Sánchez at the 2015 Tour de France
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Personal information | |||||||||||||
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Full name | Samuel Sánchez González | ||||||||||||
Nickname | Samu, Sammy | ||||||||||||
Born |
Oviedo, Spain |
5 February 1978 ||||||||||||
Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||
Weight | 68 kg (150 lb) | ||||||||||||
Team information | |||||||||||||
Current team | BMC Racing Team | ||||||||||||
Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||
Role | Rider | ||||||||||||
Rider type | All-rounder | ||||||||||||
Professional team(s) | |||||||||||||
2000–2013 | Euskaltel–Euskadi | ||||||||||||
2014– | BMC Racing Team | ||||||||||||
Major wins | |||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González (born 5 February 1978) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer, with the BMC Racing Team. He was the gold medal winner in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Men's Road Race. In recent years Sánchez has proven himself in hilly classics and stage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton. He's also known as one of the best descenders in the peloton. He finished in the top 6 of the Tour de France three times and in the top 10 of the Vuelta a España 6 times. Other notable achievements include winning the Vuelta a Burgos in 2010, the Tour of the Basque Country in 2012 and five stages of the Vuelta a España.
He started his professional career in 2000 at the Spanish team Euskaltel–Euskadi and remained there until the team's disbanding in 2013.
In 2003, Sánchez finished 6th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège and third overall in the Tour of the Basque Country. The following year, he came 4th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and came 15th overall in his first Vuelta a España. He recorded his first major victory in 2005 when he won the 13th stage in the Vuelta a España, finishing 11th in the general classification. After winner Roberto Heras was erased from the results for doping use, Sánchez shifted up to the 10th place.