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.jpg) Olano in 2006 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Abraham Olano Manzano |
| Born | (1970-01-22)22 January 1970 (age 55) Anoeta, Spain |
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft11+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb; 11 st 0 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Time trialist |
| Amateur team | |
| – | Kaiku, AVSA |
| Professional teams | |
| 1992 | CHCS |
| 1992 | Lotus–Festina |
| 1993 | CLAS–Cajastur |
| 1994–1997 | Mapei–CLAS |
| 1997–1998 | Banesto |
| 1999–2002 | ONCE–Deutsche Bank |
| Major wins | |
| Grand Tours | |
Abraham Olano Manzano[a] (born 22 January 1970) is a Spanish retired professionalroad racing cyclist, who raced as a professional from 1992 to 2002. He won theWorld Road Championship in1995, and theWorld Time Trial Championship in1998, becoming the first male cyclist to win both.[1]
He wonVuelta a España in1998, was second in1995, made it twice to the final podium atGiro d'Italia (third in1996 and second in2001), and placed three times in the top-ten atTour de France, with the fourth place in1997 as his personal best. In total he won six stages in the Vuelta and one in the Tour, all of themtime trials.
Olano was also double Spanish Champion in bothroad (1994) andtime trial (1994 and 1998), olympic silver medalist intime trial in Atlanta 1996 and winner of several shorter stage races, likeTour of Romandie in 1996 andCritérium International andTirreno–Adriatico in 2000.
Olano started racing 11 years old at the Oria Cycling school, and already at junior level he won several races.[2]Later, Olano went to track racing. He became Spanish Champion in pursuit (together with Etxegoyen, Pérez and Juárez), in the 1 km with standing start and in sprint.[2]In road racing, he started as an amateur for Kaiku and AVSA. He was specialized in sprinting.
In 1992, Olano started his professional career at CHCS. This team shortly after disbanded, and he moved to Lotus. With Lotus, Olano won his first professional race, theGran Premio de Villafranca de Ordizia in Gipuzkoa.[2]
In 1993, Olano switched to CLAS Cajastur, which was later merged withMapei. Here, he started to win important races, such as theVuelta a Asturias and theSpanish National Road Race Championships, both in road race and time trial.
In 1995, Olano won three stages in theVuelta a España, finishing second in overall classification toLaurent Jalabert.[2] Later in the year Olano was a vital part of a hugely successful Spanish team at theWorld Cycling Championship in Colombia.[3] In the time trial, Olano took silver, finishing second toMiguel Induráin. In the road race, the top two positions was reversed, with Olano taking the championship and Indurain silver. The route for the road race was one of the hardest courses ever for a World Championship, and Olano showed his stamina by riding the last kilometer solo with a flat tyre.
Olano established his abilities in stage races in 1996; he won theTour de Romandie, finished third in theGiro d'Italia (leading the race at the second to last day), and finished ninth in theTour de France. He also won the silver medal in the time trial at the1996 Olympic Games, losing out to Miguel Induráin by a margin of only 12 seconds.[2]
Olano finished fourth in the1997 Tour de France, taking 1 stage win – a long time trial in Disneyland, ahead of the eventual Tour winnerJan Ullrich.
In 1998, Olano won his only grand tour, theVuelta a España,[2] fighting off furious challenges from mountain specialistsFernando Escartín andRoberto Heras as well as fellow all-roundersLaurent Jalabert andAlex Zülle, all at the height of their careers. Despite the victory, Olano was reportedly not happy with the support from the Banesto team and management. Banesto's own mountain specialistJosé María Jiménez took 4 stage wins, on several occasions leaving Olano alone on the climbs, and even taking the Yellow Jersey from his team captain. Olano won back the jersey on the second time trial, but the events and subsequent media speculation soured his relationship with Banesto, and he decided for a switch to the ONCE team for the following season.
Olano finished 1998 in style, winning the World Championship time trial in Valkenburg, ahead of compatriotMelcior Mauri. Olano was the first male rider of the modern era to win the World Championship in both the road race (1995) and the time trial (1998).
In 1999, Olano was back to defend the Vuelta title. In the prologue, severe rains put the late starters (including most of the GC contenders) at a big disadvantage, but Olano nevertheless managed to take 2nd place. In the stage 7 time trial, Olano won with a clear margin to main challengerJan Ullrich, taking the top spot on the GC and the Yellow Jersey. Olano defended his lead through several mountain stages, but a crash on the stage to Alto de Angliru cost him a broken rib, and he was eventually forced to abandon the race.
In 2000, Olano made a shift in focusing on shorter stage races, and wonTirreno–Adriatico andCritérium International, among others. He would make his last mark at the grand Tours with a 2nd place in the2001 Giro d'Italia. He retired from racing in 2002.[2]
On account of results early in his career, a Basque background and some physical similarities, Olano was seen by many supporters as the successor to five-times Tour de France winnerMiguel Induráin. The comparison would haunt Olano for all of his career, as he went on to have a career that was very successful by almost any other standard. Olano was one of the very best time trialists of his generation, and a rider with enormous stamina. However, he was a reluctant climber, and a tendency to lose valuable time to the specialists on the steepest and highest climbs, would keep his number of Grand Tour wins to one.
Olano is one of the people responsible for designing stages for theVuelta a España.[2] He was fired from this position after a report from the French senate revealed that he had delivered a suspicious sample during the1998 Tour de France, indicating use ofEPO.[4] TheInternational Olympic Committee also refused to give the bronze medal to him, sinceLance Armstrong had been doping like him.
In November 2006 Olano ran the San Sebastián marathon in a time of 2:39:19. In October 2015, he took over as new national coach for Gabon, with the task of building the national team "from scratch".[5]
Road raceTime trial
OverallClásica Internacional de Alcobendas
OverallVuelta a Asturias
Road race
Time trial
OverallTour de Romandie OverallTour of Galicia
Time trial,Olympic Games
after Stage 20 Points classification OverallEuskal Bizikleta Points classification
Time trial,UCI Road World ChampionshipsTime trial, National Road Championships OverallVuelta a España
OverallVuelta a Burgos OverallEuskal Bizikleta OverallVuelta a La Rioja OverallVuelta a Burgos Points classification
after Stages 5–11
OverallTirreno–Adriatico OverallVolta a la Comunitat Valenciana OverallCritérium International after Stage 9 OverallClásica de Alcobendas| Grand Tour general classification results | ||||||||||
| Grand Tour | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | 2 | — |
 Tour de France | DNF | 30 | — | 9 | 4 | DNF | 6 | 34 | — | 78 |
/ Vuelta a España | — | 20 | 2 | — | DNF | 1 | DNF | 19 | 64 | — |
| Major stage race general classification results | ||||||||||
| Race | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
 /Paris–Nice | 28 | — | 4 | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tirreno–Adriatico | — | — | — | — | — | — | 68 | 1 | 31 | 52 |
| Tour of the Basque Country | 97 | 13 | DNF | 3 | 8 | DNF | 40 | DNF | 13 | 37 |
 /Tour de Romandie | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
 Critérium du Dauphiné | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | 18 | — | — |
 Volta a Catalunya | — | 21 | DNF | — | — | 6 | 11 | — | — | — |
| Tour de Suisse | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
 UCI Road World Champions –Men's road race | |
|---|---|
| 1927–1938 |
|
| 1946–1959 |
|
| 1960–1979 |
|
| 1980–1999 |
|
| 2000–2019 |
|
| 2020–2039 | |
| UCI Road World Champions –Men's time trial | |
|---|---|
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