Lucho Herrera was a legend in the mountains during his pomp in the 1980s but he now suffers widespread skin cancer. He has blamed his racing days saying cyclists didn't take enough precautions against the sun.
Colombian cyclist Lucho Herrera fighting skin cancer
The great Colombian climber Luis ‘Lucho’ Herrera has revealed he has had skin cancer for the last six years.
And as it is widespread he has been fighting it with treatment rather than having it all removed.
Herrera, who was at his pomp in the 1980s, has blamed his exposure to the sun when he was racing.
“The dermatologist found some spots with cancer,” the 56-year-old aid in an interview with Colombia's Blu Radio.
He has the cancer spots on his face, arms, and hands six years ago. And he now regularly undergoes cryotherapy sessions to freeze the lesions.
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His media said that treatment is design to ensure the cancerous areas do not expand and spread beyond his skin and deeper into his body, which can be fatal.
“I'm feeling good, I'm well, but I'm taking great care of my arms and my face,” said Herrera.
“Maybe at the time we didn't take precautions to apply sunblock because there was no time, sometimes we were sweating a lot,” Lucho Herrera added.
The climbing ace won the climbers’ jersey in all of the Grand Tours during his career; Giro, Tour and Vuelta.
And he also won the Vuelta outright in 1987, enjoying his best overall finish in the Tour that year with 5th place into Paris.
He won the king of the mountains for the first time in the Tour de France in 1984 and took the prize again two years later when Stephen Roche won the race.
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1985 Tour de France, Herrera beats Hinault at Avoriaz
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