Rubén Plaza (cyclist)

Rubén Plaza
	Rubén Plaza (2015)
To person
Full name	Rubén Plaza Molina
Date of birth	February 29, 1980
nation	Spain
discipline	Street
End of career	2019
Most important successes
	a stage Tour de France 2015; two stages Vuelta a España 2005, 2015; Spanish championship road race 2003, 2009;
	Last updated: October 14, 2019

Rubén Plaza Molina (born February 29, 1980 in Ibi ) is a former Spanish cyclist .

Athletic career

In 1997 Rubén Plaza was the Spanish junior champion in road racing , the following year he won the junior title in the individual time trial .

In 2001, Plaza received his first contract with an international cycling team at iBanesto.com . In 2003 he became Spanish road racing champion, in 2005 he won the Tour of Aragon . At the Vuelta a España 2005 he won the last time trial with a strong tailwind with an average speed of 56.2 km / h, which was the fastest speed ever driven in a time trial (except for prologues ) of the "Grand Tours" and took place in the overall standings six.

From 2006, Plaza was investigated in the course of the doping scandal Fuentes , as a result of which his former team Comunidad Valenciana was dissolved. However, he was not suspended and the investigation by the Spanish judiciary has ended.

In the following years Rubén Plaza achieved several stage successes as well as victories at the Clásica a los Puertos , the Vuelta a La Rioja and the Tour of Valencia in 2008 . In 2009 he was national road champion again, in 2013 he won the Vuelta a Castilla y León . In 2015 he decided one stage each of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España for himself. His last international victories were the overall standings and a stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León.

At the end of the 2019 season, Plaza ended his active career.

successes

1997

Spanish Junior Champion - Road Race

1998

Spanish Junior Champion - Individual Time Trial

2000

Clásica Memorial Txuma

2003

a stage regional tour
Spanish champion - road race

2004

a stage Grande Prémio Internacional de Torres Vedras

2005

2006

one stage tour of the Asturias
a stage Grande Prémio Internacional de Torres Vedras
Clásica a los Puertos

2007

Vuelta a La Rioja

2008

2009

one stage tour of Murcia
a stage Circuit de Lorraine
GP CTT Correios de Portugal
Spanish champion - road race

2013

Overall ranking and a stage Vuelta a Castilla y León

2015

a stage Tour de France
a stage Vuelta a España

2018

Overall ranking and a stage Vuelta a Castilla y León

Grand Tour placements

Grand Tour	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Giro d'Italia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	56	-	47	71
Tour de France	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	-	101	47	91	30th	72	-	-	-
Vuelta a España	DNF	6th	-	-	-	-	16	-	-	-	-	45	-	-	-	-

Legend: DNF: did not finish , abandoned or withdrawn from the race due to timeout.

Teams

Web links

Commons : Rubén Plaza - collection of images, videos and audio files

Rubén Plaza in the Radsportseiten.net database

Rubén Plaza in the ProCyclingStats.com database

Individual evidence

↑ Plaza breaks ITT record. In: eurosport.com. September 17, 2005, accessed March 13, 2017 .

↑ cyclingnews.com of June 30, 2006: Comunidad Valenciana riders get all clear ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
^ Alasdair Fotheringham: Plaza retires aged 39 after Il Lombardia. In: cyclingnews.com. October 14, 2019, accessed on October 14, 2019 .

personal data
SURNAME	Plaza, Rubén
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Plaza Molina, Rubén
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Spanish cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH	February 29, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ibi , Spain

[eurospor-766652-1] Plaza breaks ITT record. In: eurosport.com. September 17, 2005, accessed March 13, 2017 .