Francisco Javier "Patxi" Vila Errandonea (born 11 October 1975 in

Hondarribia Hondarribia ( eu, Hondarribia; es, Fuenterrabía; french: Fontarrabie) is a town situated on the west shore of Bidasoa river's mouth, in Gipuzkoa, in Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain. The border town is situated on a ...

, Basque Country) is a Spanish

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

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 ...

who rides for the

UCI Professional Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

team . He was formerly with

UCI ProTeam UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

, before being banned for 18 months after testing positive for the use of testosterone. Vila's most notable victory came in stage 3 of the

2006 Paris–Nice The 2006 in sports, 2006 edition of the Paris–Nice road bicycle racing, bicycle race was run from March 5 to March 12. The race was won by United States rider Floyd Landis, of Phonak (cycling team), Team Phonak. Stages 05-03-2006: Issy-les-Mou ...

where he snatched onto the wheel of

Floyd Landis Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He finished first at the 2006 Tour de France, and would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after test ...

as he escaped on the Col de Croix de Chaubouret. The duo amassed a lead of over a minute on their nearest contenders and Vila swept past Landis to take the stage. This performance catapulted him to second overall on the general classification, 9 seconds behind

. He finished the race in Nice still 9 seconds behind winner

and 56 seconds ahead of

Antonio Colom Antonio Colóm Mas (born 11 May 1978) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer from Bunyola. He is a specialist in short stage races, having won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in 2006, the Vuelta a Mallorca in 2004 and the Vuelta a And ...

. He finished the

2006 UCI ProTour The 2006 UCI ProTour was the second year of the UCI ProTour system, in which the ProTour teams are guaranteed, and obliged to, participate in the series of ProTour races. The prelude to the 2006 ProTour was dominated by a dispute between the ma ...

in 38th place with 69 points, the third highest ranked

Lampre-Fondital UAE Team Emirates () is an Emirati road bicycle racing team. The team competes at UCI WorldTeam level and has done so since the UCI World Tour was formed as the top category of road cycling in 2005. However the team was temporarily suspended from ...

rider behind

Alessandro Ballan Alessandro Ballan (born 6 November 1979 in Castelfranco Veneto, Veneto) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI World Tour team . He is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships, in 200 ...

and

Damiano Cunego Damiano Cunego (born 19 September 1981) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2018 for the , and teams. Cunego's biggest wins were the 2004 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Amstel Gold Race, a ...

. After retiring from competition Vila worked for

Specialized Bicycle Components Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc., colloquially known as and stylized as SPECIALIZED, is an American company which designs, manufactures and markets bicycles, bicycle components and related products under the brand name "Specialized", as wel ...

as a performance specialist before joining in 2015 as a

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' ( French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is se ...

Major results

– 1 stage

References

External links

*
Profile at Lampre-Fondital official website
*
VeloNews biography
Cyclists from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Spanish male cyclists 1975 births Living people Doping cases in cycling Spanish sportspeople in doping cases People from Hondarribia Sportspeople from Gipuzkoa {{Spain-cycling-bio-1970s-stub

Major results

See also

References

External links