Marino Lejarreta
Marino Lejarreta Arrizabalaga (born 14 May 1957 in Berriz, Biscay) is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist. His biggest victory was capturing the 1982 Vuelta a España, a Grand Tour stage race, and he is the inaugural and record three-time winner of the Clásica de San Sebastián (1981, 1982, 1987), which is now considered a one-day classic. In 1989, Lejarreta captured the Volta a Catalunya repeating one of his first professional wins in 1980 at the same event.
 Lejarreta in 1987 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Marino Lejarreta Arrizabalaga |
| Nickname | El Junco de Bérriz (The Reed of Berriz)[1] |
| Born | 14 May 1957 Berriz, Spain |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Professional teams | |
| 1979 | Novostil-Helios |
| 1980–1982 | Teka |
| 1983–1984 | Alfa Lum |
| 1985 | Alpilatte-Cierre |
| 1986 | Seat-Orbea |
| 1987–1989 | Caja Rural |
| 1990–1992 | O.N.C.E. |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Lejarreta rode very well in the 1982 Vuelta, but initially finished 2nd to Ángel Arroyo while coming in just eighteen seconds ahead of Michel Pollentier. Following the race however, Pino and several other riders failed doping controls in one of the biggest scandals in Vuelta history making the young Basque rider the de facto winner of the race. It was a bittersweet victory as he was not actually the victor riding into Madrid. For the 1983 Vuelta a España he would be up against Bernard Hinault, who had his teammates Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond, as well as other strong riders including Hennie Kuiper and the Spanish riders of Pino, Alberto Fernández and a young Pedro Delgado who was riding in his second Vuelta. The leaders Jersey changed hands numerous times and Lejarreta held it early while also winning a mountain time trial, but suffered a crash and lost it. During the Lagos de Covadonga stage he escaped from the group of favorites made up of Fernandez, Pino, Hinault, Kuiper and others and soloed to victory, but it was not enough to reclaim the lead. In the end he finished just 1:12 behind Hinault to stand on the podium in 2nd.[2]
Later in his career he would win his only Tour de France stage in a very unusual manner. During the 1990 edition he found himself among the group of favorites as Delgado, Breukink and LeMond were battling the surprising Claudio Chiappucci for the Yellow Jersey. During stage 14 he attacked off the front of the favorites group in an effort to chase down the final few breakaway riders and go for the stage win. When he crossed the finish line ahead of the favorites he did not throw his arms up to celebrate because he did not think he caught the final breakaway rider. With the available technology not giving instant times, results and standings as it does today, it was not as easy to know what was going on from within the race and Lejarreta didn't find out until he came to a stop and was told by his team that he had won the stage.
He would win stages in all three Grand Tours and finish in the top 10 fifteen times: The Giro seven times, the Tour three times and the Vuelta five times including three podium places and a win in 1982.[3]
Until 2015, Lejarreta was the only person in history to complete all three Grand Tours in a single year four times in a career; he did the triple in 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1991.[4] Adam Hansen is the only rider to complete all three Grand Tours in a season more times than Lejarreta, but Hansen was never a GC Contender as Lejarreta was. In fact during the four seasons he completed all three Grand Tours he placed in the Top 10 in eight out of twelve of them.
Career achievements
Major results
- 1980
- 1st
- 1st
- 1st Stage 1c
- 3rd Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1981
- 1st Clásica de San Sebastián
- 1st Subida al Naranco
- 3rd Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1982
- 1st
- 1st Stage 17
- 1st
- 1st Clásica de San Sebastián
- 5th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
- 1983
- 1st
- 1st Stages 1a & 1b
- 2nd Overall Vuelta a España
- 1st
- 1st Stages 6, 8 & 13
- 1st
- 3rd Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1984
- 4th Overall Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stage 19
- 1985
- 3rd Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1986
- 1st
- 1st Subida al Naranco
- 2nd Clásica de San Sebastián
- 5th Overall Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 8
- 1987
- 1st
- 1st Prologue & Stage 4
- 1st Subida a Urkiola
- 1st Clásica de San Sebastián
- 4th Overall Giro d'Italia
- 10th Overall Tour de France
- 1988
- 1st
- 1st Prologue
- 1st
- 1st
- 1st Subida a Urkiola
- 1989
- 1st
- 5th Overall Tour de France
- 10th Overall Giro d'Italia
- 1990
- 1st
- 5th Overall Tour de France
- 1st Stage 14
- 7th Overall Giro d'Italia
- 1991
- 3rd Overall Vuelta a España
- 5th Overall Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stage 5
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
| Grand Tour | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
30 | 5 | DNF | 1 | 2 | DNF | - | 5 | 34 | DNF | 19 | 55 | 3 |
 |
- | - | - | - | 6 | 4 | 5 | - | 4 | - | 10 | 7 | 5 |
|
- | - | 35 | 37 | - | - | - | 18 | 10 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 53 |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
References
- Vergne, Laurent (22 July 2015). "Cannibale, Chéri-pipi, Wookie, Andy torticolis... le Top 20 des surnoms mythiques du cyclisme" [Cannibal, Chéri-pipi, Wookie, Andy Torticollis... the Top 20 mythical nicknames of cycling]. Eurosport (in French). Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- cite web|url=https://soigneur.nl/people/marino-lejarreta-and-monte-oiz-2/
- cite web|url=https://soigneur.nl/people/marino-lejarreta-and-monte-oiz-3/
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-05-01. Retrieved 2006-08-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marino Lejarreta. |
- Marino Lejarreta at Cycling Archives