Pedro Delgado facts for kids
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Delgado in 2016
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Perico | ||
| Born | 15 April 1960 Segovia, Castile and León, Spain |
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| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Weight | 64 kg (141 lb; 10 st 1 lb) | ||
| Team information | |||
| Current team | Retired | ||
| Discipline | Road | ||
| Role | Rider | ||
| Rider type | Climbing specialist | ||
| Major wins | |||
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Pedro Delgado Robledo (born 15 April 1960) is a famous Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. People often call him Perico. He won the big Tour de France race in 1988. He also won the Vuelta a España race twice, in 1985 and 1989. Pedro finished in the top 10 of eighteen major cycling races called Grand Tours.
During the 1988 Tour de France, a substance was found in Delgado's test. This substance was on a list of things not allowed by the International Olympic Committee. However, it was not yet on the list of banned substances for cycling's main group, the Union Cycliste Internationale. Because of this, Pedro was allowed to keep racing and was not accused of breaking any rules at that time.
Today, Pedro Delgado works as a sports commentator. He talks about important cycling events for Televisión Española, a Spanish TV channel.
Contents
Pedro Delgado's Tour de France Journey
Pedro Delgado competed in the Tour de France eleven times. When he was 23, he took part for the first time. He reached second place overall after the 17th stage. But he fell back later in the race.
In 1983, Pedro's team, Reynolds, raced in the Tour for the first time. Pedro was a young rider. Ángel Arroyo was the team's main star. That year, the Tour had many time trials and mountain stages. After stage 17, Pedro was second overall. He was just over a minute behind Laurent Fignon, another young rider. However, Pedro got a stomach ache from a bad milkshake. He lost a lot of time in the next stage. This ended his first chance to win the Tour. He finished 15th overall.
1987 Tour de France: A Close Race
Pedro Delgado had a tough fight with Stephen Roche in the 1987 Tour de France. The winner was decided only in the second-to-last stage, which was a time trial. Roche won by only 40 seconds. This was one of the closest finishes ever. Pedro was known as the third-best time-trialist that year. Roche was considered the best. Roche later said that Pedro was a "fabulous competitor" and a "great, incredibly gallant guy."
1988 Tour de France: A Big Win
Pedro Delgado won the 1988 Tour de France by a large amount of time. After the 17th stage, a TV channel reported that a substance was found in one of Delgado's tests. His team manager was told about it. The race director even suggested that Pedro should leave the race.
However, the substance found was called probenecid. In 1988, different sports had different lists of banned substances. Probenecid was on the Olympic Committee's list. But it was not yet on the list for cycling's main group, the UCI. The rules for the 1988 Tour said tests followed UCI rules. So, the officials decided that Pedro had not broken any UCI rules.
Pedro was allowed to continue racing. He did not get any penalty. He won the race by more than seven minutes over the second-place rider, Steven Rooks. Pedro wore the yellow jersey, which means he was the leader, for eleven days. He passed all his other tests. He thanked the public for their support. The Tour director, Xavier Louy, was replaced months later.
1989 Tour de France: A Challenging Start
The 1989 Tour de France started very badly for Pedro Delgado. He arrived 2 minutes and 40 seconds late for the first short race, called the prologue. Even though he rode fast, he started the race in last place. He was almost three minutes behind the winner of that stage. He later said he was very nervous and had not slept.
The next day, there were two stages. Pedro felt very weak. He lost even more time in the team time-trial. After the second stage, he was still in last place. He was more than seven minutes behind the leader.
But Pedro did not give up. He rode very aggressively for the rest of the race. He started to gain time back in stage 5. He was second in that stage. In the first mountain stage, he attacked and gained more time. After stage 17, he was third overall. He was still behind the leaders, Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond. Even though he tried hard, he could not make up all the time he lost at the start. The final battle for that Tour was between Fignon and the eventual winner, LeMond.
Images for kids
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Delgado in 2016
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Delgado at the 1993 Tour de France
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Delgado's yellow jersey of the 1988 Tour de France
See also
In Spanish: Pedro Delgado para niños
