Óscar Freire

Óscar Freire Gómez is a Spanish former professional road racer and was one of the top sprinters of his time, winning the world championship three times, equalling Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen, Eddy Merckx and Peter Sagan. In later years he became more of a classics rider. He won the Milan-San Remo monument three times, the green jersey and four stages at the Tour de France, and seven stages of the Vuelta a España. Despite a small build he was a world class sprinter, and he trained on shorter distances than most professionals, sometimes about half as far as his colleagues. As a child he caught tuberculosis and narrowly avoided having a leg amputated.