Joaquim Rodríguez

Rodríguez was born in Barcelona, the son of an amateur rider in the 1960s, and later lived in Parets del Vallès.

Some years later he moved to the Basque country to ride for Iberdrola, an amateur team associated with the professional cycling team.

His nickname in the professional peloton is Purito, Spanish for little cigar, a name he was given in an early season training camp during his first year as a professional with.

When some of his teammates stepped up the pace on a small climb, he passed them making a hand gesture appearing to be smoking a cigar, suggesting he was climbing without much effort.

The gesture was not welcomed by his teammates, who made him smoke a real cigar as a hazing ritual later in the evening.

Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver (born 12 May 1979) is a Spanish cyclist, who competed in road bicycle racing between 2001 and 2016 for the, , and teams.

Following his retirement from road racing, Rodríguez has competed in mountain bike racing and formed his own mountain bike racing team, Andbank–La Purito.

In 2001 he turned professional with after riding for the team in late 2000 as a stagiaire.

In 2001, during his first season as a professional, he won the Escalada a Montjuïc, a race held in Barcelona.

In 2003 he won the sixth stage of the Paris–Nice, while he also won team time trials with at the Volta a Catalunya and Vuelta a España.

In 2004 he joined and won the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, a stage race held in Catalonia.

The following year he won Subida a Urkiola and the Mountains classification of the Vuelta a España, while he finished second in the Clásica de San Sebastián and the Vuelta a Burgos.

After joining in 2006, he won the fifth stage of Paris–Nice.

In 2007 he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships and also won the Klasika Primavera and Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia.

In 2008 he won a stage to Montelupone at the third stage of Tirreno–Adriatico atop a 1.7 km climb with sections over 20% in gradients which had many cyclists coming in after him get off and run while carrying their bikes or zig-zag up the climb since it was so steep, but he was one of the few who powered up the difficulty while riding a straight line.

He also finished eighth at the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

Later in the season he finished sixth in the Vuelta a España.

In 2009 he repeated his stage victory at Montelupone, in Tirreno–Adriatico, while he ended second in Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

The second half of the season was marked by a stage win at the Vuelta a Burgos, a seventh place in the overall classification of the Vuelta a España and a bronze medal in the World Road Race Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

He also finished first in the UCI world rankings in 2010, 2012 and 2013, and won classics such as the La Flèche Wallonne and the Giro di Lombardia twice (2012 and 2013).

He also won stage races including the Volta a Catalunya twice (2010 and 2014), the 2015 Tour of the Basque Country and the 2011 Vuelta a Burgos.

In 2010 he joined the Russian, which guaranteed him a position at the Tour de France and a leading role in certain races throughout the season.

Early in the season Rodríguez won the Volta a Catalunya, the UCI ProTour race held around Catalonia, and later won the GP Miguel Induráin and a stage at the Tour of the Basque Country, where he eventually finished third.

He also ended second behind Cadel Evans in La Flèche Wallonne.

At the Tour de France he won the stage to Mende, which featured an uphill finish to the Côte de la Croix Neuve, with the finish line at the runway of the Mende Aerodrome.

Rodríguez finished eighth at the Tour de France.

He continued his strong performance during the season with a fifth place at the Clásica de San Sebastián and a fourth place in the overall classification at the Vuelta a España, winning the stage to Peña Cabarga.

He was the leader in the race until the final 48 km time-trial in stage 17 in Peñafiel when he lost it to Nibali.

Rodríguez topped the UCI World Ranking at the end of the season.

In 2011 he won a stage at the Tour of the Basque Country and finished second behind Philippe Gilbert at both the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne.

He later finished fifth at the Giro d'Italia and won the stages to Le Collet d'Allevard and La Toussuire in the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he won the points and mountains classifications and finished fifth overall.

He skipped the Tour de France to concentrate on the races at the end of the season, mainly the Vuelta a España, where he was considered a possible candidate for winning the race.

He started the second half of the season by finishing fourth at the Clásica de San Sebastián and winning the overall classification and a stage at the Vuelta a Burgos.

He started the Vuelta a España with stage victories at Valdepeñas de Jaén and San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where he captured the leader's jersey, but soon faded and eventually finished the race nineteenth overall.

He ended the season with a third place at the Giro di Lombardia.

Rodríguez recorded notable results included fourteen Grand Tour stage victories, and five overall podium placings: second places at the 2012 Giro d'Italia and the 2015 Vuelta a España, and third-place finishes at the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2012 Vuelta a España and the 2013 Tour de France.

On 18 April 2012, he won La Flèche Wallonne in Belgium with a superb climb on the Mur de Huy and finished second in the Tour of the Basque Country.

Rodríguez took his good form into the Giro d'Italia where he won two stages and finished second overall to Canadian Ryder Hesjedal.

He was always competitive with the general classification contenders in the high mountains, and held the maglia rosa coming into the final individual time trial, where he lost 47 seconds to Hesjedal, therefore losing the overall lead by 16 seconds.

However, he won the points classification jersey, with a slim lead of one point (139 to 138) over Mark Cavendish.