Roberto Heras

Roberto Heras Hernández (Béjar, Salamanca, February 1, 1974) is a Spanish ex-cyclist. He has played for three teams as a professional: Kelme, US Postal and Liberty Seguros-Würth. He currently participates in MTB competitions such as the famous Titan Desert, which he has won four times, three of them in a row (2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012).

After standing out at Kelme with Vicente Belda at the helm, he signed for the team led by Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong. During his stint there he helped the American win two of his seven tours. After leaving the US Postal Service, he joined Liberty Seguros, the last of his teams. He has been the winner of the Vuelta a España four times, thus currently being the most successful man in the Spanish round. He also shares with Tony Rominger and Primož Roglič the record of only cyclists to win the Tour of Spain 3 times in a row.

In 2000 he was the first 'climber' Spaniard to win a grand tour since Pedro Delgado did it in 1989, leaving behind a whole generation of 'against the clock' Spanish grand tour winners from the 90s. In 2003 he repeated the feat after another 2 Spanish victories of & # 39; time trialists & # 39; in big turns He was also the first of a new generation of 'climbers' to climb. Spanish grand tour champions in the 2000s and 2010s.

A positive test for EPO in October 2005 brought an abrupt end to his elite cycling career. He is remembered as one of the great Spanish climbers, whose weakness against the clock deprived him of serious options in important competitions.

On June 24, 2011, the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León annulled the sanction for doping imposed on February 7, 2006 and issued by the National Committee for Competition and Sports Discipline of the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation, leaving the door open to the recovery of the title of Champion of the Vuelta a España 2005.

On December 21, 2012, the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed the annulment of the penalty for the Bejarano broker for a series of irregularities in the practice of analysis, including the fact that the samples were delivered almost 40 hours later, at room temperature, by person or company that was unknown, with which Roberto Heras reappears in the list of winners of the Vuelta a España as the winner of the 2005 edition.

Biography

Youth and amateur cycling

Roberto Heras was born in Béjar (Salamanca) on February 21, 1974, into a lower-middle-class family. The second of four brothers, during his childhood he dedicated himself to soccer and athletics, until at the age of thirteen his father bought him his first bicycle. A year later he joined the Bejarana Cycling School (1984 - 1987). After his first regional competitions, especially in the Basque Country, he began to stand out in the youth category as a member of the Caja Salamanca and Soria team, and as an amateur at Café Fortaleza (now Orbea Continental), becoming third with the colors of the national team. from Euskadi, because he had his residence established in the Basque Country, in the 1995 Spanish amateur championship in Segovia. A year later, his idol, the ex-cyclist Lale Cubino, joined Kelme. One year then he was fifth in the Vuelta a Navarra.

Professional Cycling

Kelme (1997 - 2001)

In 1997 he made his professional debut winning that same year in the twelfth stage of the Tour of Spain, in which he finished fifth, and in the Subida al Naranco. A year later he won the Spring Classic, and in the nineteenth stage of the Vuelta, in which he finished sixth. The following year he won again in the Spring Classic, he made his first participation in the Giro d'Italia, where he managed to win in the queen stage, and finished fifth, was third in the Tour of Spain, runner-up in the Tour of Catalonia, and runner-up in the Spanish road cycling championship behind Ángel Luis Casero. After these results, he reached thirty-ninth place in the UCI classification, becoming the undisputed leader of Kelme. A year later he finished fifth in the Tour de France, was proclaimed winner of the Criterium of the Association of Professional Cyclists, the International Criterium of the Valencian Community and the Pedro González Memorial, and was chosen best athlete from Salamanca .

Tour of Spain 2000

The Vuelta a España in 2000 was presented as a fight between Jan Ullrich and Alex Zülle, in which the Spaniards Fernando Escartín or Abraham Olano could perhaps enter. However, Heras agreed to the first place in the general classification after his victory in the fourteenth stage. The rider from Salamanca retained his position until the end of the competition and on September 10 he was proclaimed champion of La Vuelta with the second classified, Homemade, more than two minutes. His victory reaffirmed him as a good climber and made Lance Armstrong try to sign him, which he achieved in 2001.

US Postal Service (2001 - 2003)

After a tough dispute with the director of Kelme, Vicente Belda, Heras joined US Postal (2001). In the Tour that year, he acted as Armstrong's domestique in the mountain stages, finishing fifteenth in the French round. In the 2002 Vuelta, he kept the golden jersey from the fifteenth stage until the last, in which the dispute of the last time trial deprived him of becoming champion for the second time when he was surpassed by Aitor González. That same year he won the Tour of Catalonia, finished ninth in the Tour, and, on January 25, 2002, the king of Spain Juan Carlos I awarded him the Silver Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit. In 2003, what would be his last year in the US Postal, he made up for his defeat the previous year in La Vuelta after winning in the penultimate stage and retain the jersey until the end of the competition. With his victory in the Abantos time trial, Heras managed to prevail when his victory seemed very unlikely, since Isidro Nozal, his greatest rival, had remained in the first position since the fourth stage.

That same year he finished runner-up in the Tour of Catalonia, and thirty-fourth in the Tour, more than an hour behind Armstrong..

Liberty Seguros-Würth (2004-2005)

In the year of his arrival at Liberty (2004), he once again proclaimed himself the winner of La Vuelta after obtaining a considerable advantage in the twelfth stage; his greatest rival, the Asturian Santi Pérez, was half a minute behind Heras. Heras' superiority was reinforced when Santi Pérez, revelation of the championship and second in the general classification, tested positive for a blood transfusion and was banned for two years. That same year he won the Bicicleta Vasca . After abandoning the Tour in 2004, he only managed to finish forty-fifth in 2005, his last participation in this competition. This was a severe setback for him, since, after his departure from US Postal, he hoped to be among the cyclists who contested the final victory of the French round.

Tour of Spain 2005

The 2005 Vuelta a España is, perhaps, the most important sporting and non-sporting event for Roberto Heras. In it, after the dispute of fourteen stages, the Russian Denis Menchov remained firm in the leadership of the classification. However, things took a turn after the fifteenth stage, which took place between Cangas de Onís and Valgrande-Pajares. In a tough mountain stage in which there were completely adverse weather conditions, the entire Liberty team, except for Heras himself, set an extremely fast pace on the peloton that caused a considerable number of riders to be cut. Then Heras attacked in the descent of the Colladiella and contacted his teammates. When Joseba Beloki, Ángel Vicioso and Michele Scarponi, responsible for the debacle of their leader's rivals, found themselves without strength, Heras changed the pace and won the stage. When Menchov crossed the finish line, he did so with 5 minutes and 19 seconds lost, thus giving up first position in the general classification. After maintaining this position without trouble, he was proclaimed winner of the Vuelta for the fourth time, with which beat Tony Rominger's record. This victory was a milestone in the history of Spanish cycling as it was the first time that a cyclist managed to win four Vueltas a España.

Doping

Tour of Spain 2005

After this last victory, Heras was at the height of his career, but on November 8, 2005, the media published that the cyclist from Salamanca had tested positive for EPO after the penultimate stage of the tour Seventeen days later, the counter-analysis confirmed his positive, for which he was dispossessed of his last lap, which went to Menchov's record, and he was sanctioned for a period of two years. After knowing the results, Heras He pleaded not guilty and alleged the following:

For me, my personal and professional credit is more important than winning a Spin.

In 2011, the ordinary courts agreed with the runner, annulling his positive result due to different irregularities in the treatment of the tests and in the performance of the analyses. In December 2012, the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed the annulment of the penalty for the Bejarano rider, with which he will probably appear again in the list of winners of the Vuelta a España as the winner of the 2005 edition, being also the only cyclist to have won this race in 4 editions and the only cyclist along with Tony Rominger and Primož Roglič to win it 3 times in a row.

Large anti-doping operations

In mid-2006 Roberto Heras was involved in Operation Puerto, although since he was already retired and those practices were not doping in Spain, he was not sanctioned.

He was also involved in the "US Postal-Armstrong Case" where, according to USADA, Lance Armstrongs team "launched the most sophisticated, professionalized doping program and success that the sport has known in its history".

Definitive withdrawal

After his two-year ban expired, Heras had offers from modest cycling teams on the table. Although there had been much speculation about his return and he himself had declared that he intended to return, he ended up deciding to retire, and he announced this to the media:

It made me delight to come back, but in no way was I willing to allow them to take advantage of my situation. I threw the towel, it's final. Impossible to remain in the conditions I want. I'm sorry, but just as cycling is, I think it's best for me.

His retirement was due to the absence of offers from ProTour teams and the lack of unity between the cyclists:

I still don't understand the code of ethics, I still don't understand the reasons why ProTour teams can't write to a runner who, like me, has already served their sanction, but to this picture it's best to leave it. This end is something I didn't count on. And some other carving runners will also have to leave the platoon for lack of equipment. It is clear that cycling does not go through the best possible situation: the teams, the organizers, the ICU, are at war, there is no union, and so it is very difficult to get out of the crisis.

Heras also stated that he was going to continue trying to prove his innocence:

I am satisfied that it is recognized that things were not done well, that there were irregularities in the procedure that could alter the result. It's been more than two years and I'm still waiting for the B test to be sent. The A test people gave them to me the next day, but the B's have claimed them half a dozen times and I'm still waiting.

Although he is retired from road cycling, he has been proclaimed four times winner of an important non-professional mountain-bike competition, the Nissan Titan Desert, and took part in the Transpirenaica by Giant Tours. In addition, in 2009 it took over the Bike Blenheim Palace, a curious folding bicycle race held in Oxford in which participants must run with an American jacket, shirt, tie and shorts and in which he was already second the previous year.

Honours of Prizes

Results in Grand Tours and World Championships

During his racing career he achieved the following places in the Grand Tours and in the World Road Championships:

Race		1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
	Giro de Italia	-	-	5.o	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Tour de France	-	-	-	5.o	15.	9.	34.	Ab.	45.
	Return to Spain	5.o	5.o	3.o	1.o	4.o	2.	1.o	1.o	1.o
World on Route		52.	Ab.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

—: does not participate
Ab.: abandon

Acknowledgments

• Cyclist with more victories in the Round to Spain (4 victories).
• Unique cyclist with Tony Rominger and Primož Roglič to win the Return to Spain 3 times in a consecutive way.

Teams

• Kelme Costa Blanca (1997-2000)
• US Postal (2001-2003)
  • US Postal Service (2001-2002)
  • US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor (2003)
• Liberty Insurance (2004-2005)
  • Liberty Insurance (2004)
  • Liberty Seguros-Würth Team (2005)

Honours in non-professional tests

See section Definitive withdrawal.