Bernardo Ruiz

Ruiz had to race with heavy equipment because Spain was going through a depression. Ruiz is one of the few riders to complete all three Grand Tours in a single season, which he did on three occasions. As of 2020 only two other riders have accomplished this more than three times. During his career he rode a total of 21 Grand Tours, and completed 12 Grand Tours consecutively.

After retiring from competition, he became a directeur sportif, including for the Faema team, where he managed Bahamontes, despite the pair having previously engaged in fistfights: Ruiz stated ahead of the 1960 Vuelta a España that "we mutually tolerate one another".

In 1949, Ruiz competed in the Tour de France as part of the Spain national team. After they received abuse from Spanish Republican exiles, Ruiz and his teammates withdrew from the race on the fifth stage and left to compete in the Volta a Portugal. As a result of the withdrawal, Spain was not invited the following year; a team was sent in 1951, including Ruiz. He took two stage wins, the first for Spain since the Civil War, and finished ninth overall. In the following year's Tour, Ruiz finished third in the general classification behind Fausto Coppi and Stan Ockers. Ruiz later said he could not have overhauled Coppi for the win, but that he had lost out on being runner-up due to his cautious descending down Mont Ventoux, which lost him four minutes to Coppi and Ockers - Ruiz stated that he was careful in his descent because he was worried about his tyers overheating.

In 1945 Ruiz won the Volta a Catalunya, then Spain's most lucrative bike race, at the age of 20. This was his first race outside of the Valencian region, and helped to launch his professional career. That year he also made his debut in the Vuelta a España, where he came 23rd out of 26 finishers. He described the experience of riding the race as "terrifying". Three years later he took the overall classification in the race, taking the lead from Dalmacio Langarica after the latter lost time due to several punctures. Upon completion of the race, Ruiz was supposed to receive the winner's trophy from Francisco Franco in a ceremony at the then-new Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, however upon learning that he would have to wait three hours for a football match to be completed before the presentation, he elected to leave.

Bernardo Ruiz Navarrete (born 8 January 1925) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer who won the overall and climbers competition at the 1948 Vuelta a España. He went on to become the first Spaniard to take two wins in a single edition of the Tour de France in 1951, the first to finish on the overall podium at the Tour the following year, and the first to win a stage of the Giro d'Italia in 1955. Alasdair Fotheringham has described him as "an accidental pioneer for post-Civil War Spanish professional cycling", through his international success at a time when Spain was experiencing economic hardship during the early years of the Franco era, paving the way for countrymen such as Federico Bahamontes.