Spanish cyclist, José Manuel Fuente was considered one of the best climbers of his generation. He earned his reputation by winning the mountain competition of Giro d’Italia four times in a row between 1971 and 1974.
Fuente rode as a professional between 1970 and 1976. During his career he had to compete with riders like Eddy Merckx or Luis Ocana. Fuente’s best results both at Giro d’Italia amd Tour de France came from the fight against them. He became 2nd at Giro d’Italia 1972 and 3rd at Tour de France 1973.
A bit surprisingly, Fuente won only two Tour de France stages, the 14th and the 15th in 1971, but one them was the infamous day, when Luis Ocana cashed on Col de Menté.
Statiscally, Fuente has much better results at Giro d’Itali. Besides claiming the best climber prize four times, he also managed to win 9 stages. Both in 1972 and 1974 he wore the maglia rosa for several stages.
José Manuel Fuente also won two editions (1972 and 1974) of Vuelta a Espana during the era, when the Spanish grand tour was held in spring before Giro d’Italia. In 1972 he also won the mountains and the combination classification. During his four participation, Fuente won 3 stages.