Óscar Sevilla

Óscar Sevilla
	Sevilla in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Óscar Miguel Sevilla Rivera
Nickname	El Niño
Born	29 September 1976 (age 48); Ossa de Montiel, Spain
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb; 9 st 11 lb)
Team information
Current team	Team Medellín
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Amateur teams
2010	Indeportes Antioquia
2012	Empacadora San Marcos
2012	Formesan–IDRD–Pinturas Bler
2014	EPM–UNE–Área Metropolitana
Professional teams
1998–2003	Kelme–Costa Blanca
2004	Phonak
2005–2006	T-Mobile Team
2007	Relax–GAM
2008–2010	Rock Racing
2011	Gobernación de Antioquia–Indeportes Antioquia
2013	EPM–UNE
2015–2016	EPM–UNE–Área Metropolitana
2017–	Medellín–Inder
Major wins
	Stage races Tour of Hainan (2023) Vuelta a Asturias (2006)

Óscar Miguel Sevilla Rivera (born 29 September 1976), nicknamed El Niño, is a Spanish-Colombian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Team Medellín.^[2] He is a climber with a pedigree in stage races, having finished in the top ten of the Tour de France and Vuelta a España several times.^[3]

Biography

Kelme–Costa Blanca (1998–2003)

Sevilla riding for Kelme in 2002

Born in Ossa de Montiel, Albacete Province, Sevilla turned professional in 1998 for Spanish team Kelme–Costa Blanca, and his big breakthrough came in the 2001 Tour de France. Here, he showed himself as a great climber, ranking 7th in the overall General classification, and winning the young rider classification as the rider of 25 years of age or younger with the highest position in the general classification. After the Tour de France, he continued his great form in the 2001 Vuelta a España. He wore the leader's jersey until the final uphill time trial stage in Madrid, which he lost to winner Ángel Casero.

In the 2002 Vuelta a España, intra-team rivalry with Aitor González saw him finish fourth in the General classification, despite the team's initial assurances that he would be the only leader. González's racing in the very difficult Angliru mountain stage saw Sevilla lose valuable time that he was not able to recover in the later stages of the race, and Gonzalez took over the lead on the final stage, overtaking previous leader Roberto Heras. After a lacklustre 2003 season, Sevilla was injured in the 2003 UCI Road World Championships in a crash, resulting in a serious back injury.

Phonak (2004)

The 2004 season saw Sevilla start with the Swiss team Phonak in support of Tyler Hamilton's bid for the 2004 Tour de France. As Hamilton sustained an injury, Sevilla assumed the leader's mantle, although without good results. He then switched to T-Mobile Team for the 2005 season.

T-Mobile (2005–06)

Sevilla switched to T-Mobile Team for the 2005 season, but fought to achieve the same results as he initially rode as a domestique for Jan Ullrich in the 2005 Tour de France. Here, he helped Ullrich finish 3rd overall, and Sevilla's climbing improved, as well as his morale. He rode the 2005 Vuelta a España as team captain and ranked 7th overall.

He was linked to Operación Puerto doping case. After he was initially named in the investigation, Sevilla was still able to ride and won the Vuelta a Asturias. On the day before the 2006 Tour de France, Ullrich and Sevilla were explicitly linked to the investigation and not allowed to start the race. On 20 July 2006, Sevilla was fired from T-Mobile in relation to the aforementioned accusations.

Relax–GAM and Rock Racing (2007–10)

He rode for Relax–GAM for the 2007 season and Rock Racing–Murcia between 2008 and 2010.

Colombian teams (2011–present)

He rode for Gobernación de Antioquía in the 2011 Tour of Utah. Sevilla renewed his contract with the Colombian Medellín team, with whom he had been racing since 2017, for another season in November 2019.^[4]