| José Luis Rubiera | |
| Fullname: | José Luis Rubiera Vigil |
| Nickname: | Chechu |
| Birth Date: | 27 January 1973 |
| Birth Place: | Gijón, Spain |
| Height: | 1.80NaN0 |
| Weight: | 69kg (152lb) |
| Currentteam: | Retired |
| Discipline: | Road |
| Role: | Rider |
| Proyears1: | 1995 |
| Proyears2: | 1996 - 2000 |
| Proyears3: | 2001 - 2007 |
| Proyears4: | 2008 - 2009 |
| Proyears5: | 2010 |
| Majorwins: | Grand Tours |
José Luis Rubiera Vigil (born 27 January 1973 in Gijón) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He last rode for the UCI ProTour team . Rubiera won his first professional race at the 1997 Giro d'Italia, winning stage 19. He won another stage in the 2000 Giro d'Italia[1] and was part of three consecutive team time trial (TTT) stage wins in the Tour de France.
He has also finished in the top 10 of both the Vuelta a España and Giro d'Italia, on two occasions apiece.[2]
His climbing ability was instrumental in leading Lance Armstrong to five of his Tour de France victories, most famously leading Armstrong up the start of Alpe d'Huez in 2001. It was also on this stage that "The Look" incident happened between Armstrong and Jan Ullrich just prior to Armstrong's launch of his attack. In reality, Armstrong was not looking at Ullrich, but rather at Rubiera as he was checking to be sure Rubiera would be there to save him if he cracked and his attack failed.
He earned an engineering degree in 2004, while balancing his race schedule and studies. Rubiera was elected as deputy to the cyclists' representative council of the UCI ProTour.
| Grand Tour | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | 10 | 13 | DNF | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | 13 | 39 | 15 | 44 | |
| Tour de France | — | — | — | — | 38 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 35 | 91 | — | — | — | |
| Vuelta a España | — | 26 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 51 | 80 | — | — | — | 85 | 22 | DNF |
| — | Did not compete | |
|---|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |