José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (born 15 June 1971, in San Sebastián

San Sebastián

Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...

) is a retired Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 professional road racing cyclist. He last rode for UCI ProTour

UCI ProTour

The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI . Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the series...

 team . He is now a sporting director for , the same franchise for which he rode earlier in his career when it was known as .

Arrieta was a devoted domestique

Cycling domestique

A domestique is a road bicycle racer who works for the benefit of his team and leader. The French domestique translates as "servant". In Italy and Spain, the term gregario is used, while in Belgium and the Netherlands the term knecht or helper are used...

 for Miguel Indurain

Miguel Indurain

Miguel Ángel Indurain Larraya is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. He won five consecutive Tour de Frances from 1991 and 1995, the first to do so, and the fourth athlete to win five times. He won the Giro d'Italia twice, becoming one of only seven people in history to achieve the Giro Tour...

. L'Équipe

L'Équipe

L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...

said of him:

"He no longer counts the hours, the years, spent with his nose in the wind trying to protect his leader for as long as possible."

Arrieta said:

Major achievements

1993 – Banesto

First year as a professional

1994 – Banesto
1997 – Banesto
1998 – Banesto
2000 – Banesto
2001 – iBanesto.com
2002 – iBanesto.com

1st, Metas Volantes Classification, Grande Premio M.R. Cortez/Mitsubishi (2.3)

1st, Stage 1, Vuelta Asturias (2.3)

2003 – iBanesto.com
2004 – Illes Balears-Banesto
2005 – Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
2006 – AG2R Prévoyance

1st, Stage 19, 2006 Vuelta a España