Jose-Maria Jimenez, as soon as touted as a successor to five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain, died in a detox clinic in Madrid on December sixth, 2003.
The bicycle owner from El Barraco, hung up his bike two years earlier than on account of his private issues. He triumphed within the Vuelta, however, regardless of his nice class and his ease of climbing the best mountains, he by no means succeeded within the Tour de France.
Jimenez was an idol of Spanish biking like Marco (*20*) in Italy. ‘El Chava’ was the final rider able to dividing followers between offended defenders and relentless critics. Both on and off the bike, Jimenez had an erratic character that excited the followers when he made a daring assault within the mountains, but additionally would infuriate the spectators when he would collapse spectacularly and lose plenty of time, seemingly without any concern.
Miguel Indurain, summed him up: “He was a rider in the old style. When things went well, they went very well. When things didn’t go well, they didn’t go at all.”
Jimenez will in all probability be principally remembered for his win on the Angliru within the 1999 Vuelta a Espana. He would typically assault without contemplating the implications, however when ‘El Chava’ emerged from the fog on El Angliru in 1999, the parable of the Vuelta was created. The Angliru wanted a hero: Rain, wind, chilly, fog – all of the substances you want for an epic stage, however in addition they blinded the tv, obscuring the motion from the tens of millions of followers at house. The headlights of the automobiles appeared and the determine of ‘El Chava’ danced forward of them.
Jimenez was pressured to hold up the bike within the winter of 2001, a number of months after getting his third climbers jersey in a Vuelta through which he gained three levels. The inevitable demise got here when in certainly one of his final moments of lucidity he had determined to return to a clinic. Two years after shedding the battle with biking, he misplaced the battle with life.
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