Career
Zubeldia turned professional in 1998. He is a consistent rider on the UCI ProTour especially in the Grand Tours and stage races. His team considers him as a strong climber and time-trialist.
His first success was in 2000, when he won The Euskal Bizikleta and finished 2nd in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in overall classification and winning the Young Rider competition. He finished 4th in the same race in 2002 where he also won the young rider's classifaction for the second time.
In the Tour de France, Zubeldia's highest overall placing is 5th in 2003 and again in 2007. In the 2003 Tour, he had some great finishes against Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich in the mountains and time-trial. After this strong performance he backed it up with a 15th and 8th in the Tour de France in 2005 and 2006 respectively. He finished 16th in The 2011 Tour de France. He also put in a good result in 2012 where he finished 6th overall. Zubeldia has also performed well in the Vuelta a España finishing 10th twice in 2000 and 2002.
Despite the high placings, Zubeldia did not win races in that period; after his win in 2000 in the Bicicleta Vasca, it took him 10 years to win again, until he won the Tour de l'Ain in 2010.
Read more about this topic: Haimar Zubeldia
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