Mikel Zarrabeitia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mikel Zarrabeitia Road cycling
To person
Date of birth May 14, 1970
nation SpainSpain Spain
discipline Street
height 1.79 meters
Racing weight 63 kilograms
End of career 2003
Team (s)
1991-1993
1994-1995
1996-2003 		SpainSpain Amaya Seguros Banesto ONCE
SpainSpain
SpainSpain
Most important successes

Overall ranking Euskal Bizikleta 2002

Last updated: May 23, 2020

Mikel Zarrabeitia Uranga (born May 14, 1970 in Abadiño , Province of Bizkaia , Basque Country Autonomous Region ) is a former Spanish cyclist .

Athletic career

Mikel Zarrabeitia, whose father was also a cyclist, learned to ride a bike at the age of three. Mikel Zarrabeitia competed his first cyclo- cross races , in which he competed up to the junior category ; he also played soccer and played the traditional Basque sport of sokatira ( tug of war ). His father convinced him to focus on road cycling . His older brother Juan Antonio Zarrabeitia Uranga was also a cyclist.

In 1991 Zarrabeitia turned professional . His first success was in 1992 the overall victory and a stage victory at the Vuelta a La Rioja . At the Vuelta a España in 1994 , Zarrabeita achieved his best Grand Tour placement in second overall behind the Swiss Tony Rominger . He then remained unsuccessful for a long time due to persistent health problems.

In 1997, Zarrabeitia won the Trofeo Comunidad Foral de Navarra , the Klasika Primavera de Amorebieta and a stage of the Aragon Tour , and in 2001 he won a stage of Euskal Bizikleta . During the eleventh stage of the Vuelta a España 2000 - on the descent from the Rabassa Pass in Andorra - he tried to reach for his apparently defective speedometer with his hand. His fingers got caught between the spokes of the front wheel and he fell. He injured his finger so that the tip had to be amputated.

In 2002, Mikel Zarrabeitia won the overall classification of the domestic race Euskal Bizikleta and the Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia . He was involved in the victory of his team ONCE in the team time trials of the Tour of Burgos and the Vuelta a Espana . In his last year as an active player, in 2003, he finished second overall at Paris-Nice .

After his second place at the Vuelta 1994, Zarrabeitia was considered a new great talent in Spanish cycling and as the successor to Marino Lejarreta . He was unable to meet the expectations placed on him, among other things because he had two herniated discs and a serious car accident in the course of his sports career .

successes

1992
1997
2001
2002

Grand Tours placements

Grand Tour 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Maglia Rosa Giro d'Italia - - - - - - - - 29 - - - -
Yellow jersey Tour de France - - - - - - - - DNF - - - -
Golden jersey Vuelta a España - - 12 2 - 31 40 36 11 DNF 25th 21st -
Legend: DNF: did not finish , abandoned or withdrawn from the race due to timeout.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Eduardo Rodrigálvarez: Un campeón que no lo fue. In: elpais.com. December 28, 2003, accessed May 24, 2020 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Juan Antonio Zarrabeitia Uranga in the database of Radsportseiten.net
  3. ↑ Zarrabeitia lost her fingertip. In: news.ch. September 6, 2000, accessed May 4, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Andreas Schulz: Twice as stupid. In: eurosport.de. July 20, 2012, accessed May 4, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Qué fue de… Mikel Zarrabeitia. In: blogs.20minutos.es. June 3, 2009, accessed May 24, 2020 (Spanish).
personal data
SURNAME Zarrabeitia, Mikel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zarrabeitia Uranga, Mikel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Abadiño , Vizcaya Province, Basque Country Autonomous Region