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré : 4th Overall

;2000 : 1st Jersey blue

Overall

Vuelta a Asturias Vuelta Asturias is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in early May each year. The event was first run in 1925 but has not been held consistently until 1968 to present. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI E ...

::1st Stage 5 : 2nd Overall

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. I ...

::1st Stage 3b ( ITT) : 3rd Overall

: 6th Overall

Vuelta a Aragón Vuelta a Aragón is a professional bicycle road race held in Spain in May of each year. The event was first run in 1939, and was not held between 2006 and 2017. The future of the race is uncertain; there had been plans to organise it again, but an ...

;2001 : 1st MaillotVolta

Overall

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 1 ( TTT), 4 & 8 ( ITT) : 2nd Overall

Euskal Bizikleta Euskal Bizikleta (Spanish: ''Bicicleta Vasca'', English: ''Basque Bicycle'') was an annual road cycling stage race held in the Basque Country in June. From 2005 to 2008, the race was organized as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2009, it ...

: 2nd Overall

Escalada a Montjuïc The Escalada a Montjuïc (in Catalan, English: ''Scaling of Montjuïc'', Spanish: ''Escalada a Montjuïc'') was a one-day, two-stage road bicycle racing race held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain since 1965. It was held in the middle of October, as ...

: 3rd Overall

: 4th

Circuito de Getxo The Circuito de Getxo ( en, Getxo Circuit) is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in July in Getxo, Spain. Since 2005, the race is organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle ...

;2002 : 2nd Overall

: 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 1a ( ITT) : 3rd 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 1 ( TTT) ::Held Jersey gold

after Stages 1–4 : 3rd Overall

: 3rd LuK Challenge Chrono (with

Igor González de Galdeano Igor González de Galdeano Aranzabal (born 1 November 1973 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer and most recently, the team manager of UCI ProTeam . Following a promising start to his career ...

) : 8th Overall

::1st Stage 5 : 8th

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia ( en, Tour of Lombardy), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cy ...

;2003 : 1st Jersey red

Overall Clasica Alcobendas ::1st Jersey green

Points classification ::1st Stage 2b ( ITT) : 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 5

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

;General * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Beloki, Joseba 1973 births Cyclists from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Living people People from Goierri Spanish male cyclists Spanish Vuelta a España stage winners Sportspeople from Gipuzkoa