Igor Antón

Born in Galdakao, Basque Country, Antón's first major achievement after turning professional in 2005, was winning the sixteenth stage of the 2006 Vuelta a España, between Almería and the Calar Alto Observatory.[4]

After impressing his team directors in 2007, where he won a stage at the Tour de Romandie, Antón was soon picked out to be the team leader for the general classification (GC) in the 2007 Vuelta a España where he ended up finishing 8th overall. The year started well, and in June he came second in the Euskal Bizikleta. Later in the same month, Antõn won the second stage in the UCI ProTour race Tour de Suisse. In the GC he came home third. In September at the Vuelta a España, Antón was in the best form of his career and held the pace of the likes of Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde up the mountains. A fall on the stage to Alto de L'Angliru ended his ambitions in the Vuelta. The fall caused a fractured collarbone, and Antón's season came to an early end.

The 2009 season started slowly for Antón. He started the Tour de France in July, but failed to make a great impression. The Tour was filled with bad luck for Antón as he had at least three falls during the start of the three-week race. However, Antón came out of the Tour in great form and took the season's only victory on 2 August, when he won the Subida a Urkiola.

In 2010, Anton proved to be a formidable rider in the Classics, taking 4th at La Flèche Wallonne and 6th at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. In the Vuelta a España, Anton won Stage 4 and Stage 11 giving him the leader's jersey. However, on Stage 14 whilst wearing the leader's jersey, Anton crashed heavily on a descent and was forced to retire.

In 2011, Anton won two grand tour stages. He won Stage 14 in the Giro d'Italia[1] and Stage 19 in the Vuelta a España which were both summit finishes, the latter almost a 'home' stage with familiar climbs in Biscay and concluding in Bilbao.[1]

In 2012, Anton built his whole season on the 2012 Vuelta a España. He ended up finishing 9th overall after an impressive race in the mountains.

Antón joined the Movistar Team for the 2014 season, after his previous team – Euskaltel–Euskadi – folded at the end of the 2013 season.[5]

In May 2015, Antón renewed with victory after a four-year drought. He won the mountainous first stage of the Vuelta a Asturias with fourteen seconds of an advantage over former Euskaltel teammate Amets Txurruka of Caja Rural–Seguros RGA.[6] He would not let go of the lead on stage two, which was the last stage of the race. He finished with the lead group of five riders.[7]

Anton retired from racing after the last stage of the 2018 Vuelta a España.[3] He was celebrated by the public on the streets of Madrid, when riding in front of the peloton for a while. A few months later, his career was honoured by local football club Athletic Bilbao at their stadium prior to a derby match against Eibar.[1]

• Media related to Igor Antón at Wikimedia Commons
• Official page on Blogger
• Team Profile (in Spanish)
• Palmares on CyclingBase.com (French)
• Igor Antón at Cycling Archives