Juan Antonio Flecha

[4] His major victories include winning a stage of the 2003 Tour de France, successes at the two defunct classics Züri-Metzgete and Giro del Lazio in 2004, and the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2010.

Although he said in a French interview, "Je dédie ma victoire a toute mon équipe", (I dedicate my victory to my whole team), it was also reported that he said after the race: "My win here is special, and it belongs to me and nobody else!

[7] This victory helped him achieve the fifth position of the 2004 UCI Road World Cup, a classification that was calculated over ten major one-day races.

Nico Mattan of Davitamon–Lotto attacked the leading group with 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) left in the race and only Flecha and Baden Cooke (Française des Jeux) had the resources to follow.

In 2007, Flecha took 2nd in the prestigious Paris–Roubaix race by winning the sprint contested between the 4 riders who were chasing the winner, Aussie Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC).

In the Vuelta a España, Flecha displayed his sense of humor as he stole the "Elk Man"'s American flag and rode playfully with it for 200 meters.

He escaped from a group of 24 riders with Sébastien Rosseler of Quick-Step and finished in second position of the stage, putting enough time between him and the former leader Jürgen Roelandts (Silence–Lotto) to be awarded the overall classification win.

He was part of a group of chasers who caught the two escapees Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) and Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) in the final meters, as the duet didn't want to cooperate.

Haussler's teammate Thor Hushovd won the sprint as Flecha finished third while a crash occurred in the finale, implicating Langeveld and Filippo Pozzato (Team Katusha).

[16] Flecha participated in the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix, and was in a good position to seek victory as he was in the leading group with five competitors, Tom Boonen, Leif Hoste, Thor Hushovd, Filippo Pozzato and Johan Van Summeren.

About 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) away from the Roubaix velodrome, Flecha crashed in a left bend on the Carrefour de l'Arbre, a particularly tough cobbled section.

The three of them had broken clear with more than 25 kilometres (16 mi) to cover and cooperated to keep the chasers at bay, until Cancellara launched an attack with 2 kilometers remaining and won the race with a sizable gap.

[24] However, Flecha earned the Combativity award in stage 13, where he animated the race thanks to a long escape with Pierrick Fedrigo of Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Quick-Step's Sylvain Chavanel.

[25] At the very short 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) prologue of the Tour of Qatar, Flecha survived a scare when a gust of wind knocked down some steel barriers as he was sprinting for the line.

In wet conditions, he broke away from a group containing some race favorites on the Paaderstraat, with about 30 km (19 mi) to go, and caught the only man in front of him, Rabobank's Sebastian Langeveld.

He was part of a small group including his teammate Mathew Hayman who tried to bring back Tom Boonen from his solo breakaway initiated with 53 km (33 mi) to race, but they could not get to him.

[35] Flecha got another notable result in June, coming in fourth place of the mostly flat Ster ZLM Toer, a 2.1 rated stage race.

[40] In April, the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant published a story where Flecha is alleged to have undergone blood transfusions with doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

[2] Flecha is often featured as a co-host to Eurosport's Grand Tours extra programming, sometimes riding the key points of the course by bike, prior to the riders, with an integrated camera and stopping along the way to share his comments.

Flecha at the 2005 Tour de France with Fassa Bortolo
Flecha at the 2011 Tour de France