Luis Herrera (cyclist)

{{Short description|Colombian cyclist (born 1961)}}

{{family name hatnote|Herrera|Herrera|lang=Spanish}}

{{Infobox cyclist

| name = Luis Herrera

| image = Luis Herrera.jpg

| fullname = Luis Alberto Herrera

| nickname = Lucho
El jardinerito de Fusagasugá

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|5|4}}

| birth_place = Fusagasugá, Colombia

| currentteam = Retired

| discipline = Road

| role = Rider

| ridertype = Climbing specialist

| amateuryears1 = 1981

| amateurteam1 = Valyin de Pereira

| amateuryears2 = 1982

| amateurteam2 = Lotería de Boyacá

| amateuryears3 = 1983

| amateurteam3 = Leche La Gran Vía

| amateuryears4 = 1984

| amateurteam4 = Varta Nacional A

| proyears1 = 1985–1990

| proteam1 = Café de Colombia

| proyears2 = 1991–1992

| proteam2 = Ryalco Postobon

| majorwins = Grand Tours

:Tour de France

::Mountains classification (1985, 1987)

::3 individual stages (1984, 1985)

:Giro d'Italia

::Mountains classification (1989)

::3 individual stages (1989, 1992)

:Vuelta a España

::General classification (1987)

::Mountains classification (1987, 1991)

::2 individual stages (1987, 1991)

Stage races

:Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (1988, 1991)

:Vuelta a Colombia (1984, 1985, 1986, 1988)

:Clásico RCN (1982, 1983, 1984, 1986)

}}

Luis Alberto "Lucho" Herrera Herrera, known as "El jardinerito" ("the little gardener"; born May 4, 1961, in Fusagasugá, Colombia), is a retired Colombian road racing cyclist. Herrera was a professional from 1985 to 1992 but had a successful amateur career before that in Colombia.

He entered his first Vuelta a Colombia in 1981 where he finished 16th overall and 3rd in the New Rider competition.{{cite web|url=http://members.fortunecity.es/pedalear/Vcol/Vcol1981.htm |title=31a Vuelta a Colombia 1981 |access-date=October 20, 2007 |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308122023/http://members.fortunecity.es/pedalear/Vcol/Vcol1981.htm |url-status=dead }} Although he abandoned his second Vuelta a Colombia in 1982, he won Colombia's second major stage-race, the Clásico RCN. In 1983 Herrera won Clásico RCN again as well as two stages and finished second overall to Alfonso Florez Ortiz in the 1983 Vuelta a Colombia.{{cite web|url=http://members.fortunecity.es/pedalear/Vcol/Vcol1983.htm |title=33a Vuelta a Colombia |access-date=October 20, 2007 |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308122025/http://members.fortunecity.es/pedalear/Vcol/Vcol1983.htm |url-status=dead }} In 1984 he won the Vuelta a Colombia, and the Clásico RCN.

In 1984 he won stage 17 to Alpe d'Huez in the 1984 Tour de France, becoming the first Colombian to win a stage of the race, and the first amateur cyclist to win a stage in the history of the Tour de France.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} He won the Vuelta a Colombia and the Clásico RCN four times each. His greatest achievement was in 1987, when he won the Vuelta a España, the first South American to win a Grand Tour.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/41394955 |title=Luis Herrera: Ex-cyclist says sun exposure caused his skin cancer |date=26 September 2017 |access-date=26 September 2017 |work=BBC Sport}} Herrera also won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in 1988 and 1991.

Herrera won five "King of the Mountains" jerseys from the three Grand Tours. He is the second rider to win the King of the Mountains jersey in all three Grand Tours. The first was Federico Bahamontes of Spain.