Joaquim Rodríguez · Biography

Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver turned professional in 2001 with Manolo Saiz’s ONCE-Eroski and took his first win that same year at the Escalada a Montjuïc. Born on 12 May 1979 and a resident of Parets del Vallès, the town that named its municipal sports hall after him in 2012, he raced sixteen seasons at the top level, from 2001 to 2016. He was world number one in the UCI ranking in 2010, won the UCI World Tour in 2012 and 2013, and finished on the podium of all three Grand Tours.

Early years and nickname

The son of an amateur rider from the 1960s, he raced for Hospitalet-Vestisport in 1998 and moved to the Basque Country in 1999 to join Iberdrola, the ONCE feeder team. There he won a stage of the Vuelta a Segovia in 1999 and, in 2000, the Subida a Gorla and the Memorial Valenciaga. Late in 2000 he rode as a stagiaire with the senior squad, which signed him for the following season. The nickname “Purito”, Spanish for “little cigar”, was born at an ONCE training camp in his first professional year: on a climb he rode past his teammates, Laurent Jalabert among them, miming a man smoking a cigar to show how easy it felt. They later made him smoke a real one.

ONCE and Saunier Duval (2001-2005)

At ONCE-Eroski he developed into an explosive climber, at his best on short, steep finishes. In 2003 he won stage six of Paris-Nice and stage eight of the Vuelta a España, where the team had also won the opening team time trial. In 2004 he moved to Saunier Duval-Prodir and won the Setmana Catalana that year. In 2005 he took the Subida a Urkiola, finished second at the Clásica de San Sebastián and won the mountains classification at the Vuelta a España.

Caisse d'Epargne (2006-2009)

He joined Caisse d'Epargne in 2006, working mainly as a domestique for Alejandro Valverde while still taking his own chances. He won a stage of Paris-Nice in 2006 and in 2007 became Spanish road race champion in Cuenca, also winning the Klasika Primavera and the Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia. He added stages of Tirreno-Adriatico in 2008 and 2009. In 2009 he was second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and on 27 September took bronze at the World Championships in Mendrisio, behind Australia’s Cadel Evans and Russia’s Alexandr Kolobnev.

Katusha and world number one (2010-2013)

In 2010 he signed for the Russian Katusha team and became its leader. That year he won the Volta a Catalunya, the GP Miguel Induráin, the Tour de France stage to Mende and a Vuelta stage, and ended the season on top of the world ranking. In 2011 he won the Vuelta a Burgos, was runner-up at the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne, and placed fourth at the Giro d’Italia after Alberto Contador’s disqualification. In 2012, after two second places, he won La Flèche Wallonne on 18 April with an attack on the Mur de Huy. At the Giro he wore pink into the final day, a 28-kilometre time trial in Milan, and lost the race to Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal by 16 seconds, taking two stages and the points classification. He was third at the Vuelta with three stage wins, and in the autumn he won Il Lombardia alone in the rain in Lecco, a result that secured the World Tour title. In 2013 he was second at Liège, third at the Tour de France behind Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana, 5 minutes and 4 seconds down, and fourth at the Vuelta. At the World Championships in Florence he lost gold in a two-man finish to Portugal’s Rui Costa, with Valverde completing the podium. He won Lombardia and the World Tour again.

Final seasons and retirement (2014-2016)

In 2014 he won the Volta a Catalunya for a second time and left the Giro after a crash on stage six. In 2015 he won the Tour of the Basque Country, took two Tour stages, at Huy and Plateau de Beille, and was runner-up at the Vuelta a España behind Italy’s Fabio Aru, with a stage win and the combination classification. He finished second in the World Tour. On the first rest day of the 2016 Tour, where he placed seventh, he announced he would retire at the end of the year. He was fifth in the Olympic road race in Rio, and his last race was Il Lombardia in 2016.

After racing

In October 2016 he was announced as a Bahrain-Merida signing for 2017, but in December he confirmed his retirement and joined the team as an ambassador, a role he held in 2017 and 2018. He moved into mountain biking, set up the Andbank-La Purito team and created the La Purito Andorra sportive. In 2019 he won the Masters classification at the Cape Epic with José Antonio Hermida.