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Rubén Plaza

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Rubén Plaza
Plaza at the 2010 Tour de France
Personal information
Full nameRubén Plaza Molina
NicknameEl Professore
Born (1980-02-29) 29 February 1980 (age 44)
Ibi, Spain
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight77 kg (170 lb; 12.1 st)
Team information
Current team
DisciplineRoad
Role
Rider typeClimber
Amateur team
1999–2000Banesto amateur
Professional teams
2001–2003iBanesto.com
2004–2006Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme
2007Caisse d'Epargne
2008Benfica
2009Liberty Seguros
2010–2014Caisse d'Epargne
2015Lampre–Merida
2016–2017Orica–GreenEDGE
2018–2019Israel Cycling Academy[1][2]
Managerial teams
2021–Israel Cycling Academy
2023–Israel–Premier Tech
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
1 individual stage (2015)
Vuelta a España
2 individual stages (2005, 2015)

Stage races

Vuelta a Castilla y León (2013, 2018)

Single-day races and Classics

National Road Race Championships (2003, 2009)

Rubén Plaza Molina (born 29 February 1980) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer,[3] who competed professionally between 2001 and 2019 for the Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme, Benfica, Liberty Seguros, Movistar Team (over three spells), Lampre–Merida, Orica–Scott and Israel Cycling Academy teams. During his career, he recorded a top 5 overall placing in the 2005 Vuelta a España, and won three Grand Tour stages.

Following his retirement, Plaza has worked as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team Israel Premier Tech Academy since 2021,[4] and for UCI ProTeam Israel–Premier Tech,[5] since the start of the 2023 season.

Career

[edit]

Plaza was born in Ibi, Spain. In 2006 he was implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case, but was later acquitted of any involvement. Nevertheless, after an abridged 2007 season with Caisse d'Epargne he spent 2008 and 2009 with smaller Continental level teams in Portugal. Despite this, in 2009 he was able to take his second victory in the Spanish national championships, before finishing 4th overall in the Volta a Portugal, a result which was later upgraded to 3rd by the disqualification of his Liberty Seguros teammate Nuno Ribeiro for a doping violation.[6] The simultaneous positive tests of two of the team's other riders caused the team to disband, leaving Plaza without a ride for 2010. Despite being linked to the Astana team, Plaza returned to Caisse d'Epargne, the signing made official in December 2009.[7]

In 2015, he won Stage 16 of the Tour de France, his second Grand Tour stage win.[8]

In 2015, he also won Stage 20 of the Vuelta a España. He was named in the start list for the 2016 Giro d'Italia.[9]

Major results

[edit]

Source: [10]

1997
National Junior Road Championships
1st Road race
3rd Time trial
1998
1st Time trial, National Junior Road Championships
2003
1st Road race, National Road Championships
1st Stage 5 Regio-Tour
2004
1st Stage 5 (ITT) Troféu Joaquim Agostinho
3rd Trofeo Cala Millor
4th Overall Vuelta a Murcia
6th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
10th Circuito de Getxo
2005
1st Overall Grande Prémio Internacional Costa Azul
1st Mountains classification
1st Stage 2
1st Overall Vuelta a Aragón
1st Stage 4 (ITT)
1st Stage 2 Vuelta a Murcia
3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
4th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
5th Overall Vuelta a España
1st Stage 20 (ITT)
5th Klasika Primavera
6th Overall Critérium International
2006
1st Clásica a los Puertos de Guadarrama
2nd Overall Vuelta a La Rioja
2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
4th Overall Vuelta a Asturias
1st Stage 5
4th Overall Troféu Joaquim Agostinho
1st Stage 1
9th Subida a Urkiola
2007
1st Overall Vuelta a La Rioja
4th Overall Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas
5th Overall Euskal Bizikleta
10th Overall Vuelta a Burgos
2008
1st Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
1st Stage 1 (ITT) Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid
2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
3rd Overall Volta a Portugal
1st Prologue
9th Overall Volta ao Algarve
2009
National Road Championships
1st Road race
3rd Time trial
1st Stage 2 GP CTT Correios de Portugal
2nd Overall Vuelta a Murcia
1st Stage 4
3rd Overall Volta ao Algarve
3rd Overall Volta a Portugal
1st Stage 6[a]
4th Overall Circuit de Lorraine
1st Stage 3
2010
3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
10th Overall Tour de France
2012
10th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
2013
1st Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León
1st Stage 3
3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
4th Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid
6th Overall Route du Sud
9th Overall Vuelta a Asturias
2015
1st Stage 16 Tour de France
Vuelta a España
1st Stage 20
Combativity award Stage 20
2018
1st Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León
1st Stage 3
9th Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
2019
6th Overall Tour of Antalya
10th GP Miguel Induráin

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

[edit]
Grand Tour 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
A pink jersey Giro d'Italia 56 30 47 71
A yellow jersey Tour de France 10 101 47 91 30 72
A red jersey Vuelta a España 5 14 45
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ The original winner, Eladio Jiménez, was later suspended for use of EPO and testosterone. The victory was awarded to Plaza, who had originally finished second.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Malach, Pat (24 August 2017). "Cycling Academy add Hermans and Plaza for 2018". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  2. ^ "Israel Cycling Academy finalises 2019 roster, adds Sorensen as DS". Cyclingnews.com. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  3. ^ Ostanek, Daniel (11 December 2019). "Israel Cycling Academy become Israel Start-Up Nation as WorldTour beckons". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020. Departing riders include Rubén Plaza, who retires, and Kristian Sbaragli, who is heavily linked with a move to Mathieu van der Poel's Corendon squad.
  4. ^ "Ruben Plaza and his ICA boys". Israel Start-Up Nation. Cycling Academy Ltd. 18 April 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  5. ^ "Israel - Premier Tech". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Ribeiro, Nozal and Guerra positive for CERA".
  7. ^ "Rubén Plaza returns to Caisse d'Epargne".
  8. ^ "Tour de France stage 16: Plaza gives Lampre–Merida a win in Gap". Cyclingnews.com. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  9. ^ "99th Giro d'Italia Startlist". Pro Cycling Stats. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  10. ^ "Rubén Plaza". FirstCycling.com. FirstCycling AS. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
[edit]

Media related to Rubén Plaza at Wikimedia Commons

Sporting positions
Preceded by Spanish National Road Race Championships
Winner

2003
Succeeded by
Preceded by Spanish National Road Race Championships
Winner

2009
Succeeded by