Aitor Perez

Aitor Perez Arrieta
	Aitor Pérez at the Euskal Bizikleta 2007
To person
Date of birth	July 24, 1977
nation	Spain
discipline	Street
Driver type	Tour driver
To the team
Current team	End of career
function	driver
Societies)
1998–1999 ; 2000–2002 ; 2003	Olarra - Ercoreca ; Caja Rural ; Cafés Baqué - Labarca 2
Team (s)
2004 ; 2005 ; 2006–2007 ; 2008 ; 2009 ; 2010 ; 2011 ; 2012	Café Baqué ; Spiuk-Semar ; Caisse d'Epargne ; Extremadura-Grupo Gallardo ; Contentpolis-AMPO ; Footon-Servetto ; Lampre-ISD ; Gios-Deyser Leon Kastro
Most important successes
	a stage GP Internacional del Oeste 2005
	Last updated: November 28, 2014

Aitor Pérez Arrieta (born July 24, 1977 in Zegama ) is a former Spanish cyclist .

Career

Early years

At the age of twenty, the Spanish U23 time trial champion from 1996, Aitor Pérez, was part of the Spanish team Olarra-Ercoreca . There he was able to draw attention to himself with a fourth place in the individual time trial of the Basque Championships in 1998 and victory in the one-day race Trofeo Eusebio Velez . For the 2000 season, Pérez then moved to Caja Rural , which was also not yet registered as a UCI team. It was not until 2001 that he achieved some successes in national Spanish competitions as well as a second stage position in the Vuelta a Navarra , a tour entered in the international calendar . In 2002 he was overall third in the Vuelta Ciclista a León and overall second in the Volta a Galicia , two other important Spanish races. Pérez's most successful year to date was 2003, when he - now driving in the jersey of the farm team of the professional team Cafés Baqué-Labarca 2 - was able to achieve a total of three wins and top ten placements on daily sections of the Vuelta a Navarra and the Circuito Montañés .

2004-2007

He was then signed by the professional team of Cafés Baqué in 2004 and, after some good results in Spanish races such as the Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia (6th) , he played his first Grand Tour with the Vuelta a España , which he finished in 66th. Pérez demonstrated his mountain qualities with fifth place on the mountain finish at Puerto de Navacerrada on the penultimate day of the race, and on the 11th stage he was already involved in the fight for victory in ninth place. At the end of the season, however, Cafés Baqué withdrew from the professional sector and Pérez had to look for a new employer.

He found this in the newly founded Continental Team Spiuk-Semar , where the Basque was able to achieve numerous other good results in addition to his first international victory on the third stage of the GP Internacional del Oeste in Portugal . For example, he finished third in the Mallorca Challenge , second in the overall standings at the Vuelta a Valencia and the GP del Oeste and fourth overall at the Vuelta a La Rioja .

For the 2006 season, Perez received a two-year contract with the ProTeam Caisse d'Epargne . In 2006 he was once among the top ten of the Setmana Catalana stage , in 2007 he and his colleagues won the team time trial of the Tour of the Mediterranean Sea and completed the Giro d'Italia for the first time , which he finished 32nd. At the end of the year, his contract with Caisse d'Epargne was not renewed.

2008–2012

Therefore, Pérez returned to his former team Spiuk-Semar in 2008, which was now a Professional Continental Team and now operated under the name Extremadura-Grupo Gallardo . As in 2005, he was able to convince, especially in the first half of the season, and achieved second place in the overall ranking of the Mallorca Challenge as well as further top positions in stages of the Tour of Turkey , the Vuelta a Castilla y León , the Tour of Andalusia and the Tour of Murcia , during which he also wore the overall leader's jersey for two days. Again he had to look for a new team at the end of the season, as Extremadura-Grupo Gallardo was dissolved.

So Pérez signed with Contentpolis-AMPO . The Basque competed in the Vuelta a España for the Spanish Professional Continental Team, but remained without any notable result throughout the season. Contentpolis-AMPO also finally dissolved at the end of the year, Pérez switched to Footon-Servetto and thus back to the UCI ProTour . After a good start to 2010 with top places in stages of the Mallorca Challenge , the Giro di Sardegna , the Volta a Catalunya , the Vuelta a La Rioja and the GP Llodio , he started for the first and only time in his career in the summer Tour de France , in which he almost won a stage when he only had to admit defeat to Thomas Voeckler and Alessandro Ballan on the 15th section of the day to Bagnères-de-Luchon .

For the 2011 season, Pérez then changed teams again and now drove for the Italian ProTeam Lampre-ISD . This was the first time in his career he was under contract with a non-Spanish team. For Lampre, however, he was only able to achieve two top ten results, namely sixth in a stage of the Tour of Portugal and eighth in the eleventh section of the Vuelta a España . After his contract had not been extended, he joined the Greek Continental racing team Gios-Deyser Leon Kastro in 2012 , for which he mainly competed in races in his Spanish homeland, where he once again entered the Vuelta Ciclista a León at a stage Top ten drove. This was also the last significant placement of his career, which he ended at the end of the 2012 season at the age of 35.

Aitor Pérez has only achieved one international victory in his nine-year career as a professional cyclist, in which he competed for eight different teams, but he has always shown himself to be among the best, especially on the smaller tours in his home country. In total, the Basque completed five Grand Tours , all of which he was able to complete.