José María Jiménez

José María Jiménez Sastre ( born February 6, 1971 in El Barraco, † December 6, 2003 in Madrid) was a Spanish cyclist.

Sporting career

José María Jiménez, who grew up in a village 1000 meters above sea level, was outspoken mountain specialist. He began his cycling career in 1992 in the Banesto team for which he drove to the end of his career, in which he acted until 1996 as a helper for Miguel Indurain. 1995 key stage of the Volta Ciclista a Jiménez a Catalunya for themselves.

1996 Jiménez denied his first Tour de France in four starts with the tour as a whole. In 1997 he was at the Tour de France, now as a helper for Abraham Olano, eighth and won in the Vuelta a España, the mountains classification. In addition, it was established in 1997 on a tough course in Melilla, the Spanish enclave in Morocco, Spanish road champion. In 1998, he became its attacks on the mountain he always countered at the Vuelta third overall, behind his teammate Olano and his compatriot Fernando Escartín and ahead of Lance Armstrong. He has also taken again the mountains classification. Four stages long he wore during the tour the jersey of the leader. In 1999 he was fifth in the Vuelta and won again the mountains classification.

Overall, Jiménez won during his career nine stages at the Vuelta, all with mountain top finishes. There were also stage wins at Dauphine Libere, in the Tour of Catalonia and other stage races. Three times he won the jersey of the best mountain in the Vuelta. He has since been a crowd favorite of the Spanish fans, and was considered a potential successor to Induráin. His nickname was El Chaba ( Flegel ). The Frankfurter Allgemeine wrote of him: " In his arrivals on the mountain peaks Jimenez offset the millions of Spanish cycling fans in enthusiasm, but this was the next day already disappoint bitterly when he had apparently listless driving, passing by some, actually weaker rivals in itself. "

Depression and death

Despite his success suffered Jiménez - like his father - from depression. Especially the last two years of his life were determined by depression, alcoholic excesses and cocaine consumption. Jiménez went to psychological treatment, on December 7, 2003 died the former Banesto professional in a clinic in Madrid during a visit to his family. Officially, he died of heart failure. Thousands of cycling fans gave the " mountain king" in December 2003 on his final journey.