Roberto Heras

Stage races Roberto Heras Hernández (born 1 February 1974) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer who won the Vuelta a España a record four times.

He won a record-tying three times, and then broke the record with a fourth win in 2005, but he was eventually disqualified after being accused of taking EPO.

Heras chose to fight the accusations and this resulted in a lengthy court case and appeal process.

During the 2002 Tour de France Lance Armstrong was in 2nd place overall going into stage 11 where the race entered the high mountains.

Going up the final climb on the Tourmalet Heras set such a dominating pace at the front of the fragmented Peloton that all of Armstrong's rivals were dropped with the exception of Joseba Beloki.

The ride put in by Heras set up Armstrong to take over the Yellow Jersey from the ONCE–Eroski team led by Beloki, Abraham Olano and Igor González de Galdeano who was in the overall lead at the start of Stage 11.

[4] Heras entered the Vuelta a España and won, equalling Tony Rominger's record three wins.