When Francisco Mancebo began his professional career in 1998, the euro had just been introduced as a currency, Google had just been created as a science project, and social media did not yet exist. Now, 27 years later, Mancebo is drawing a line under the sport. The organizers of the Tour de Kyushu announced in X that Mancebo would retire after the final stage.
Mancebo, born on March 9, 1976, was a talented junior and U23 rider in the mid-1990s. His 1997 season was impressive — he won a stage at the Vuelta Navarra and achieved a top-10 finish at the U23 World Championships, which earned him a place in the Banesto youth team's main roster in 1998.
In his first professional year, he won the GP Miguel Indurain, beating experienced riders such as Stefano Garzelli and Davide Rebellin. It was the first of 38 UCI victories in his career. The Spanish climber won the best young rider classification at the 2000 Tour de France and finished 9th overall. He reached the podium at the Vuelta a España in 2004 and finished fourth in the 2005 Tour.
Mancebo achieved his first and only Grand Tour stage win at the 2005 Vuelta a España, when he won Stage 10 in a mountain finish, ahead of Roberto Heras and Denis Menchov. But before he could achieve any greater feats, he was caught up in the Operación Puerto doping scandal.
In 2006, Mancebo moved from Banesto to the French team AG2R Prévoyance and was set to be their overall leader in the Tour. However, a scandal broke before the first stage and Mancebo, suspected of a doping program (EPO and blood transfusions) involving Eufemiano Fuentes, was unable to start along with other riders on the list — such as Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich.
Although Mancebo was never formally punished in the Operación Puerto case, he rode for the Relax-GAM team in 2007, but it was his last season at the top level.
After that, he focused on smaller teams and continued to race for several continental teams. He rode in the United States with Rock Racing in 2009, winning a stage at the Tour of California. From 2011 to 2013, he continued to ride for American teams before heading to Asia for an extended period.
For the past seven seasons, Mancebo has been riding for the Japanese team Matrix Powertag, achieving a few more victories. His final triumph came in January 2024 when he won the first stage of the Tour du Sahel (category 2.2) at the age of 48, becoming the oldest rider ever to win a UCI road race.
Now, at 49, Mancebo will end his career two years before Davide Rebellini did. The Italian, who was also involved in a doping scandal, retired after the 2022 Veneto Classico but died six weeks later.
