Andrey Amador Bikkazakova (born 29 August 1986) is a Costa Rican professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam EF Education–EasyPost.[6][7]

Andrey Amador
Amador at the 2011 Tour de France.
Personal information
Full nameAndrey Amador Bikkazakova
Born (1986-08-29) 29 August 1986 (age 38)
Alajuela, Costa Rica
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11 12 in)[1]
Weight73 kg (161 lb; 11 st 7 lb)[2]
Team information
Current teamEF Education–EasyPost
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeAll-rounder
Amateur teams
2005–2006BCR–Pizza Hut–KHS
2006Viña Magna–Cropu
2007–2008Lizarte
Professional teams
2009–2019Caisse d'Epargne[3]
2020–2022Team Ineos[4][5]
2023–EF Education–EasyPost
Major wins
Grand Tour
Giro d'Italia
1 individual stage (2012)
Vuelta a España
1 TTT stage (2014)
Medal record
World Championships
Representing Movistar Team
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Richmond Team time trial

Career

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Amador at the 2015 Giro d'Italia

Amador is the son of Rodolfo Amador, a Costa Rican, and Raisa Bikkazakova, a Russian immigrant who arrived in the country after meeting and marrying Amador's father. The youngest of three brothers, Amador started cycling professionally at the age of 20 in 2006, but started cycling at a very early age.[8] Amador was selected to carry the flag for Costa Rica at the 2011 Pan American Games opening ceremony.[9] He is the first Costa Rican to ever ride the Tour de France. In 2012, Amador won a mountainous stage 14 in the Giro d'Italia after breaking away from the group during the final descent right before the final climb. Though he was caught right at the finish of the climb, he won the sprint in the end. In 2013, he finished 8th overall in the Tirreno-Adriatico.

In the 2016 Giro d'Italia, Amador held the pink jersey after stage 13. He became the first Costa Rican to lead a Grand Tour.[10]

At the end of the 2019 season, Amador sought to break an agreement that he had in place with the Movistar Team for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, in order to join Team Ineos.[11] The contract negotiations were not resolved until Amador was released by the Movistar Team on 11 February 2020. Amador signed a three-year deal with Team Ineos the following day, with his first race start scheduled to come at the UAE Tour in the final week of February.[4] In 2023 he was riding for EF Education–EasyPost

Major results

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2005
5th Overall Vuelta Ciclista a Costa Rica
2006
2nd Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
2007
1st Stage 5 Vuelta a Navarra
2008
1st Vuelta al Bidasoa
5th Overall Tour de l'Avenir
1st Prologue
8th Overall Vuelta a Navarra
2010
10th Vuelta a La Rioja
2011
4th Vuelta a La Rioja
4th Gran Premio de Llodio
2012 (1 pro win)
1st Stage 14 Giro d'Italia
4th Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
9th Overall Tour de San Luis
10th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
2013
8th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
10th Gent–Wevelgem
2014
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Vuelta a España
6th Overall Tour de Pologne
10th Overall Tour du Haut Var
2015
3rd   Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships
4th Overall Giro d'Italia
2016
8th Overall Giro d'Italia
Held   after Stage 13
2017
5th Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana
2018 (1)
1st Klasika Primavera
9th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
2019
2nd Trofeo Matteotti
8th Overall Tour of Britain

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

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Grand Tour 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
  Giro d'Italia 41 29 110 4 8 18 39
  Tour de France 166 54 87 50 55 77 110
  Vuelta a España 30 40 93 52
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References

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  1. ^ "Andrey Amador – The INEOS Grenadiers". Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Andrey Amador". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Movistar Team launches 2019 season with highest hopes". Telefónica. Telefónica, S.A. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  4. ^ a b Ballinger, Alex (12 February 2020). "Andrey Amador signs with Team Ineos day after leaving Movistar". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Ineos Grenadiers". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  6. ^ "EF Education–EasyPost". UCI. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  7. ^ "OurTeam". EF Education–EasyPost. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  8. ^ Ortiz de Guinea, Oskar (14 March 2007). "Desde Costa Rica a Pamplona, a ver nevar" [From Costa Rica to Pamplona, to see it snow]. Noticias de Gipuzkoa (in Spanish). Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Archived from the original on 20 March 2007.
  9. ^ Andrey Amador sera el abanderado en los Juegos Panamericanos – 2011 Archived 28 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  10. ^ "Giro d'Italia: Andrey Amador takes overall lead as Mikel Nieve wins stage 13". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  11. ^ "Amador contract still unresolved between Team Ineos and Movistar". Cyclingnews.com. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
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