Joaquim Rodríguez

We dedicated this week's VeloNews Show to Joaquim "Purito" Rodriguez. We've analyzed and ranked all of Purito's agonizing defeats.

After hemming and hawing over retirement this season, Joaquim Rodriguez confirms that he will leave the pro peloton for good.

Joaquim Rodriguez, 37, decides he'll race for one more season with the controversial upstart team Bahrain – Merida.

Saturday's Il Lombardia will feature two new climbs as organizers look to mix things up at the "Race of the Falling Leaves."

Dozens of top-level pros are hanging up their cleats at the end of this season. Andrew Hood takes a closer look.

Spaniard Joaquim Rodríguez finished fifth in Saturday's Olympic road race and then stepped away from the sport.

In a surprise announcement, Joaquim Rodriguez says Clásica San Sebastián was his final race in Spain — he will not race the Vuelta a Espana.

Joaquim Rodriguez rides aboard a stiff and aerodynamic Canyon Aeroad. The Spaniard will retire at the end of the season.

The 37-year-old Spaniard has finished on several grand tour podiums and recorded three monument victories.

A few riders could upset favorite Alejandro Valverde in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but the weather could really throw a wrench into the mix.

Wednesday's Flèche Wallonne ends on the famed Mur de Huy, and the puncheurs of the peloton will be there fighting for a win.

Many of the peloton's top uphill specialists are headed to northern Spain to take on the Vuelta al País Vasco

Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez withdraws from Volta ao Algarve on stage 2, suffering from an illness he's had since the race began.

Katusha hopes to ride its flashy new team kit to fresh horizons in 2016

Two-time Lombardia winner Joaquim Rodriguez injures himself while training and is forced to withdraw from season's final monument race.

Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash look ahead to the year's final monument classic, Il Lombardia, which takes place Sunday in Italy.

Valverde has won six medals in the worlds road race but is still searching for a victory.

Fabio Aru won a Spanish grand tour that was filled with crashes, abandonments, and an ejection.

After losing more than three minutes on the Vuelta's penultimate day, Tom Dumoulin joins a dubious list of infamous grand tour implosions.

Fabio Aru takes his first grand-tour victory as John Degenkolb salves Giant's wounds over losing the Vuelta on the penultimate stage

The Astana rider remains 3 seconds out of first place at the Spanish grand tour entering Friday's stage 19.

Joaquim Rodríguez has a hard fight to keep his podium spot in the Vuelta a España, as another grand tour win slips through his grasp.

Danger lurks in the Vuelta's closing days as Dumoulin clings to a three-second lead and climbers Aru and Rodriguez vow to attack.

After failing to distance Dumoulin in the mountains, Joaquim Rodriguez needs the time trial of his life to keep the Vuelta lead.

Rodriguez slipped into the Vuelta's leader's jersey in stage 16, but Dumoulin's GC hopes are still alive as Wednesday's time trial looms

Fränk Schleck takes his first career Vuelta stage win as the strongest rider from the break, while Rodríguez rides into the GC lead

Katusha's Mr. Consistent says he's in an ideal position to win the Vuelta, but he's not betting the ranch on it yet

Movistar bosses the bunch through stage 15 only to see Katusha's Rodriguez leap to the stage win and threaten to seize the red jersey

Four upcoming stages at the Vuelta a Espana will most likely decide who wins the overall title. Andrew Hood previews the action.

With Contador, Valverde, and Rodríguez near the end of their careers, Mikel Landa could be the next Spanish rider to carry the torch.

Stages 8 and 9 at the Vuelta saw a reshuffling of the GC standings, with crashes and a steep finale leaving their mark.

The Giant-Alpecin rider leaps into the overall lead with a late attack and a battle to the line with the Tour de France champ


After winning two stages in the Tour de France, Joaquim Rodríguez will attempt to ride onto the podium in Spain.

Joaquim Rodríguez and Katusha announced on the Tour’s second rest day that the Spanish rider has extended his contract through 2016.

An variety of nicknames — some humorous — are spread throughout the colorful Tour de France peloton

Joaquim Rodriguez rides alone to his second stage win of the Tour de France after a brutal day of climbing that finished in pouring rain.

Can top GC riders from Spain collaborate for mutual gain at the expense of Froome's GC lead? It will play out in the mountains.

The Tour de France enters the mountains this week, so Andrew Hood breaks down the race favorites before the road turns upward

Cancellara falls victim to major crash in stage 3, and Chris Froome is able to take Tour de France GC lead on the Mur de Huy

Rodríguez blasts Tour route as packed with too many classics-style course just minutes after winning atop the Mur de Huy

The "Fab Four" could have plenty of company as they contend for the yellow jersey in France next month, writes Andrew Hood

The Critérium du Dauphiné kicks off Sunday in Ugina, France, with several challenging ascents along the eight-day route

Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège could cap the spring classics season in dramatic fashion, pitting young guns against experienced veterans

Flèche Wallonne organizers added a new climb near the finish of Wednesday's race, but the race could still be decided on the Mur de Huy

The hilly Ardennes classics are in full swing with Flèche Wallonne, where Alejandro Valverde will aim to win the race for a third time

Katusha’s amazing April run continues as Joaquim Rodriguez takes the title at the Vuelta al País Vasco

Joaquim Rodriguez doubles up, winning his second day in a row at Vuelta al Pais Vasco on a fast, technical run-in to stage 4's finish

Joaquim Rodriguez sprints to win from a trio of GC contenders, and Sergio Henao assumes the overall race lead on another day of hilly racing

Joaquim Rodriguez says he's searching for the early-season form he hoped to have as he works toward winning a grand tour

The official presentation of the 2015 Russian WorldTour Team Katusha was held in the Spanish town of Calpe

With a climb-heavy Tour de France, Joaquim Rodríguez says he cannot miss a chance to ride for the yellow jersey one more time in 2015

Joaquim Rodríguez aims for his third title in the autumn monument, as a WorldTour points battle brews between Contador and Valverde

Though they have a long, acrimonious history, Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodríguez will attempt to ride as a united Spanish squad on home soil

Alejandro Valverde has a tough row to hoe if he is to win the rainbow jersey on his home turf, with the Aussies and Belgians gunning for him

Spanish team endeavors to win worlds title in front of home crowd in Ponferrada

Contador's dramatic Vuelta victory against Chris Froome revives the debate that he is one of the greatest grand tour riders in history

One final climb remained for two riders who exited the Tour de France with injury, and returned for redemption in Spain

Chris Froome hasn't given up the fight for Vuelta GC, and his Spanish rivals have taken notice, now that the Sky leader is second overall

Contador says the circuit course for the road race does not suit his strengths

The Sky rider claims the Spaniard hit him on a rainy descent during Sunday's stage 15 at the Vuelta a Espana

In a rivalry for the ages, Froome and Contador go head-to-head, but so far, the Spaniard has the upper hand

Alberto Contador defends his red leader's jersey with panache, winning stage 16 of the Vuelta ahead of Chris Froome

It is Niemiec's day atop the final climb to Lagos de Covadonga, as the GC favorites see Contador's true form

Tuesday's time trial will reshuffle the GC deck, and perhaps eliminate a few contenders, but it likely will not crown the overall winner

Marquee names are battling in the opening stages of the Vuelta a España, delivering on the promise of the season's most exciting grand tour

Movistar's Alejandro Valverde is best on La Zubia, beating GC heavy-hitters on a steep final climb

Valverde helps forge a break in the final kilometers of the WorldTour race through Basque Country, then drops it to ride in solo for the win

The GC favorites got their first glimpse at what awaits them in a harrowing first week of the Tour de France in Saturday's hilly first stage

The Spaniard made a speedy recovery from his Giro d’Italia crash and will hunt for stage wins in the French grand tour

The Spaniard crashed out of the Giro d'Italia last month but will return for the Tour de France, then the Vuelta a España

The Spaniard is eyeing a Tour de France spot as he prepares for the Vuelta a España and a potential grand tour win

Following his painful exit from the GIro, Katusha captain Rodríguez said it's too early to speak about a possible start in the Tour

The Giro peloton is facing a nasty mix of poor weather and slick roads throughout the first week of the corsa rosa

The Spaniard was one of several riders involved in a high-speed pileup late in the stage to Montecassino

Colombian climber Rigoberto Urán lines up with the pink jersey in his sights as the Giro faces its first mountain stages

Garmin lost hope for the GC Friday, but the American team was far from the only squad to bleed time in the stage 1 team time trial

Big names turn out for pre-race press conference and say they expect a wide-open, explosive Giro d'Italia

The GC field at the Giro is filled with riders both young and old, such as 24-year-old Nairo Quintana (above) and 37-year-old Cadel Evans

Marcel Kittel leads the field of sprinters at the Giro, which kicks off May 9. Will he rule the mass gallops on the Italian roads?

With an historic route for its 100th edition, Sunday's Liège–Bastogne–Liège promises an explosive finale to the Ardennes classics