Aitor González

Aitor González
Personal information
Full name	Aitor González Jiménez
Nickname	Terminaitor
Born	27 February 1975 (age 49); Zumárraga, Spain
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber
Professional teams
1998	Avianca–Telecom
1999–2002	Kelme–Costa Blanca
2003–2004	Fassa Bortolo
2005	Euskaltel–Euskadi
Major wins
	Grand Tours Tour de France 1 individual stage (2004) Giro d'Italia 3 individual stages (2002, 2003) Vuelta a España General classification (2002) 3 individual stages (2002) Stage races Tour de Suisse (2005)

Aitor González Jiménez (born 27 February 1975) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1998 and 2005, and was the winner of the 2002 Vuelta a España.

Career

Born in Zumárraga, Gipuzkoa, González turned professional in 1998 with Avianca–Telecom. He won the 2002 Vuelta a España with Kelme–Costa Blanca after attacking his teammate leading the race; he also won three stages during the race. Following his Vuelta victory, he transferred to Fassa Bortolo, after a long controversy surrounding a previous contract signed with Acqua & Sapone–Cantina Tollo.^[1]^[2] He also won two stages at the 2002 Giro d'Italia, one at the 2003 Giro d'Italia and one at the 2004 Tour de France. He won the 2005 Tour de Suisse, before he retired in January 2006 after being tested positive for methyltestosterone metabolite twice during the 2005 season.^[3] He was also linked with the Operación Puerto doping case.^[4]

Post-cycling

After retirement, González had several run-ins with the law. In 2007, he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. In 2008, a second arrest followed when he allegedly hired people to beat up a person who owed him money.^[4] In 2011, González was again arrested for taking part in a bank fraud.^[5] Lastly, in 2016, he was taken into custody a fourth time, for allegedly taking part in a robbery.^[4]

Career achievements

Major results

2000

1st Stage 2 Volta ao Algarve

2nd Gran Premio de Llodio

5th Overall Tour du Limousin

1st

Young rider classification

1st Stage 3

5th Subida a Urkiola

6th Overall Tour de Pologne

2001

1st

Overall Vuelta a Murcia

1st

Points classification

1st Stage 5 (ITT)

4th Overall Volta a Catalunya

4th Gran Premio de Llodio

9th Overall Critérium International

9th Overall Volta ao Algarve

2002

1st

Overall Vuelta a España

1st Stages 8, 10 (ITT) & 21 (ITT)

6th Overall Giro d'Italia

1st Stages 8 & 19 (ITT)

6th Overall Critérium International

7th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships

8th Overall Tour de Romandie

2003

1st Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria

1st Stage 15 (ITT) Giro d'Italia

2004

1st Stage 14 Tour de France

6th Time trial, National Road Championships

2005

1st

Overall Tour de Suisse

1st Stage 9

5th Overall Euskal Bizikleta

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Giro d'Italia	—	6	19	—	DNF
Tour de France	DNF	—	DNF	45	—
Vuelta a España	—	1	DNF	DNF	DNF

Legend
—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish

References

^ Henry, Chris (3 November 2002). "UCI wades into Gonzalez contract debate". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^ Henry, Chris (20 November 2002). "UCI approves Gonzalez transfer to Fassa Bortolo". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^ Stokes, Shane (23 December 2006). "González gets two year ban". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Aitor Gonzalez arrested for robbery in Spain". cyclingnews.com. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
^ Cossins, Peter (19 August 2011). "Vuelta winner González arrested on fraud charges". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 10 May 2019.

External links

Aitor González at UCI
Aitor González at ProCyclingStats
Aitor González at Cycling Archives (archived)
"Spanish fanpage". Archived from the original on 2005-09-05. Retrieved 2005-07-07.