Nickname El Tiburon (the shark) Name Victor Pena Current team Retired Height 1.79 m | Discipline Road Weight 70 kg 1998 Avianca-Telecom-Kelme | |
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Rider type Timetrialist, stageracer Role Professional Road Racing Cyclist | ||
VICTOR HUGO PEÑA: "We're epoch-making in cycling"
Víctor Hugo Peña Grisales (born July 10, 1974 in Bogotá) is a Colombian professional retired road racing cyclist. He last rode for the Colombia professional cycling team. In 2003, Peña became the first Colombian to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. He held the yellow jersey for three days following the 4th, 5th and 6th stages of that year's tour.
Peña's 2003 Tour de France, where he served as domestique for Lance Armstrong, is described in detail in Matt Rendell's book A Significant Other. The book also describes the rider's amateur and early professional career.
He is named after both his father Hugo and the author Victor Hugo. He earned his nickname "El Tiburon" ("the shark") due to his looks and the other sport he excelled at besides cycling – swimming. Peña finished 7th in the 100 meter freestyle Pan American swimming championships for juniors in 1991.
At the end of the season in 2012, Peña retired. Later, Pena was implicated in the 2012 USADA Reasoned Report into doping on the US Postal team and was concluded to worked with Dr. Michele Ferrari and received blood transfusions during his Tour de France participations.
