Amets Txurruka

Amets Txurruka Ansola (born 10 November 1982) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2016 for the, , and  teams.

Career
Born in Etxebarria in the Basque Country, Txurruka made his Tour de France debut in 2007, memorably participating (alongside Pierrick Fédrigo) in a breakaway during Stage 12 that was caught just 1 km from the finish line. This effort earned him the red back numbers for most combative rider the next day. He was also indirectly benefited when Michael Rasmussen was withdrawn from the Tour; Txurruka was third in the young rider classification, behind Alberto Contador and Mauricio Soler. With Contador wearing the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification because of Rasmussen's withdrawal, and Soler wearing the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification, Txurruka wore the white jersey that is given to the leader of the young rider classification.

He was also chosen as the most combative rider of whole Tour, being the third Spanish rider in a row (after Óscar Pereiro and David de la Fuente) to earn that award.

Txurruka was released by at the end of the 2012 season, and joined  for the 2013 season. In the Tour of the Basque Country, Txurruka won both the mountains and sprint classification jerseys after being part of long breakaways for the first three stages. In August 2015 announced that they had signed Txurruka on a one-year deal for 2016.

Major results

 * 2005
 * 9th Clásica Memorial Txuma


 * 2006
 * 5th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
 * 8th Overall Vuelta a Asturias
 * 8th Giro d'Oro
 * 9th Overall Euskal Bizikleta
 * 9th Overall Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas


 * 2007
 * 6th Overall Vuelta a La Rioja
 * Tour de France
 * Jersey red number.svg Combativity award Stage 12 & Overall


 * 2009
 * 6th Vuelta a La Rioja
 * 8th Overall Vuelta a Asturias
 * 10th Overall Tour de Luxembourg


 * 2011
 * 7th Klasika Primavera
 * 8th Overall Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid
 * Jersey red number.svg Combativity award Stage 13 Vuelta a España


 * 2012
 * 6th Overall Vuelta a Asturias


 * 2013
 * 1st Jersey blue.svg Overall Vuelta a Asturias
 * 1st Stage 1
 * Tour of the Basque Country
 * 1st Jersey white dots on red.svg Mountains classification
 * 1st Jersey orange.svg Sprints classification
 * 1st Jersey red.svg Mountains classification, Vuelta a Burgos
 * 5th Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid
 * 9th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León


 * 2014
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour du Gévaudan Languedoc-Roussillon
 * 1st Jersey polkadot.svg Mountains classification, Tour des Fjords
 * 9th Klasika Primavera
 * 9th Coppa Sabatini
 * Jersey red number.svg Combativity award Stage 4 Vuelta a España


 * 2015
 * 1st Stage 4 Tour of Norway
 * 2nd Overall Vuelta a Asturias
 * 3rd Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
 * 4th Overall Tour de Beauce
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 4th Overall Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid
 * 4th Philadelphia International Cycling Classic
 * 5th Overall Tour des Fjords
 * 1st Jersey polkadot.svg Mountains classification
 * 5th Giro dell'Appennino
 * 7th GP Miguel Induráin
 * 10th Grand Prix La Marseillaise
 * 10th Klasika Primavera
 * 10th Circuito de Getxo
 * Jersey red number.svg Combativity award Stage 7 Vuelta a España