Luis Ocaña
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Luis Ocaña (June 9 1945 – May 19 1994) was a Spanish cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1973.
Ocaña was born in Priego, Cuenca, Spain. After being beaten to second place by Eddy Merckx in the previous years, he won the 1973 tour - Eddy Merckx did skip the tour in that year. In 1971, Ocaña (and his team) had almost beaten Merckx, but Ocaña ended up badly injured. In a mountain stage during a heavy rainstorm Ocaña crashed off course with little injury and was remounting his bicycle when another rider crashed into him. The resulting injury forced him to quit while wearing the maillot jaune. The following day Merckx refused to wear the yellow jersey in order to pay tribute to Ocaña.
Ocaña committed suicide by gunshot in 1994. It is said he was depressed over financial matters, and was also suffering from the effect of a hepatitis C infection.
– Ocana never finished second in the Tour de France. In 1970 he finished 31st. In 1971 he withdrew after crashing whilst leading. In 1972 he withdrew on the fifteenth stage with bronchitis/heart problem
| Preceded by: Eddy Merckx | Winner of the Tour de France 1973 | Succeeded by: Eddy Merckx |
| Preceded by: Roger Pingeon | Winner of the Vuelta a España 1970 | Succeeded by: Ferdinand Bracke |
| This biographical article related to cycling is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
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