.jpg) Delgado in 2016 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Pedro Delgado Robledo |
| Nickname | Perico |
| Born | (1960-04-15)15 April 1960 (age 65) Segovia,Castile and León, Spain |
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft7+1⁄2 in)[1] |
| Weight | 64 kg (141 lb; 10 st 1 lb)[1] |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climbing specialist |
| Professional teams | |
| 1982–1984 | Reynolds |
| 1985 | Orbea–Gin MG |
| 1986–1987 | PDM–Ultima–Concorde |
| 1988–1994 | Reynolds |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Pedro Delgado Robledo (pronounced[ˈpeðɾoðelˈɣaðoroˈβleðo]; born 15 April 1960), also known asPerico ([peˈɾiko]), is a Spanish former professionalroad bicycle racer. He won the1988 Tour de France, as well as theVuelta a España in1985 and1989. He finished in the top 10 of eighteenGrand Tours.
Delgado tested positive for the known masking agentProbenecid during the1988 tour. The drug, which had been placed on theInternational Olympic Committee's list of banned substances in January of that year, had not yet been banned by the sport's governing body, theUnion Cycliste Internationale; as a consequence, Delgado was allowed to continue racing and was not charged with any doping offence.
He now works as a sports commentator forTelevisión Española during important cycling events.
Delgado took part in theTour de France eleven times. During his first participation, when he was 23, he rose to second place in the overall classification after the 17th stage, before falling back later in the event.[2]
In 1983, theReynolds team participated in the Tour for the first time. Delgado was a young rider, andÁngel Arroyo was the star of the team. That year the Tour had four individual time trials (ITT), plus the prologue, and six mountainous stages. After the 17th stage Delgado was second in the overall classification, 1m08s behindLaurent Fignon, another 23-year-old rider competing in the Tour for the first time. However, Delgado drank a spoilt milk shake that caused him a stomach cramp during the next stage, ending inMorzine.[3] He lost 25 minutes 34 seconds that day,[4] and his first chance of winning the Tour. He finished in 15th position, 25 minutes 44 seconds behind Fignon.[5]
Delgado fought a long battle withStephen Roche during the1987 Tour de France, that was resolved in favour of Roche only in the penultimate stage, an ITT. The final difference was 40 seconds, at the time the second smallest difference ever recorded.[6] Delgado was regarded as the third best time-trialist that year, with Roche considered the best. Roche later said:[7]
"We were on French TV after the descent into Morzine [the last mountain stage, after which Delgado was still leader of the overall classification] and, off camera, he came up to me, hugged me, and said 'Bravo, you deserve the yellow jersey'. The TV people couldn't believe it! He's a fabulous competitor, but he's also a great, incredibly gallant guy and I think that's another reason why that Tour was so special."
Delgado won the1988 Tour de France by a comfortable margin. The evening after the 17th stage, the television channel "Antenne2" reported that Delgado had tested positive in a doping test. His team directorJosé Miguel Echevarri was informed hours after by the Tour organization without mention of the substance. That night,Xavier Louy, director of the race, went to the hotel where Echavarri was and suggested to him that Delgado should withdraw.[8] This was similar to the "Merckx affaire" in the 1969 Giro.[9]
The following morning Echevarri received the official communication. The substance wasprobenecid, a medicine for the kidney and also a masking agent foranabolic steroids. In 1988, every sport had a different list of banned substances and theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) had its own, although there was a commitment to unify the lists in 1990. Probenecid was in the IOC list, but not in theUnion Cycliste Internationale (UCI) list (it would be one month later) and rule number 35 of the 1988 Tour regulations stated that the doping test would be carried out in accordance with the UCI rules. The technical jury declared that Delgado had not broken any UCI rule.
However, the Director of the Tour de France,Jean-Pierre Courcol, said "I now know that the letter can replace the spirit of the law and that the regulations can be played with, in order to give the appearance of utter innocence. Today, I am ashamed" and his deputy, Jean-Marie Leblanc, described it as a "dismal verdict".[10] Other riders were also unhappy, withAndy Hampsten saying "Delgado took a drug to mask steroids. It's not on the banned list but it's a masking drug and that's what the commissaries should have acknowledged. I think it's a crime to let him wear the yellow jersey, a crime against the public and against the sport."[11]
In 1988 the sanction for this type of doping was a penalty of 10 minutes, which was applied toGert-Jan Theunisse during the same 1988 Tour de France; Delgado, having been cleared, received no such penalty. His final advantage over the second rider in the overall classification,Steven Rooks, was 7:13 minutes. Third, 9:58 behind, wasFabio Parra.
Delgado wore the yellow jersey for eleven days, and passed doping tests every day. There was no trace of probenecid nor steroids in any other test. He thanked the public for their support and claimed he would always be grateful for the support he received during the competition.[3][12]
Xavier Louy was replaced as Tour director months later.[13]
At the1989 Tour de France, Delgado arrived 2m 40s late for theprologue.[14] He covered the distance only 14 seconds slower thanErik Breukink, the stage winner,[15] but nevertheless became the first defending champion to begin the race in last place, 2:54 behind Breukink. He later said that he was very nervous and had not slept the previous night. The following day there were two stages. Due to this he was very weak and sufferedhypoglycemia in the second stage, a decisive team time-trial.[16] That day he would have been dropped by his team had they not waited, and he lost more time than in the previous stage, 4:32.[17] After that second stage, he remained last in the overall classification, more than seven minutes behind the best-classified of the favourites,Laurent Fignon.
Delgado rode the rest of the race on the offensive. His reaction started in the 5th stage, a 73 km individual time-trial. He was second in the stage, 24 seconds behindGreg LeMond.[18] In the first mountain stage, Delgado attacked during the last climb, gaining 29",[19] but in the next stage Delgado, together withRobert Millar, finished 3:26 ahead of Fignon and 3:38 ahead of LeMond. Delgado was now 4th overall, 2:53 behind the leader, Fignon.[20] After the 17th stage, finishing inAlpe d´Huez, final victory still seemed possible, Delgado was third overall, 1:55 behind Fignon and 1:29 behind LeMond, but he was unable to make up all the time he had lost in the early stages, and the final fight of that Tour had only two major figures: Laurent Fignon and the final winner,Greg LeMond.
OverallVuelta a Murcia OverallVuelta a Aragón after stages 7–11 OverallVuelta a España after stages 20–23 OverallTour de France OverallVuelta a España
OverallVuelta a Burgos
Mountains classification OverallSetmana Catalana de Ciclisme| Grand Tour | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vuelta a España | 29 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 4 | DNF | 1 | 2 | DNF | 3 | 6 | 3 |
 Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | 7 | — | — | 15 | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | 15 | DNF | 6 | DNF | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 9 | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
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