Amets Txurruka

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Txurruka and the second or maternal family name is Ansola.

Amets Txurruka Ansola (born 10 November 1982) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2016 for the Barloworld, Euskaltel–Euskadi, Caja Rural–Seguros RGA and Orica–BikeExchange teams.

Amets Txurruka

Txurruka at the 2016 Tour of Britain.
Personal information
Full name	Amets Txurruka Ansola
Born	(1982-11-10) 10 November 1982 (age 42) Etxebarria, Spain
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber Puncheur
Professional teams
2006	Barloworld
2007–2012	Euskaltel–Euskadi
2013–2015	Caja Rural[1]
2016	Orica–GreenEDGE[2]
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France Overall Combativity award (2007) Stage races Vuelta a Asturias (2013) Tour du Gévaudan (2014)

Career

Born in Etxebarria in the Basque Country, Txurruka made his Tour de France debut in 2007, memorably participating (alongside Pierrick Fédrigo) in a breakaway during Stage 12 that was caught just 1 km (0.6 mi) from the finish line. This effort earned him the red back numbers for most combative rider the next day. He was also indirectly benefited when Michael Rasmussen was withdrawn from the Tour; Txurruka was third in the young rider classification, behind Alberto Contador and Mauricio Soler. With Contador wearing the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification because of Rasmussen's withdrawal, and Soler wearing the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification, Txurruka wore the white jersey that is given to the leader of the young rider classification.

He was also chosen as the most combative rider of whole Tour, being the third Spanish rider in a row (after Óscar Pereiro and David de la Fuente) to earn that award.

Txurruka was released by Euskaltel–Euskadi at the end of the 2012 season,^[3] and joined Caja Rural for the 2013 season.^[1] In the Tour of the Basque Country, Txurruka won both the mountains and sprint classification jerseys after being part of long breakaways for the first three stages.^[4] In August 2015 Orica–GreenEDGE announced that they had signed Txurruka on a one-year deal for 2016.^[5]

Major results

2005

9th Clásica Memorial Txuma

2006

5th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano

8th Overall Vuelta a Asturias

8th Giro d'Oro

9th Overall Euskal Bizikleta

9th Overall Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas

2007

6th Overall Vuelta a La Rioja

Tour de France

Combativity award Stage 12 & Overall

2009

6th Vuelta a La Rioja

8th Overall Vuelta a Asturias

10th Overall Tour de Luxembourg

2011

7th Klasika Primavera

8th Overall Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid

Combativity award Stage 13 Vuelta a España

2012

6th Overall Vuelta a Asturias

2013

1st Overall Vuelta a Asturias

1st Stage 1

Tour of the Basque Country

1st Mountains classification

1st Sprints classification

1st Mountains classification, Vuelta a Burgos

5th Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid

9th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León

2014

1st Overall Tour du Gévaudan Languedoc-Roussillon

1st Mountains classification, Tour des Fjords

9th Klasika Primavera

9th Coppa Sabatini

Combativity award Stage 4 Vuelta a España

2015

1st Stage 4 Tour of Norway

2nd Overall Vuelta a Asturias

3rd Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia

4th Overall Tour de Beauce

1st Stage 2

4th Overall Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid

4th Philadelphia International Cycling Classic

5th Overall Tour des Fjords

1st Mountains classification

5th Giro dell'Appennino^[6]

7th GP Miguel Induráin

10th Grand Prix La Marseillaise^[7]

10th Klasika Primavera

10th Circuito de Getxo

Combativity award Stage 7 Vuelta a España

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Giro d'Italia	—	—	—	—	—	42	—	—	—	55
Tour de France	23	52	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	—	—	—	—
Vuelta a España	—	45	29	31	30	30	25	48	DNF	—

Legend

—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish