Luis Herrera (cyclist)

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Herrera and the second or maternal family name is Herrera.
Luis Herrera
Personal information
Full nameLuis Alberto Herrera
NicknameLucho
El jardinerito de Fusagasugá
Born (1961-05-04) May 4, 1961 (age 63)
Fusagasugá, Colombia
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeClimbing specialist
Amateur teams
1981Valyin de Pereira
1982Lotería de Boyacá
1983Leche La Gran Vía
1984Varta Nacional A
Professional teams
1985–1990Café de Colombia
1991–1992Ryalco Postobon
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
Mountains classification (1985, 1987)
3 individual stages (1984, 1985)
Giro d'Italia
Mountains classification (1989)
3 individual stages (1989, 1992)
Vuelta a España
General classification (1987)
Mountains classification (1987, 1991)
2 individual stages (1987, 1991)

Stage races

Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (1988, 1991)
Vuelta a Colombia (1984, 1985, 1986, 1988)
Clásico RCN (1982, 1983, 1984, 1986)

Luis Alberto "Lucho" Herrera Herrera, known as "El jardinerito" ("the little gardener"; born May 4, 1961, in Fusagasugá, Colombia), is a retired Colombian road racing cyclist. Herrera was a professional from 1985 to 1992 but had a successful amateur career before that in Colombia.

He entered his first Vuelta a Colombia in 1981 where he finished 16th overall and 3rd in the New Rider competition.[1] Although he abandoned his second Vuelta a Colombia in 1982, he won Colombia's second major stage-race, the Clásico RCN. In 1983 Herrera won Clásico RCN again as well as two stages and finished second overall to Alfonso Florez Ortiz in the 1983 Vuelta a Colombia.[2] In 1984 he won the Vuelta a Colombia, and the Clásico RCN.

In 1984 he won stage 17 to Alpe d'Huez in the 1984 Tour de France, becoming the first Colombian to win a stage of the race, and the first amateur cyclist to win a stage in the history of the Tour de France.[citation needed] He won the Vuelta a Colombia and the Clásico RCN four times each. His greatest achievement was in 1987, when he won the Vuelta a España, the first South American to win a Grand Tour.[3] Herrera also won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in 1988 and 1991.

Herrera won five "King of the Mountains" jerseys from the three Grand Tours. He is the second rider to win the King of the Mountains jersey in all three Grand Tours. The first was Federico Bahamontes of Spain.

  1. ^ "31a Vuelta a Colombia 1981". Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
  2. ^ "33a Vuelta a Colombia". Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
  3. ^ "Luis Herrera: Ex-cyclist says sun exposure caused his skin cancer". BBC Sport. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.