Igor Astarloa

Igor Astarloa Askasibar (born March 29, 1976) is a retired cyclist from Spain.

Career Astarloa turned professional with the Italian cycling team and enjoyed his best season in 2003 with team when he won the Flèche Wallonne and the road race title at the World Cycling Championships at Hamilton, Canada. The following year, he joined , but when the team temporarily stopped racing due to a doping scandal, he was released to join . During the 2006 transfer season it was announced that he was to leave Team Barloworld, the Continental Circuit team for which Astarloa had ridden for the last several years, and join Team Milram, a member of the UCI ProTour.

Team Milram terminated its contract with Astarloa in May 2008 following disclosures that he had shown "irregular blood values", as reported by Focus magazine. He joined the Amica Chips-Knauf team, which folded in May 2009. Soon after, in June 2009, Astarloa was one of the first five riders to fall foul of the Union Cycliste International's new biological passport system, introduced to combat doping by competitive cyclists. Astarloa was unable to secure another contract that season, and retired in January 2010.

Doping conviction On 1 December 2010, the Union Cycliste International announced that the Spanish Cycling Federation’s Disciplinary Commission had handed down a two-year suspension and a €35,000 fine to Igor Astarloa. According to Cyclingnews.com, Astarloa's blood samples had come under considerable scrutiny prior to the events of 2008-09 and in the wake of his 2003 world championships victory, although he was never punished for any infraction.

Major results

1999 4th Gran Premio della Liberazione 2000 9th Road race, National Road Championships 9th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi 2001 1st GP Primavera 5th GP Miguel Induráin 6th Clásica de Almería 7th HEW Cyclassics 2002

1st Stage 2a 2nd Clásica de San Sebastián 2nd HEW Cyclassics 2nd Japan Cup 7th Paris–Tours 2003

1st La Flèche Wallonne 1st Stage 3 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 3rd Rund um den Henninger Turm 4th HEW Cyclassics 10th Amstel Gold Race 2004 2nd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 3rd HEW Cyclassics 4th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 6th Milan–San Remo 9th Overall Brixia Tour

1st Stage 1 2005 Vuelta a Burgos

1st Stage 2 4th Overall Brixia Tour 5th Paris–Brussels 6th Coppa Placci 7th Gran Premio de Llodio 10th Clásica de San Sebastián 2006 1st Milano–Torino 6th Overall Critérium International 8th Gran Premio di Chiasso

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish