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**Juan Antonio Flecha**
Personal information
Full name	Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni
Nickname	The Spanish Flandrian; Van der Flecha; Jan Anton Pijl
Date of birth	September 17, 1977 (age 32)
Country	Argentina
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 111⁄2 in)
Weight	72 kg (160 lb; 11.3 st)
Team information
Current team	Rabobank
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist
Professional team(s)1
2000–2001; 2002–2003; 2004–2005; 2006–2010; 2010–	Relax-Fuenlabrada; iBanesto.com; Fassa Bortolo; Rabobank; Team Sky
Major wins
	Tour de France, 1 stage; Züri-Metzgete (2004); Circuit Franco-Belge (2008)
	Infobox last updated on:
	July 26, 2007 1 Team names given are those prevailing; at time of rider beginning association with that team.

This is a Spanish name; the first family name is Flecha and the second is Giannoni.

Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (born September 17, 1977 in Junín, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine-born Spanish professional road bicycle racer for the UCI ProTour team Rabobank.

[edit] Career

He gained fame in 2003 when he became the first rider born in Argentina to win a Tour de France stage while riding for the Spanish iBanesto.com team. As he rode across the finish line he performed a unique victory salute: he pantomimed releasing an arrow from a bow in homage to his family name.

The 2004 season saw him as a co-leader in the Italian Fassa Bortolo for the Classics and one-day races, with notable finishes in various races from the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and victories in Züri-Metzgete and the Giro del Lazio. He often shared team leadership with Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, with whom he says he works very well.

The following season with Fassa Bortolo in 2005 saw podium finishes in Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix, establishing him as one of the best one-day racers in the UCI ProTour today. Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Egoi Martínez said in an interview that in a race "one should have a head and an attitude like the one Juan Antonio Flecha has," in tribute to his perseverance and positive attitude in racing.

When the Fassa Bortolo team closed down after the 2005 season, Flecha moved on to Dutch team Rabobank.

In 2007, Flecha took 2nd in the prestigious Paris-Roubaix race.

In the 2008 Vuelta a España, Flecha displayed his sense of humor as he stole the "Moose Man's" American flag and rode playfully with it for 200 meters.

With again no victories in the 2009 season, Flecha declined a new offer from team Rabobank. He felt it was time for a new challenge. In 2010, he will ride for the all new Team Sky.