Miguel Lasa

At the start of his cycling career Miguel Lasa represented Spain at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, finishing 42nd in the road race and 12th in the team time trial. Despite an inauspicious start, Lasa then turned professional, having an impressive record in Grand Tour stage races, most notably at his home race the Vuelta a España. On his début at the Vuelta in 1969 he finished 21st, before coming seventh a year later. That same year he also finished eighth at the Giro d’Italia, winning stage 12 of the race. In 1971 he just missed out on the podium at the Vuelta, finishing fourth behind his compatriot Luis Ocaña.

Lasa then had his first podium finish at his home Grand Tour when he came second in 1972, six-and-a-half minutes behind the race winner José Manuel Fuente. Lasa also won his first stages at the Vuelta that year with victories on stages one and 14. At the Giro he had another top-10 finish, placing ninth overall, in addition to winning stage 11. After no Grand Tour starts in 1973, Lasa then recorded back-to-back podium finishes at the Vuelta, finishing third in both 1974 and 1975. In the latter he only missed out on winning the race by a margin of 33 seconds, but did win two stages and the points classification. Lasa had his best result in 1977 when he finished second to the Belgian Freddy Maertens.

During his later career Lasa won stages at the Tour de France in both 1976 and 1978, along with another stage at the Vuelta in 1979. He was still in good form into the early 1980s, winning a stage at both the Giro and Vuelta in 1981.