Sergio Henao

Henao in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
Nickname	El Venao[1]
Born	(1987-12-10)10 December 1987 (age 37) Rionegro, Colombia
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[2]
Weight	61 kg (134 lb; 9 st 8 lb)[2]
Team information
Current team	Nu Colombia
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist[3]
Amateur teams
2005–2006	Aguardiente Antioqueño–Lotería de Medellín
2007–2009	Colombia es Pasión
2010–2011	Indeportes Antioquia
Professional teams
2012–2018	Team Sky[4]
2019–2020	UAE Team Emirates[5][6]
2021	Team Qhubeka Assos[7][8]
2023	Denver Disruptors[9]
2024–	Nu Colombia
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 1 TTT stage (2013) Stage races Paris–Nice (2017) One-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (2017, 2018)

Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (born 10 December 1987) is a Colombianracing cyclist, who rides forUCI Continental teamNu Colombia.^[10] He previously competed forTeam Sky,UAE Team Emirates andTeam Qhubeka NextHash.^[11]

Henao was born inRionegro in 1987, the same year that the Colombian riderLuis Herrera won theVuelta a España.

In 2005 Henao won two stages of the Junior Vuelta del Porvenir, and finished second overall behindRigoberto Urán. He also finished second in the juniorVuelta a Venezuela. Throughout 2006 he picked up numerous general classification podiums and won the Clasic Norte de Santander. For 2007, he joined theColombia es Pasión team and started to ride outside of his native South America. He recorded 15th overall in theVuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid, two stages of the VenezuelanClasico Ciclistico Banfoandes race, and a second overall in the Norte de Sandander followed. Still just 20 years old he then finished third overall at the Vuelta a Antioquia, his home race, and third in the Colombian National Championships time trial for under-23 riders.

In 2008 he won the under-23 version of theVuelta a Colombia, picking up two stages along the way; two years later he repeated the feat in the main race, winning two stages and the general classification. In 2011, in one of his last races before moving to Europe, he won the opening prologue of theTour of Utah, and then extended his lead on the first stage when he was involved in a five-man break with riders includingLevi Leipheimer.

In 2012 he made his professional debut, joining compatriot and friendRigoberto Urán atTeam Sky after signing a two-year contract.^[3][12] Henao finished 13th overall in theVuelta al Pais Vasco in April, and also rode the Ardennes Classics, recording 21st place inAmstel Gold, 14th place inLa Flèche Wallonne and 29th inLiège–Bastogne–Liège.

In May, Henao was selected to be part of Team Sky'sGiro d'Italia squad. He performed strongly in his first grand tour, with two top ten stage finishes (4th on Stage 15, 9th on Stage 20), he also wore the White Jersey of the best young rider for two days, taking the jersey over from, and relinquishing it to teammate and eventual classification winner Urán. Henao performed strongly in the final time trial moving up two places on the overall classification to finish ninth, and second in the young rider classification. Following the Giro, Henao rode theTour de Pologne, where he finished third overall after finishing second on Stage 6. He represented Colombia in theOlympic Road Race and finished 16th. He then went on to finish second overall in theVuelta a Burgos. Henao also rode thenVuelta a España in support of Chris Froome, and finished 14th overall. He then participated in the UCI Road World Race Championships, finishing ninth in theRoad Race. Henao rounded off an impressive season with fifth place in theGiro di Lombardia.

Henao's 2013 season began at the Mallorca Challenge races, where he placed second in the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana and ninth in the Trofeo Platja de Muro. He then rode theVolta ao Algarve, and won stage 3 to finally take his first victory in Sky colours. Henao also won the third stage of theTour of the Basque Country. The victory put Henao into the lead of both the general classification and points classification. Henao could not, however, hold his lead through the final time trial stage, but managed to confirm his place on the podium in third place overall, behind fellow Colombian cyclistNairo Quintana of theMovistar Team, and teammateRichie Porte.

For the 2014 season Henao was joined at Team Sky by his cousinSebastián Henao.^[13]

In March 2014 Team Sky announced that they would remove Henao from the team's race schedule for eight weeks after they raised questions about the results of out-of-competition tests Henao undertook after he returned to Rionegro in October 2013 for the winter. Team Sky principalDave Brailsford noted that the team's ability to interpret Henao's results was hampered by a lack of research into the physiology of "altitude natives" who grew up in high-altitude environments and that the team would commission independent research to shed light on the situation.^[14] Subsequently, in June 2014 the team announced that the research programme, conducted by researchers at theUniversity of Sheffield with the cooperation of Colombian anti-doping agency, had been completed, the findings had been sent toWADA, theUCI and the Colombian Anti-Doping Federation, and that Henao would return to competition at the2014 Tour de Suisse.^[15] However, whilst reconnoitering the time trial course with teammates, Henao was hit by a car, suffering a fractured knee cap and ruling him out for the rest of the 2014 season.^[16]

Henao made his comeback at theSettimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, where he helped teammateBen Swift finish second overall. He then rode theTour of the Basque Country where he finished second on Stage 3 to take the race lead. He held the lead until the final time trial on Stage 6, where his fourth place was not enough to denyJoaquim Rodríguez overall victory by 13 seconds over Henao.

Henao started his 2016 season at theTour Down Under, where he finished third overall and won the mountains classification,^[17] going on to finish as runner up in theColombian National Road Race Championships.^[18] His first European race of the year wasParis–Nice in March, where he finished sixth in the general classification and played a crucial role in successfully defending teammateGeraint Thomas' lead on the final stage by closing down several attacks byAlberto Contador.^[19] He continued his good form into April, where he was runner up at theGP Miguel Induráin^[20] and at theTour of the Basque Country, where he also topped the points classification.^[21]

On 20 April, it was announced that Henao had been withdrawn from racing after the UCI opened abiological passport investigation against him, relating to the same readings as had caused his withdrawal in 2014. Henao himself said that he was "calm and confident that this [would] be resolved soon", while Dave Brailsford stated that "We believe in Sergio." He noted that the UCI's investigation so far had been anonymous and hoped that the UCI investigation would reach the same conclusions as the team had from the 2014 research.^[22] He was named in the start list for theTour de France.^[23] Henao was one ofChris Froome's key mountain domestiques as he won the race for the third time.

Henao represented Colombia in theOlympic Road Race. Henao formed part of a six-man attack on the first of threeVista Chinesa Circuit loops, and on the final climb broke clear withVincenzo Nibali andRafał Majka. However, Henao and Nibali crashed out of the race on the final descent, suffering a broken collarbone.^[24]

Henao started the year by winning theColombian National Road Race Championships. In March he won theParis–Nice race by a gap of two seconds after managing to fend off a final-day attack fromTrek–Segafredo'sAlberto Contador.^[25] Contador had trailed by 31 seconds overnight, but had gone clear withQuick-Step Floors riderDavid de la Cruz andMarc Soler of theMovistar Team; after taking a couple of seconds at an intermediate sprint, Contador was beaten to the line in Nice by de la Cruz, which cost him four bonus seconds and decided the race in favour of Henao.^[26]

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Giro d'Italia	9	16	—	—	—	—	13	—	—	—
Tour de France	—	—	—	—	12	28	—	47	—	21
Vuelta a España	14	28	—	22	—	—	28	45	15	DNF
Major stage race general classification results
Major stage race	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Paris–Nice	—	—	—	—	6	1	12	31	—	19
Tirreno–Adriatico	—	12	—	—	—	—	—	—	22	—
Volta a Catalunya	—	—	—	—	—	—	29	—	NH	—
Tour of the Basque Country	13	3	—	2	2	8	—	14		—
Tour de Romandie	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		51
Critérium du Dauphiné	—	—	—	—	13	—	—	—	—	—
Tour de Suisse	—	—	DNF	11	—	—	—	13	NH	—

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSergio Henao.

• Sergio Henao profile at Team Sky
• Sergio Henao atUCI
• Sergio Henao at Cycling Archives
• Sergio Henao at ProCyclingStats
• Sergio Henao at Cycling Quotient
• Sergio Henao at CycleBase
• Sergio Henao atOlympedia

• 1987 births
• Living people
• People from Rionegro
• Colombian male cyclists
• Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
• Olympic cyclists for Colombia
• Cyclists from Antioquia Department
• 21st-century Colombian sportsmen

• CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2020
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Articles using sports links with data from Wikidata