Raúl Alcalá Photo Gallery
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Raúl Alcalá (born March 3, 1961) raced professionally from 1985 to 1999 and then also in 2008. He is probably the finest professional bicycle racer Mexico has produced and in 1986 became the first Mexican to race the Tour de France.
The next year (1987), he was the Tour's best young rider, finishing ninth overall and beating the second-placed rider in that competition, Erik Breukink, by more than 30 minutes.
In both 1989 and 1990 Alcalá finished the Tour de France in eighth place. Greg LeMond won the Tour both of those years.
But Alcalá's career was far richer than those high Tour de France placings. He won 42 professional races, including the 1987 Cooors International Bicycle Classic, the 1989 Vuelta a Asturias, the 1992 Clásica de San Sebastián and the 1993 Tour DuPont.
Alcalá retired in 1999, but came back to race the 2008 Tour of Chihuahua, but had to retire from the race after crashing in the second stage.
The evergreen Alcalá still had another surprise. In 2010 he won his first national championship, the Mexican Individual Time Trial.
Major victories and high placings:
1985:
- Third overall Redlands Classic
1986:
- Second overall Redlands Classic, winning the prologue time trial
1987:
- Coors International Bicycle Classic
1989:
- Tour of Mexico first place GC and points
- Tour de France stage three
1990:
- Vuelta a Asturias
- Tour of Mexico first place GC and points
- Tour de France stage seven
- Tour de Trump first place GC plus two stage wins, prologue and stage eight
1992:
- Clásica de San Sebastián
- Second overall Tour of the Basque Country
1993:
- Tour DuPont
1994:
- Tour of Mexico
2010:
- Mexican Individual Time Trial Championship
1985: Denti-Valtron
1986-1988: 7-Eleven
1989-1992: PEM-Concorde
1993: WordPerfect
1994: Motorola
1998: Team GT
2010: Canel's Turbo
Raúl Alcalá (right) finishes 1986 Tour de France stage eighteen at the top of L'Alpe d'Huez. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá in 7-Eleven kit leads in stage five of the 1987 Tirreno-Adriatico. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá rounds a corner in stage six of the 1987 Tirreno-Adriatico. Photo © Sirotti
Stage one of the 1987 Giro del Trentino. Alcalá beats Francesco Moser to win the stage. Photo © Sirotti
1987 Tour de France, stage sixteen: Alcalá climbs Mt. Ventoux. Photo © Sirotti
After the 1987 Tour de France seventeenth stage, Alcalá shows off his young rider's white jersey. Photo © Sirotti
First stage of the 1988 Giro d'Italia: Alcalá rolls into Urbino, but doesn't earn a high placing. Photo © Sirotti
Raúl Alcalá climbs to Bormio in the 1988 Giro's iconic fourteenth stage. Erik Breukink won the stage and Andy Hempsten took the lead for good. Photo © Sirotti
This is from stage twelve of the 1988 Tour de France, which ended at the top of L'Alpe d'Huez. Alcalá, who finished fifteenth that day, is probably climbing here with Samuel Cabrera. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá at the 1989 Chambéry, France world road championships, which were won by Greg LeMond. Alcalá did well that day, finishing twelfth, 42 seconds behind LeMond. Photo © Sirotti
The 1990 Tour de France prologue individual time trial. Alcalá scorched the course. Thierry Marie won the stage, but both Greg LeMond and Alcalá finished just 4 seconds slower. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá time trials to Villard de Lans in stage twelve of the 1990 Tour de France. Photo © Sirotti
Stage nine of the 1992 Tour de France: Alcalá time trials in Luxembourg.Photo © Sirotti
A wet day in northern Italy. Here Alcalá is riding to fourth place in the 1992 Giro di Lombardia, which was won by Tony Rominger. Photo © Sirotti
A new team for Alcalá. Here he is at the 1993 Milano-San Remo. Alcalá finshed 23rd that day, 9 seconds behind winner Maurizio Fondriest. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá climbs in stage ten of the 1993 Tour de France, a brutal day in the mountains with the Glandon and Galibier. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá grabs some newspapers to put under his jersey to keep warm in stage seventeen of the 1993 Tour de France. The day's climbing included ascents of the Tourmalet and Aubisque. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá at the 1993 World Road Championships at Oslo, Norway. I don't think Alcalá finished the race. That should be legendary team director Gianni Savio in the yellow rain jacket. Photo © Sirotti
1994 Tirreno-Adriatico, stage two: Raúl Alcalá is in his new Motorola team colors posing with Lance Armstrong, who was world road champion that year. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá leads up a climb in the 1994 La Flèche Wallonne. Photo © Sirotti
Here he time-trials to Follonica in stage eight of the 1994 Giro d'Italia. Photo © Sirotti
Alcalá climbs to L'Alpe d'Huez in stage sixteen of the 1994 Tour de France. The rider on his wheel is Flavio Vanzella. Photo © Sirotti
Lovely final picture. Here Alcalá time trials to Morzine-Avoriaz in stage nineteen of the 1994 Tour de France. Photo © Sirotti