.jpg) Samuel Sánchez (2022) | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Samuel Sánchez González | ||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Samu, Sammy | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1978-02-05)5 February 1978 (age 47) Oviedo, Spain | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft11+1⁄2 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 68 kg (150 lb; 10 st 10 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||
| Current team | Retired | ||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
| Rider type | All-rounder | ||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||
| 2000–2013 | Euskaltel–Euskadi | ||||||||||||||
| 2014–2017 | BMC Racing Team[2] | ||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
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Medal record
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Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González[3] (born 5 February 1978) is a Spanish former professionalroad bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for theEuskaltel–Euskadi andBMC Racing Team squads. He was the gold medal winner in theroad race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the following years Sánchez proved himself inhilly classics andstage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton. He was also known as one of the bestdescenders in thepeloton. He finished in the top 6 of theTour de France three times and in the top 10 of theVuelta a España 6 times. Other notable achievements include winning theVuelta a Burgos in 2010, the2012 Tour of the Basque Country and five stages of the Vuelta a España.
He started his professional career in 2000 at the Spanish teamEuskaltel–Euskadi and remained there until the team's disbanding in 2013.[4]
In 2003, Sánchez finished 6th inLiège–Bastogne–Liège and third overall in theTour of the Basque Country. The following year, he came 4th inLiège–Bastogne–Liège, and came 15th overall in his firstVuelta a España. He recorded his first major victory in 2005 when he won the 13th stage in theVuelta a España, finishing 11th in the general classification. After winnerRoberto Heras was erased from the results fordoping use, Sánchez shifted up to the 10th place.
In 2006, Sánchez added two stage wins in theTour of the Basque Country and a second place on the steep finishing climb of theBelgian spring classicLa Flèche Wallonne. He finished 4th overall inParis–Nice, winning the points jersey in the process. In theVuelta a España he won the 13th stage with a daring attack in a downhill section and finished 7th in the general classification. At theUCI Road World Championships in the Austrian city ofSalzburg Sánchez played a major part by creating the decisive break in the final kilometre for his leaderAlejandro Valverde. Sánchez himself finished 4th behindPaolo Bettini,Erik Zabel and Valverde. One week later he wonZüri-Metzgete, his first classic. With 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) to go he attacked to solo into Zürich with half a minute to spare overStuart O'Grady andDavide Rebellin.[5] Two weeks later he finished second in theGiro di Lombardia, and secured his second place in the finalUCI ProTour classification.
In 2007, Sánchez started with a ninth place inParis–Nice and he won the final time trial in theTour of the Basque Country, finishing third in the final classification. After a winless classics season Sánchez won the final stage in theVolta a Catalunya. In theVuelta a España he won the 15th stage ahead ofManuel Beltrán, after attacking in Alto de Monachil, showing his fast descending skills to catch Beltrán in the descent toGranada. Beltrán asked Sánchez to let him win, but Sánchez wanted to dedicate this win to his future son, expected to be born in March 2008. Sánchez won by some metres and reached the finish line as if holding a baby in his arms.[6] He also won the last mountain stage up to Alto de Abantos and the last time trial, allowing him to move into 3rd overall.[7] This meant he became the first rider ofEuskaltel–Euskadi to achieve a podium in aGrand Tour.
In 2008, Sánchez rode his first completeTour de France, and finished 6th overall. In August Sánchez won theOlympic road race in 90%humidity andsmog, a race that ran twice each lap through stone gates in theGreat Wall of China. About a quarter of the way through the race, a breakaway group of 26 riders ahead of thepeloton were the first viable group to have a chance of winning the race, but Sánchez was not among them. Sánchez and his Spanish teammates, along with strong help from the Italians and Russians, drove the peloton at a tough pace to catch the group of 20 or so remaining members of the breakaway; and, with 20 kilometres (12 miles) to go, Sánchez and two others escaped and were only caught when Swiss riderFabian Cancellara, RussianAlexandr Kolobnev and AustralianMichael Rogers latched onto the group with only a few kilometres left. At the sprint finish of six men, after an uphill section that ran through a gate in The Great Wall one last time, Sánchez finished a wheel ahead of Italy'sDavide Rebellin to take gold, with Cancellara taking the bronze.[8]
In 2009, Sánchez won theGran Premio de Llodio, and he came third overall in theTour of the Basque Country, winning the points classification. He finished second toAlejandro Valverde in theVuelta a España, his second podium finish in the event. Sánchez also came second in theGiro di Lombardia, after getting back toPhilippe Gilbert who attacked in the last climb. The pair collaborated well together during the last kilometres to keep the chasers at bay during the descent and Sánchez lost the sprint by half a bike length.[9]
In 2010, Sánchez came first overall in theVuelta a Burgos, as well as winning two stages and the points classification in the event. He also won a stage in theTour of the Basque Country, winning the points classification in the race as well. Sánchez carried his good form into theTour de France where he finished 4th overall,[10] after losing out on a podium place toDenis Menchov in the final time trial.[11] He was later moved up to 3rd overall after the disqualification ofAlberto Contador and then Sánchez moved up to 2nd overall after the disqualification of Menchov, too.
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Sánchez was among the favourites heading into theTour de France, but a series of crashes in the first week saw him well down the classification as the race entered the Pyrenees. On Stage 12, the first summit finish of the Tour, Sánchez attacked the overall contenders on the final climb, to win the stage and gain back some time. The revised scoring system for theKing of the Mountains competition also meant that Sánchez took the polka dot jersey.[12] However,Jérémy Roy took the jersey the next day. On Stage 14, the next summit finish, Sánchez again attacked the overall contenders, and finished second on the stage to move up to sixth overall.[13] He moved up to fifth on Stage 16, as he,Cadel Evans andAlberto Contador took time out of the other favorites on the descent into Gap.[14] However, on Stage 18, Sánchez lost time on theCol du Galibier and dropped to 8th overall.[15] On the following stage though, he and Contador attacked onAlpe d'Huez, with Sánchez finishing second toPierre Rolland.[16] This result moved him up to 7th overall, and meant he had effectively King of the Mountains competition as there were no climbs remaining in the Tour. Sánchez moved ahead ofDamiano Cunego in the final Time Trial to finish the Tour 6th overall and 5th after Contador's suspension, and winner of themountains classification.[17]
In 2012, Sánchez's main focus was theTour de France and theOlympic Games.[18] He started the season in good form when he won theTour of the Basque Country. He won stage 3, which was deemed as thequeen stage of the race, shaking offJoaquim Rodríguez andChris Horner on the last climb of the day, the steep Alto de Ustartza.[19] He then prevailed in the sixth and final stage, an individual time trial held inOñati. He took the leader's jersey from Rodríguez winning the general classification by 12 seconds.[20] In July, bad luck struck onthe eighth stage of the Tour de France where he crashed heavily on a narrow road after 60 kilometres (37 miles) of racing. Sanchez was forced to withdraw due to numerous injuries, namely a broken finger bone and a badly bruised upper back and shoulderblade.[21][22]
In 2013, Sánchez aimed for theGiro d'Italia. However, he only was able to finish 12th overall, despite still recovering from his injury he suffered during the previous year's Tour de France. After the Giro, Sánchez won stage 6 in theCriterium du Dauphiné after out sprintingJakob Fuglsang.[23] The latter was his only victory of the year.
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After the demise of theEuskaltel–Euskadi team, Sánchez and many former riders of the team faced difficulties securing new contracts for the 2014 season. However, on 2 February it was announced that Sánchez would ride for theBMC Racing Team. The Ardennes classics along with Grand Tours were stated as his main objectives.[24] After riding theGiro d'Italia in support ofCadel Evans, Sánchez led the BMC Racing Team at theVuelta a España, where he finished sixth.[25] In addition he finished fifth in theGiro di Lombardia.[26] However he was not selected by the national coach Javier Mínguez for theUCI Road World Championships inPonferrada and was upset about it.[27]
In January 2015, BMC Racing Team announced that they had re-signed Sánchez for the 2015 season. The team's sporting managerAllan Peiper stated that Sánchez's role in the team would be similar to that in 2014, but with a greater focus on supporting and developing the team's younger riders.[26]
In the first months of 2016, Sánchez had better results than in his previous years at BMC Racing Team, and his contract was extended until the end of 2017.[28] Sanchez rode theVuelta a España, but crashed out in the last time trial.[29]
In the2017 Tour of the Basque Country, Sánchez was close to a stage victory, but crashed and was injured; this injury plagued him for the first half of the year. When asked if he was considering retirement, Sánchez responded that he did not know what he wanted yet, and that he would wait until after theVuelta a España.[29] However, a few days before the Vuelta started, an out-of-competition doping test from Sánchez came back positive for the growth hormone releasing peptide GHRP-2, and he was therefore provisionally suspended, and not allowed to start the race.[30]
On 13 May 2019, theUCI, the sport's governing body, suspended Sánchez for two years, effective from his initial provisional suspension on 17 August 2017. The UCI accepted that the positive test came from a contaminated supplement, yet chose to suspend him nevertheless. While Sánchez could return to competition in August 2019,Cyclingnews.com considered this unlikely given his age of 41.[31]
OverallEscalada a Montjuïc OverallEscalada a Montjuïc
Points classification
Road race Points classification OverallVuelta a Burgos Points classification
Points classification
Mountains classification OverallTour of the Basque Country Points classification| Grand Tour general classification results | ||||||||||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 12 | 24 | — | — | — |
 Tour de France | DNF | DNF | — | — | — | — | 6 | — | 2 | 5 | DNF | — | — | 12 | — | — |
 Vuelta a España | — | — | 15 | 10 | 7 | 3 | — | 2 | — | — | — | 8 | 6 | DNF | DNF | — |
| Major stage race general classification results | ||||||||||||||||
| Race | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Paris–Nice | 12 | 9 | 18 | — | 4 | 9 | — | DNF | 4 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
 Tirreno–Adriatico | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 18 | — | — | — | — |
 Volta a Catalunya | — | — | — | — | 13 | 15 | — | 9 | — | — | 2 | — | 45 | 68 | 29 | 33 |
| Tour of the Basque Country | 10 | 3 | 8 | DNF | 6 | 3 | — | 3 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 6 | DNF |
| Tour de Romandie | Did not contest during his career | |||||||||||||||
 Critérium du Dauphiné | 33 | — | — | — | — | — | 45 | — | 18 | 17 | 126 | 9 | — | 49 | — | — |
| Tour de Suisse | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — |
| Monument | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | 20 | — | 20 | — | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour of Flanders | Did not contest during his career | ||||||||||||||||
| Paris–Roubaix | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | DNF | 6 | 4 | 82 | 15 | 13 | — | 10 | — | 10 | 7 | 37 | 31 | 29 | 4 | 52 |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 3 | 27 | 2 | 6 | 30 | 2 | — | 5 | DNF | 50 | — |
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Olympic Games | — | Not held | — | Not held | 1 | Not held | — | NH | ||||||
 World Championships | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | 7 | 22 | 4 | DNF | — | 41 | DNF |
 National Championships | 5 | — | — | — | — | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)In any case, Sanchez has high objectives for the coming Olympic year, where he wants to defend his title in London after hopefully finishing on the Tour de France podium again in Paris.
| International | |
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| National | |
