Simply mentioning his nickname brings an immediate association of the first cyclist tours of Cuba. No one like this natural "guajiro" (person who lives in the country side), born on September 8th, 1943, could give a singularity to the most important road competition taking place in the island.
Pipián was born in a little village located in the town of Madruga, southeast from Havana. That place witnessed the displeasures of his childhood, like when he had to start working in agricultural labors, mainly as a sugarcane cropper, at the age of 11. It was imperative to help his "old man" and the family.
He worked as a cane cropper until 1961, when he could save and buy a bicycle, which served as his daily transportation means for the more than 20 km (13 miles) between his job and his home. Thus his started to love cycling, a sport that captivated him forever in October 1961 when he took part and triumphed in a provincial tour.
He was immediately recruited and almost without training he took part in the IX Central American and Caribbean Games Kingston'62 to end up fourth in the 4000 m team chasing competition.
He fully entered the history of Cuban cycling when he took part in and won the first tour of Cuba in 1964. The success would be repeated in the third, fifth, and sixth editions.
In the games of San Juan'66 he was third by teams. Four years after that, in the eleventh edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games in Panama, his team was second in the collective rank and he was third individually.
In the VI Pan-american Games Cali'71 he won a bronze medal in individual chasing and when he was dreaming of participating in the Olympic Games of Munich'72, a car accident ended up with his hopes.
Some years after that, On September 5th, 1979, he suffered another car accident, this time driving his motorcycle. He fought for life until October 2nd when we said the last good-bye to the fairly called "king of the Cuban roads".