Amets Txurruka Ansola (born 10 November 1982) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2016 for the , , and teams. Career Born in Etxebarria in the Basque Country, Txurruka made his Tour de France debut in 2007, memorably participating (alongside Pierrick Fédrigo) in a breakaway during Stage 12 that was caught just from the finish line. This effort earned him the red back numbers for most combative rider the next day. He was also indirectly benefited when Michael Rasmussen was withdrawn from the Tour; Txurruka was third in the young rider classification, behind Alberto Contador and Mauricio Soler. With Contador wearing the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification because of Rasmussen's withdrawal, and Soler wearing the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification, Txurruka wore the white jersey that is given to the leader of the young rider classification. He was also chosen as the most combative rider of whole Tour, being the third Spanish rider in a row (after Óscar Pereiro and David de la Fuente) to earn that award. Txurruka was released by at the end of the 2012 season, and joined for the 2013 season. In the Tour of the Basque Country, Txurruka won both the mountains and sprint classification jerseys after being part of long breakaways for the first three stages. In August 2015 announced that they had signed Txurruka on a one-year deal for 2016. Major results 2005 9th Clásica Memorial Txuma 2006 5th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 8th Overall Vuelta a Asturias 8th Giro d'Oro 9th Overall Euskal Bizikleta 9th Overall Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas 2007 6th Overall Vuelta a La Rioja Tour de France Combativity award Stage 12 & Overall 2009 6th Vuelta a La Rioja 8th Overall Vuelta a Asturias 10th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 2011 7th Klasika Primavera 8th Overall Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid Combativity award Stage 13 Vuelta a España 2012 6th Overall Vuelta a Asturias 2013 1st Overall Vuelta a Asturias 1st Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country 1st Mountains classification 1st Sprints classification 1st Mountains classification, Vuelta a Burgos 5th Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid 9th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León 2014 1st Overall Tour du Gévaudan Languedoc-Roussillon 1st Mountains classification, Tour des Fjords 9th Klasika Primavera 9th Coppa Sabatini Combativity award Stage 4 Vuelta a España 2015 1st