As an amateur cyclist Javier Elorriaga won gold in both the road race and team time trial at the 1971 Mediterranean Games. One year later Elorriaga won a stage of the Tour de Pologne before finishing 16th in the road race at the München Olympics. He then turned professional, having success in races in his native Spain for the rest of the decade, including winning the Vuelta a Aragón twice (1974, 1976), the Vuelta a La Rioja in 1975, and multiple stages at the Tour of the Basque Country. Elorriaga rode in seven editions of the Vuelta a España, holding the leaders’ jersey for two days in 1976, in addition to winning stages in 1978 and 1980.
Spain