Igor Astarloa
 Astarloa at the 2006 Rund um den Henninger Turm | |||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Igor Astarloa Askasibar | ||||||||||||
| Born |
March 29, 1976 Ermua, Spain | ||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||
| Role | Rider (retired) | ||||||||||||
| Rider type | Classics specialist | ||||||||||||
| Professional team(s) | |||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Mercatone Uno–Albacom | ||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | Saeco Macchine per Caffè–Longoni Sport | ||||||||||||
| 2004 | Cofidis (till April) | ||||||||||||
| 2004 | Lampre (from May) | ||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Barloworld | ||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Milram | ||||||||||||
| 2009 | Amica Chips-Knauf | ||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||
|
La Flèche Wallonne (2003) Milano–Torino (2006) | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||
|
Infobox last updated on January 16, 2010 | |||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=icon}
Igor Astarloa Askasibar (born March 29, 1976 in Ermua, Basque Country) is a retired cyclist from Spain.
Career
Astarloa turned professional with the Italian cycling team Mercatone Uno and enjoyed his best season in 2003 with team Saeco Macchine per Caffè when he won the Flèche Wallonne and the road race title at the World Cycling Championships at Hamilton, Canada. During the 2006 transfer season it was announced that he was to leave Team Barloworld, the Continental Circuit team for which Astarloa had ridden for the last several years, and join Team Milram, a member of the UCI ProTour.
Team Milram terminated its contract with Astarloa in May 2008 following disclosures that he had shown "irregular blood values", as reported by Focus magazine.[1] He joined the Amica Chips-Knauf team, which folded in May 2009. Soon after, in June 2009, Astarloa was one of the first five riders to fall foul of the Union Cycliste International's new biological passport system, introduced to combat doping by competitive cyclists. Astarloa was unable to secure another contract that season, and retired in January 2010.[2]
Doping conviction
On 1 December 2010, the Union Cycliste International announced that the Spanish Cycling Federation’s Disciplinary Commission had handed down a two-year suspension and a €35,000 fine to Igor Astarloa. According to Cyclingnews.com, Astarloa's blood samples had come under considerable scrutiny prior to the events of 2008-09 and in the wake of his 2003 world championships victory, although he was never punished for any infraction.[3]
Major achievements
- 2002
- 1st, Brixia Tour overall and stage 2
- 2003
Winner, Road Race World Championship- 1st, La Flèche Wallonne
- 10th, Amstel Gold Race
- 1st, Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage 3
- 2004
- 1st, Brixia Tour stage 2
- Member, Summer Olympics Men's Road Race
- 2005
- 1st, Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos stage 2
- 2006
- 1st, Milano–Torino
- 2nd, Stage 4, Tirreno–Adriatico
See also
References
External links
- Igor Astarloa profile at Cycling Archives
