Rune Høydahl (born December 10, 1969) is a former Norwegian mountain biker. He won 11 World Cup races, and three times came second overall. Besides John Tomac, Hoydahl is the only mountain biker with World Cup victories in both downhill and cross country.
In 1995 Høydahl won five World Cup races in a row.
wikipedia
Cadel EvansEvans at the 2012 Critérium du DauphinéPersonal informationFull nameCadel Lee EvansBorn14 February 1977 (age 41)
Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia[1]Height174 cm (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)[2]Weight64 kg (141 lb; 10.1 st)[2]Team informationCurrent teamRetiredDisciplineRoadRoleRiderRider typeAll-rounderAmateur team(s)1994–1999Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)2001–Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS)Professional team(s)1999Volvo-Cannondale (MTB)2001Saeco Macchine per Caffè2002Mapei–Quick-Step2003–2004Team Telekom2005–2009Davitamon–Lotto2010–2015BMC Racing TeamMajor winsGrand ToursTour de FranceGeneral classification (2011)3 individual stages (2 at 2007, 2011)Giro d'ItaliaPoints classification (2010)1 individual stage (2010)Stage racesTour de Romandie (2006, 2011)Tirreno–Adriatico (2011)Tour of Austria (2001, 2004)Critérium International (2012)Giro del Trentino (2014)Settimana Coppi e Bartali (2008)One-day races and ClassicsWorld Road Race Championships (2009)La Flèche Wallonne (2010)OtherUCI ProTour (2007)Medal record[show]
Cadel Lee Evans AM (/kəˈdɛl/;[3] born 14 February 1977) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Cadel Evans is a four time Olympian.[4]
Evans turned to full-time road cycling in 2001, and gradually progressed through the ranks. He finished second in the 2007 and 2008 Tours de France. He became the first Australian to win the UCI ProTour (2007) and the UCI Road World Championships in 2009. Finally, he won the Tour de France in 2011, riding for BMC Racing Team, after two Tours riddled with bad luck.[5] At age 34, he was among the five oldest winners in the race's history. He is also one of only two non-Europeans to have officially won the Tour, the other being Greg LeMond.
Evans retired on 1 February 2015, after completing a race named in his honour.[6]
Mountain biking
Evans started his international career in 1995 as a Scholarship-holder in the‚ Australian Institute of Sport mountain bike, (MTB) Program, under A.I.S. Cycling Program's MTB coach Damien Grundy, and up to 1998 under road coach Heiko Salzwedel. While Evans was at the Australian Institute of Sport, physiological tests showed he possessed a rare combination‚ an unusually high lung volume and the capacity to absorb more oxygen from each breath than 99.9 per cent of the population. This ability led to him becoming known as 'The Lung'.[10]
Evans won bronze medals at the 1995 Junior world mountain bike championship and Junior world road time trial championship, and silver medals at the 1997 and 1999 under-23 world championships. He won the cross-country event in the‚ Mountain Bike World Cup‚ in both 1998 and 1999. In 1998 Shayne Bannan was the under-23 road cycling coach based in Italy.
In 1997, he rode for the‚ Diamondback‚ MTB team,[11]‚ and then for the‚ Volvo-Cannondale‚ MTB team.[12]
In March, 2017, Evans was back on a mountain bike and competing in the Masters category at the eight-day Absa Cape Epic stage race in South Africa over 641‚ km. The race is held in a two-person team format and Evans and partner George Hincapie his domestique at the 2011 Tour de France won the category.
Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Miguel MartinezPersonal informationFull nameMiguel MartinezBorn17 January 1976 (age 42)
Fourchambault, FranceTeam informationDisciplineMountain bike racingRoleRiderRider typeCross-countryMedal record[hide]Men's mountain bike racingRepresenting FranceOlympic Games2000 SydneyCross-country1996 AtlantaCross-countryWorld Championships2000 Sierra NevadaCross-country1995 KirchzartenCross-country1999 ÅreCross-country
Miguel Martinez (born 17 January 1976 in Fourchambault, Nièvre) is a French cyclist specializing in competitive cross-country mountain biking. He won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia after having finished in third place in the inaugural event at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
José Antonio Hermida Ramos (born on August 24, 1978 in Puigcerdà, Girona) is a Spanish cyclist of Galician origin specializing in competitive mountain biking. He won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece after having finished in fourth place in the 2000 Summer Olympics.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eric Ryder Hesjedal[1] (/raɪdər hɛʒɑːdɑːl/) (born December 9, 1980) is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who last rode for UCI ProTeam Trek–Segafredo.[2] He is a former mountain biker, and won a silver medal at the 2001 Under-23 world championship. He turned professional with Discovery Channel in 2005 after several years with the Rabobank continental team. Having previously finished in fifth place at the 2010 Tour de France, Hesjedal won his first and only Grand Tour at the 2012 Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour win by a Canadian. Other major wins include two stages at the Vuelta a España, the only such stage wins by a Canadian.
Early career[edit]
His career started out with him competing as a mountain bike cyclist. Hesjedal first met success as a two-time world champion in the mountain bike relay event in both 2001 and 2002.[3] He won silver as an individual at the 2003 world mountain biking championships and competed at the 2004 Olympics for Canada in the mountain bike category. At those games, Hesjedal was on his way to an Olympic medal and likely a gold medal before a sharp rock cut and flattened his tire, ending that Olympic dream.[4]
As a result of both the early success and disappointments in his career, this allowed him to make the full-time switch to road cycling.[4] A climber and time trialist, he was selected by Discovery Channel for the 2005 Giro d'Italia and helped Paolo Savoldelli win, although failing to complete the course himself. After 2005 he joined the Swiss team Phonak. There he began to build some of his best results, finishing fourth in the 2006 Volta a Catalunya and second in the 2006 Canadian time trial championship. Later that season he rode the Vuelta a España, although he dropped out near the end to concentrate on the road world championships in Salzburg. He achieved only modest results. The end of the Phonak team led him to Health Net for 2007. For 2008 he joined Garmin-Slipstream and helped Christian Vande Velde to fourth in the Tour de France.
2009[edit]
In 2009 Hesjedal competed in the Vuelta a España. He finished second of the mountainous tenth stage behind Simon Gerrans (Cervélo TestTeam), registering the same time as the victor.[5] He did not miss his chance days later on stage 12 however, when he detached himself from the favorites' group on the ultimate climb of Alto de Velefique. He joined the lone escapee David García (Xacobeo–Galicia) and tried to shake him off, but García resisted. Hesjedal outsprinted his rival near the line to rake in the victory.[6] With that feat, he became the first Canadian to have won a Vuelta stage and the first Canadian individual winner of a Grand Tour stage since Steve Bauer in the 1988 Tour de France.[7] However, he abandoned later and did not take the start of the eighteenth stage.[8] Hesjedal was the only Canadian to compete in the Tour de France for both 2008 and 2009. He was also the first Canadian to ride in the daunting race in more than 10 years.
At the end of the 2009 year Hesjedal was selected as Canadian cyclist of the decade and male Canadian cyclist of the year. The honour was given to him from Canadian Cyclist and the results came from an online poll.[9] He was also named male international cyclist of the year of 2009 from Cycling BC.
2010[edit]
In March, Hesjedal grabbed a good result at the Strade Bianche, an Italian race which is run in part on dirt roads. He finished fifth, 19 seconds behind the victor, Maxim Iglinskiy of Astana, and said that he was happy with his performance.[10] In April, Hesjedal earned a place on the podium in one of the Ardennes Classics, the Amstel Gold Race, which ran through the Dutch hills for 257 kilometres (160 mi). In the final kilometer, he attempted to follow the acceleration produced by Philippe Gilbert on the steep Cauberg, but had to settle for second place, two seconds behind the Belgian.[11]
Hesjedal rode the Tour of California and finished fifth overall, grabbing a victory on the eighth stage in the process. He out-sprinted his breakaway companions Chris Horner (Team RadioShack), George Hincapie (BMC Racing Team) and Carlos Barredo (Quick-Step). With that operation he helped secure the overall win of Michael Rogers since Hesjedal appropriated the 10 seconds bonus awarded to stage winners, making sure none of Rogers' rivals could claim it since Rogers had a very narrow lead in the general classification.[12]
During the Tour de France, Hesjedal finished 4th in the third stage, which featured some cobbled sections, after leading by himself for much of the race until being caught in the last 6 km. He was awarded the most combative rider on the day and thus wore red numbers for the fourth stage.[13] On July 22, 2010 Hesjedal again finished fourth, this time on stage 17 on the famed slopes of the Col du Tourmalet.[14] Hesjedal went on to finish fifth in the overall classification of the 2010 Tour de France, the highest Canadian finish in the race in 22 years, when Bauer finished fourth in the 1988 Tour de France.[15] Hesjedal went on to say of his result:[15]
"I hope this result does positive things for Canadian cycling and motivates the next generation of Canadian cyclists. I hope that’s the biggest thing that comes out of this... This placing will be there [in the books] forever... If this makes more Canadians aware of cycling, and want to cycle, then it will have been worth it for that alone."
— Ryder Hesjedal, about his Tour de France 5th place
2011[edit]
Hesjedal had a quieter 2011 year, with a few near wins. In April, he put in a spirited effort to finish in ninth position of the Tour of the Basque Country, a World Tour event.[16] He placed in the top 7 for four of the six stages, but went from fifth Overall to ninth after the Individual Time Trial held on the last day, where he came in a minute and 52 seconds behind Tony Martin.[17] He performed well in the 2011 Tour de France though he did not finish as well as his 6th placing of the previous year. He came 18th overall and was part of Team Garmin's team time trial victory on stage 2.[18] On the mountainous stage 16 concluding in Gap, Hesjedal came in sight of the finish line with his teammate Thor Hushovd and another Norwegian, Edvald Boasson Hagen. He set his teammate up by taking the first position and riding hard, allowing Hushovd to launch his sprint and take the win, with Hesjedal coming in third.[19] Other notable results from 2011 include a fourth place at the GP Miguel Indurain, a 10th Overall spot at the Tour of California, twelfth at the classic La Flèche Wallonne and eleventh on a World Tour race held on his home soil, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.
2012[edit]
Hesjedal rode very strongly in the spring classics, including a 9th placing at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He also rode the first 4 stages of the Tour de Romandie, but he did not complete the race[20] since Garmin–Barracuda wanted to keep him rested in preparation for the Giro d'Italia, where he would be the team's leader for the overall classification, while his team-mate Tyler Farrar's task would be to contest the sprint finishes.[21]
His Giro that year got off to a good start, Garmin-Barracuda won the team time trial and put Hesjedal in fourth overall and within reach of the overall lead. On May 12, he became the first Canadian in history to lead the overall classification of the Giro and wear the pink jersey as leader of the general classification. He is the first Canadian rider since Steve Bauer in the 1990 Tour de France to wear an overall classification jersey from a Grand Tour. The event unfolded on stage 7, where the last of the escapees was caught with only 700 meters to go. Hesjedal finished 5th in the uphill finish atop Rocca di Cambio, 5 seconds behind stage winner Paolo Tiralongo of Astana, securing the leader's jersey.[22] Though he would eventually lose the jersey to Joaquim Rodríguez, he would again don the pink jersey for the overall lead on stage 14 after attacking on the Cervinia and leaving his competitors unable to respond.[23] However, Rodriguez managed to reclaim the overall lead the following day.
During the mountain stages of the last week many expected Hesjedal to drop back in the overall standings, however, he remained in the fray hovering between 15 and 30 seconds back of the overall lead. As he was considered a strong time trialist and because of the fact that he attacked often on the final mountain stages, dropping contenders like Ivan Basso and Michele Scarponi, many were led to believe that the Canadian would win the Giro on the final day, including race leader Rodriguez who conceded he had not done enough.[24]
When in fact the last day of the Giro was run on the streets of Milan for the time trial, Hesjedal completed the course in 34:15 which was indeed enough time to take the pink jersey for the final time. This completed his journey of becoming the first Canadian to win a Grand Tour and only the second time ever that the pink jersey changed hands on the last day of the Giro.[25] His title was also notable in that it was done on an entirely made and manufactured Canadian bicycle by Cervelo.[26] The victory elicited an immediate response from his home country of Canada, with the nation's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper releasing a statement saying "We thank Mr. Hesjedal for this defining moment in Canadian sport. This remarkable win in one of bicycle racing's most grueling competitions is a testimony to Mr. Hesjedal’s training, endurance, skill and competitive spirit."[27] British Columbia premier Christy Clark added that “For a British Columbian to have done this is amazing. I know this is going to go down as one of the great Canadian accomplishments ever in sport.”[4]
Allan Peiper, the Garmin team's sporting director compared Hesjedal's 16 second victory to that of 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans' victory. He noted the similarities in the fight to stay within striking distance on the final mountain stages and then the time-trial to victory that both riders had.[28] Of his own final ride up the Passo dello Stelvio Hesjedal said that "I was a bit concerned. As we approached the last part of the Stelvio, none of my rivals were willing to work to conserve their positions, either ... Those are all the tactics and situations. I basically had to save my own Giro in the last five [kilometres]. It was a huge effort."[29]
With his successful Giro, questions were asked if he would still ride the 2012 Tour de France. It was announced in early June that he would be Garmin's team leader for the Tour.[30] Hesjedal was also announced as Canada's male rider in the 2012 Summer Olympics by the Canadian Olympic Committee in June.[31] At the 2012 Tour de France he was close to the overall lead in 8th, 18 seconds back, from the prologue through the first five stages. Hesjedal was then involved in a massive crash during the 6th stage that put him 13 minutes behind and out of contention for the general classification.[32] The following day, Hesjedal withdrew from the event due to the injuries to his leg and hip.[33]
The Summer Olympics went on with underwhelming results from Hesjedal where he finished 63rd in the road race and a 28th finish as Canada's lone entry in the time trial competition.[34][35]
In the fall, Hesjedal had a strong showing in the Italian classic Giro di Lombardia, where he finished sixth in a race that was marked by heavy rain and low temperatures. Only 54 riders out of 197 completed the race.[36] He then looked to end his season on a high note at the Tour of Beijing, putting it all on the line on the hilly fifth stage, where he attacked relentlessly. Only BMC Racing Team rider Steve Cummings could follow him as he tried to put as much distance as possible between himself and race leader Tony Martin. Hesjedal missed his gamble however, was out-sprinted by Cummings for the victory and had to settle for second place for the stage and 18th in the overall classification.[37]
For his strong results over the year and particularly his Giro overall victory, Hesjedal was given the Lionel Conacher Award as Canada's male athlete of the year.[38]
2013[edit]
Hesjedal's first race of the season was the Volta a Catalunya, where he helped set up his teammate Dan Martin for the general classification victory, while preparing himself for his top priority of the season, the Giro d'Italia.[39] Hesjedal rode some spring classics, including Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he attempted a solo breakaway on the Côte de Colonster with about 15 km (9.3 mi) to cover. He was later swept by a small chasing group containing teammate Martin. Hesjedal took some pulls at the front of the group and once again played a role in Martin's victory, taking the eighth place for himself.[40]
At the Giro d'Italia, Hesjedal was aggressive on the third stage, breaking away solo on the last climb and then imposing a hard tempo on the descent with rival Vincenzo Nibali, which caused a lot of riders to crash on the rain-soaked tarmac while trying to follow. Hesjedal finished third of that stage in a select sprint, awarding himself an eight-second bonus for doing so.[41] After positive results, Hesjedal, however, had several setbacks, which pushed him far back in the peloton of the general classification. Following Stage 12, he withdrew from the race.[42] Misery again followed Hesjedal when he suffered a crash in the Stage 1 of the Tour de France breaking a rib.[43] Despite this he would continue on in the Tour, but finished only 70th in the overall standings.
2014[edit]
Hesjedal started the season by scoring a top 10 result in the overall classification of the Giro d'Italia, finishing in ninth position.[44] On Stage 7 of the Vuelta a España, Hesjedal was in a breakaway of four that would make it to the line, but he crashed in a bend and a race motorcycle then accidentally rode on his bike. He finished second of that stage after changing his machine.[45] Controversy arose when it was noted that his bike continued to freewheel when Hesjedal was on the ground after the crash, spinning as if the back wheel was propelled by an engine.[46] However, the fact that the cranks were not turning on their own as the bike was on the ground and a video posted by former teammate Alex Rasmussen demonstrating how the event could happen to any bike cast doubt upon the conspiracy theory.[47] Hesjedal has reacted, saying the claims were 'ridiculous and funny'.[48] Hesjedal won the Combativity Award after that stage. On Stage 14, Hesjedal was once again part of an early escape and took victory by passing Oliver Zaugg in the last 200 meters of the uphill finish, which had gradients of about 15% in it.[49]
2015[edit]
2015 saw a merger between Cannondale and Garmin–Sharp, which became Cannondale–Garmin and included Hesjedal as part of their roster. The beginning of the season was somewhat discreet for Hesjedal, who failed to make an impression in the races before April. He was however named as the leader for his team for the mountainous Giro del Trentino.[50] The ordeal got off to a bad start as Hesjedal lost 2:46 on Stage 2 to the winner of the day, Richie Porte.[51] Hesjedal went on to finish the race in fourteenth position.[52] At the Giro d'Italia, Hesjedal lost some time in the first week because of his tendency to ride behind the peloton.[53] However, he was stronger in the third week and clawed his way back to the top ten in the mountainous Stages 18 and 19. In the latter stage, he was second to Fabio Aru.[54] On stage 20 featuring the unpaved Colle delle Finestre, Hesjedal gained some more time and passed Leopold Konig and Steven Kruijswijk on general classification after finishing once again second to Aru.[55]
In August 2015, it was announced that Hesjedal had signed with Trek–Segafredo for the 2016 season.[56]
2016[edit]
Hesjedal competed at the Giro d'Italia, however he dropped out of the race on the fourteenth stage due to stomach problems. He subsequently rode at the Critérium du Dauphiné in support of Bauke Mollema, however he was not selected for the Tour de France, and subsequently withdrew himself from consideration for the Canadian team for the Olympics. In August Trek-Segafredo announced that Hesjedal would retire at the end of the season, and that although his final race had not been decided, he would compete in his homeland in the Tour of Alberta, Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.[57]
Doping[edit]
In October 2013, following allegations in Michael Rasmussen's book "Yellow Fever", Hesjedal admitted to doping earlier in his career, describing it as his "part in the dark past of the sport".[58][59]
Personal[edit]
Hesjedal was born in Victoria, British Columbia. His great-grandparents were Norwegian immigrants from Beiarn in Nordland and the Hesjedal Farm in Stamnes in Vaksdal.[60] Both his parents worked for the Capital Regional District in Victoria
Following the 2012 Giro d'Italia, Hesjedal helped start a charitable group called the "Ryders Cycling Society of Canada", whose stated aim is “to create and sustain opportunities for young Canadians to ride bicycles.”[61] Hesjedal also auctioned a pink jersey he wore as leader of the General classification in the Giro d'Italia for $10,000, and distributed it to help young Canadian cyclists.[62]
During the season, Hesjedal split his time between Girona, Catalonia and Maui County, Hawaii; his off-season residency is in Victoria, British Columbia.[63][64]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Filip Meirhaeghe (born 5 March 1971[1] in Ghent[2]) is a retired Belgian racing cyclist. His primary focus was in mountain bike racing, however, he has also taken part in elite road, cyclo-cross and track cycling. He has won four Mountain Bike World Championships medals,[3] one Olympic medal and a total of eleven mountain bike World Cup events. In the final years of his racing career he raced for the bicycle manufacturer Specialized Bicycle Components on the mountain bike and for the professional team Domina Vacanze-Elitron on the road.
External linksDoping
On 29 July 2004, just before the 2004 Summer Olympics, Meirhaeghe admitted to having used EPO. He tested positive during the World Cup in Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec (Canada) and unlike most racers did not argue the validity of the test. During a press conference he admitted he used EPO simply because of his desire to win gold at the Olympic Games in Athens. He also announced at that time he would stop racing and retire.[4] He wrote a book called Positief, which tells the story of his life as an athlete and the consequences of his positive test. (issued by Davidsfonds – in Dutch only).
End of retirement
Filip was suspended from professional racing until 14 January 2006 based on his positive test result. On 1 January 2006, he announced he would resume racing. He signed a three-year contract to race for Landbouwkrediet-Colnago on the road and Versluys-Landbouwkrediet-Sportstech on mountain bikes. He made his comeback during the beach-race of Oostduinkerke (Belgium).[5] He retired again in September 2009.[3]
Steve Larsen was a former Davis resident (born 1970-03-13 in Santa Clara County) who started cycling at 13 and went on to become a successful professional athlete in the areas of road bike, mountain bike, cyclo-cross and triathlons. Larsen began cycling in 1984 and jumped into cycling just as Greg LeMond was becoming a household name. He entered his first cyclocross race and bronzed in 1986 at the first Junior National Championship in Santa Cruz. Larsen went on to road race through the Junior National Team Program in Europe before moving up to the Amateur World Championships with the U.S. team.
Then firmly entrenched in road bike racing, Larsen got his first professional contract for the Motorola squad around 1991 and relocated to Italy where he raced professionally for almost four years and became a highly respected road racer, riding alongside teammate Lance Armstrong. By the close of 1994, he relocated to Bend, Oregon where he transitioned to mountain bike racing and won the NORBA National Cross-Country Mountainbike Champion title in 1998 and again in 2000. Despite a stellar career as America's top male mountain bike racer, 2000 saw him barely miss a spot on the U.S. Olympic squad at the NORBA NCS event in Deer Valley, Utah.
Always looking for greater challenges, Steve began to eye triathlons. In May, 2000 he entered the California Wildflower Triathlon on a whim and surprised many by surviving the swim, moving into third after turning in the day's fastest bike split and then holding on for fourth against a field that included some of the sport's best. In July of the following year, Larsen entered the Isuzu Ironman USA Lake Placid triathlon and won the first Ironman he entered by scorching the bike course in 4:33 (a new course record) and setting a new overall course record by four minutes [8:33:11].
But these other triathlons were just stepping stones on Steve's path to Hawaii's Ironman World Championship in October 2001. Back in Davis with his wife and two children now, after purchasing Wheelworks in April, Steve was again road racing with Pearl Izumi as his sponsor. The purchase of Wheelworks, renamed Steve Larsen's Wheelworks, was especially meaningful because it was at this shop that he began riding. During this ramp-up period, Steve took full advantage of Davis' many opportunties including its strong swim program and working with former Motorola/7-Eleven team doctor Massimo Testa and former 7-Eleven pro Dr. Eric Heiden. With his cycling skills and intensity, Larsen easily qualified for the event and was off to Kona in October. There he made an impressive showing, getting out of the water nearly 12 minutes behind the leaders then blazing through the 112-mile bike leg, holding the front of the race until mile 10, ultimately finishing in 9th place but "knowing exactly where I can improve for next year."
By 2003, Steve Larsen was done with professional racing and looking forward to spending more time focusing on his family than on sports. He retired in December and sold Wheelworks shortly thereafter, relocating once more to Bend, Oregon. There, he went into commercial real estate and shifted to competing on an amateur level.
Steve Larsen died 2009-05-19 at the age of 39 in Bend, Oregon after collapsing during a running workout. A preliminary autopsy report found heart failure to be unlikely, and pointed to a possible viral cause
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tim Gould (born 30 May 1964) is a former professional racing cyclist specialising in cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing.
Biography[edit]
After a string of World Cup victories and podium placings through the early 1990s his strength was climbing and in this era he was the best in the world, becoming the Official World Mountain Bike Hill Climb Champion in 1990 at Durango. Gould was the first human to beat a horse on a mountain bike over cross country terrain in the William Hill Man v Horse v Bike event.
Gould raced for Britain internationally and as a world class pro for the Schwinn Mountain Bike Team, with numerous wins and podium finishes in the Grundig World Cup series. Some of these include first in Chateaux D'oex Switzerland (1991), Second in Mount Snow Vermont (1994) and third at Mammoth Mountain in 1994 behind British Olympian Gary Foord. Gould's early career saw him win an impressive 6 cyclocross champion titles in the Three Peaks Cyclocross Race. He continued to race cyclocross after retiring from professional and international competition.
Gould was added to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame[1] in 1999.
In 2009 Gould was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.
2014 saw Gould make a return to cyclo-cross racing. Riding for www.zepnat.com he won the Vet 50 category in the Three Peaks (setting a new course record for this category), as well as finding success in the National Trophy series. Tim capped off his triumphant comeback season with a category win in the National Championships, held at Abergavenny Leisure Centre on 10 January 2015.
David Wiens is an American former professional cross-country mountain bike racer. He is known for his six consecutive wins in the Leadville Trail 100 MTB mountain bike race including defeating Tour de France riders Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong.[1]
Wiens, a 2000 inductee to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, won the Leadville Trail 100 every year from 2003 to 2008. In 2007, he broke the 7 hour mark for the first time at 6:58:46[2] while holding off Floyd Landis by just under 2 minutes. In 2008, Wiens won again beating 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong by just under 2 minutes and setting a new course record of 6:45:45.[3] In 2009, Wiens finished second behind Armstrong in Leadville with a time of 6:57:02. Wiens was also the US National cross country champion in 1993 and the US National marathon champion in 2004. He won two UCI World Cup races and numerous NORBA National Series races during his career.
In 2006, Wiens founded Gunnison Trails, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing singletrack trails on public lands adjacent to Gunnison, Colorado. In 2008, Wiens began representing Ergon Bike Ergonomics, a German brand focused on producing ergonomically designed grips, saddles, packs and more. In 2011, Wiens began working with the Leadville Race Series as a consultant and ambassador. In 2012, Wiens created the Mountain Sports program at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison. Mountain Sports is a sports marketing brand unique to the higher education landscape and offers training and competition in multiple disciplines of skiing, cycling, snowboarding and trail running. Wiens joined the board of directors for the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) in January 2016 and was appointed to the position of board chairman in November 2016. Wiens is married to Susan DeMattei, a former professional mountain bike racer and Olympic bronze medal winner, and they have lived in Gunnison for decades.[1]
wikipedia
Edmund ("Ned") Overend (born 20 August 1955) is an American former professional cross-country mountain bike racer.[1] He is a six-time NORBA cross-country mountain bike national champion who became the first-ever cross-country world champion by winning the inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Championship in 1990.[1][2] Overend was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 2001.[1][2]
The son of a U.S. diplomat, Overend was born in Taipei, Taiwan and raised in Ethiopia and Iran.[1] He attended high school in San Diego, California and was involved in motocross racing.[3]Overend moved to Durango, Colorado in the early 1980s where he first became involved in cycling by entering Durango’s Iron Horse Classic – a 47-mile road race with 6,700 feet of climbing along a narrow gauge railroad.[3] From road racing, he eventually moved on to mountain bike racing where, his previous motocross experience combined with his physical fitness from road racing made him an exceptional competitor.[3] He was first hired to ride for the Schwinn factory racing team from 1984 to 1987 and then signed a contract to ride for Specialized Bicycles.[3] He went on to win the NORBA Mountain Biking National Championship in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992.[2] At the age of 40, Overend made an attempt to qualify for the United States Olympic team to compete in the inaugural Olympic Cross-Country Mountain Biking competition in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.[4] He needed to finish the qualifier race in fourth place to qualify for the Olympic team alongside Tinker Juarez but, one and a half miles from the finish line, he suffered a flat tire and finished in eighth place.[4]
Ned Overend, John Tomac and Tinker Juarez Compete in the Cindy Whitehead Desert Classic, Palm Springs, California, 1989 - Photo by Patty Mooney
Even though he retired from professional mountain bike competition in 1996, he continued competing in endurance competitions, winning the XTERRA Triathlon in 1998 and 1999 and competing in regular road triathlons.[3] He won the U.S. National Winter Triathlon Championship in 2000 and the UCI Masters Cyclo-cross World Championship in 2012.[3] In 2015, Overend won the first-ever U.S. Fat Bike championship.[5] During his professional mountain biking career, Overend earned the nicknames "Deadly Nedly" and "The Lung", because he was very difficult to beat and for his exceptional aerobic endurance at altitude (especially so for a man of his age), respectively.[2] He is the current captain of the Specialized Cross Country Team.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seamus Patrick McGrath (born March 5, 1976 in Mississauga, Ontario) is a retired Canadian professional mountain biker.[1] Riding the sport for more than 15 years as a member of the Canadian national team, McGrath has won two medals in mountain biking at the Commonwealth Games (2002 and 2006), and later represented his nation Canada in two editions of the Olympic Games (2004 and 2008). Before retiring to focus on and organize the annual Tour de Victoria race in late 2008, McGrath also trained and raced professionally for Haro-Lee Dungaree and Fuji Bikes under an exclusive sponsorship contract.[2][3]
McGrath made his official debut at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, where he joined his teammate Roland Green to take the silver medal and climb on top of the podium for Canada with a spectacular 1–2 finish.[4]
When he first competed for Canada at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, McGrath scored a career-high, ninth place in the men's cross-country race with a time of 2:20:33, finishing just off the podium by a three-minute gap.[5][6] Two years later, McGrath continued to set another sterling record by picking up the bronze in the same tournament (2:13:43) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, trailing behind the British duo Liam Killeen and Oliver Beckingsale within a short riding distance.[7][8]
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, McGrath qualified for his second Canadian squad, as a 32-year-old senior, in the men's cross-country race by receiving one of the nation's three available berths from the Canadian Cycling Association and the Union Cycliste Internationale, based on his best performance at the World Cup series, World Championships, and Mountain Biking World Series.[9] McGrath could not match a stellar performance from Athens, as he suffered a tyre puncture and then had to ride the rim all the way around the tech zone in order to replace the flat tyre. Realizing that his new wheel contained a slow leak at the designated site, McGrath decided to end his course with only three laps left and a forty-fourth-place finish.[10][11][12]
In 2013 disgraced cyclist Michael Rasmussen wrote a book titled Yellow Fever in which he claimed that Seamus McGrath along with two other Canadian mountain-bikers (Ryder Hesjedal [13] and Chris Sheppard [14]) travelled to Spain in 2003 so that Michael Rasmussen could show them how to use doping products properly.[15][16][17] In his book, Rasmussen writes that Seamus McGrath, Ryder Hesjedal and Chris Sheppard all received advice on doping from him; "A good result in the world championships [2003] could send them to the Olympics in Athens in 2004," Rasmussen wrote. "They moved into my basement in August, before I went to the Vuelta a Espana, and right after I had ridden the Meisterschaft von Zurich. There, they stayed around 14 days' time. I trained with them in the Dolomites and taught them how to [make] vitamin injections and how you took EPO and Synacthen [cortisone]." [18] Seamus confessed to using these doping products only for the period of time in which Michael Rasmussen claimed to have shown the three cyclists how to use the doping products.[19] In a statement in 2013 Seamus said, “When I became aware of doping in my early 20s, I made a promise to myself to commit to clean sport,” McGrath said in a statement. “I broke this promise to myself in 2003. I’d like to take this chance to apologize first and foremost to my parents who instilled in me strong morals and values, which I compromised for a brief period over a decade ago. I would also like to apologize to my family, friends, fans and sponsors who supported me during my career,” McGrath said, “along with my fellow competitors at the time. I disrespected the sport I love and am ashamed of my actions. I broke the rules of sportsmanship and went against what I knew to be right. For this, I will always be sorry."
Henrik Djernis (born April 22, 1968 on the island of Sjælland [English: Zealand] in the village Svebølle near Kalundborg) is a Danish cyclist.
He is very accomplished in both cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing and has experience in road racing too. Throughout his 20 plus years of racing, he has won numerous races and world and national championships titles.
He was the first man to win the World Mountain Bike Championship three times, which he did in 1992 (in Bromont, QC, Canada), 1993 (in Métabief, France), and 1994 (in Vail, CO, United States). Djernis won the Danish Cyclocross National Championship ten times in a row from 1989 to 1998 and then won the title twice more in 2000 and 2001.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Timothy Johnson (born August 5, 1977 in Middleton, Massachusetts) is an American professional racing cyclist who has found success in cyclocross and road bicycle racing, and is one of only three male riders (Jonathan Page was 2nd at worlds in 2007 and Matt Kelly was 1st at worlds in 1999) from the United States to stand on a UCI Cyclocross World Championships podium. Johnson has six career national championships - three Elite, two Espoir and one Junior - and a bronze medal from the UCI Cyclocross World Championships that he won in 1999 in Poprad, Slovakia. Johnson spent his 2009 road season riding for the Ouch presented by Maxxis team, of which he is the Road Captain. For 2010, Johnson rode for UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team presented by Maxxis.[1] Johnson is married to fellow professional cyclist Lyne Bessette.
Major Accomplishments[edit]
Johnson was arguably 2009's most successful American Cyclocross rider, winning 11 races, including the US Cyclocross National Championships in Bend, Oregon. In 2009, Johnson was first in the North American Cyclocross Trophy overall standings and second in the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross overall standings. Johnson missed the first five major UCI races of the season, including the first weekend of the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross, due to a separated shoulder he suffered at Star Crossed in Redmond, Washington.
Johnson finally won the coveted US Gran Prix of Cyclocross overall title in 2008, wearing the Cyclocross National Champion jersey, winning three of the series' six races. Johnson missed time late in the season due to a knee injury, but still managed to finish second in the North American Cyclocross Trophy overall standings, despite missing two of the series' eight races.
In 2007, Johnson captured his second U.S. national cyclocross championship repeating his 2000 success. Video production company DH Productions produced a documentary about Johnson's 2007-2008 season, following his success from early season success through his National Championships victory and his subsequent trip to the UCI World Championships in Treviso, Italy. The film was titled the 9 Ball Diaries, paying homage to the design of Johnson's Cannondale/Leer/Cyclocrossworld.com team jersey and Cannondale's Cyclocross bicycle.
In 2006, Johnson finished the season without landing outside the top-4 in any Cyclocross race entered. As a co-captain of the Health Net Professional Cycling Team he helped the team achieve its 3rd consecutive #1 NRC Ranking.
In 2005, Johnson edged two-time defending champion Mark McCormack to win the New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series title and finished second overall in the United States Gran Prix of Cyclocross series after leading the Overall.
In 2003, Johnson won two stages and the overall title at the Herald Sun Tour, a road bicycle racing stage race held in Australia. Johnson won the tour's ninth stage[2] from Horsham to Mount William. Two days later, Johnson won the tour's twelfth stage,[3] a criterium in Echuca. The following day, Johnson finished second on the tour's thirteenth and final stage,[4] taking a narrow 33 second victory over Australia's Luke Roberts.
Championships
Johnson has won United States Cyclocross National Championships on six occasions. Johnson won his first as a Junior rider in 1995 in Leicester, Mass[5] Johnson won his first of his U23 Cyclocross National Championships in 1998 in Fort Devens, Massachusetts[6] and won his second the next year in 1999 in Presido, California.[7] In 2000, Johnson was on the top step of the podium for the third year in a row, this year as an Elite rider, winning his first Elite title in Kansas City, Kansas.[8] It was not until 2007 that Johnson found himself back in the Stars and Stripes jersey, winning the 2007 National Championship, again in Kansas City, Kansas.[9] Johnson again won in 2009, taking his third Elite National Title, this time in Bend, Oregon.[10]
After winning the Espoir's National Title in 1999, Johnson went on to the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Poprad, Slovakia, where he rode his way to a third-place finish.[11] Johnson's bronze medal was the second time a cyclocross rider from the United States had stood on the podium at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships, coming just one day after a surprising victory by Matt Kelly in the junior's event. Johnson had finished 10th at the World Championships[12] in 1998 when they were held in Middelfart, Denmark
2003: Absalon won his first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
2004: Gold at World Champions and the Athens Olympic Games.
2005 Absalon again won the World Championships.
2006: Winner at the World Championships, European Championships, French Championships and the overall World Cup.
2007: World Champion and World Cup Champion
2008: Won 2nd Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympic Games, World Cup Champion
2009: Number 1 World Ranking for all but 5 days of the year. Winner of UCI MTB World Cup for the 5th time, silver at the World Championships
2010: 2nd Overall at World Championships
2011: 3rd at the World Championships and World Cup
2012: At the 2012 Summer Olympics cross-country race, he suffered a tyre puncture in the opening lap. After changing tyre and noticing that he was trailing the leader by 55 seconds, he decided to abandon the race, seeing that his chances of winning a medal had disappeared.[2][3]
2013: Won European Championships
2014: Wins 5th World Championship title, French and European Championships. His season was cut short when, that November, he suffered a broken collarbone during a cyclocross race.
2015: Absalon wins the European Championships, French Championships, and finished second overall in the World Championships. Completed the season ranked world number 1.
2016: Finishes the Rio Olympic Games in 8th place.
He has been overall winner of the World Cup mountain bike cross-country series seven times (2003, 2006–2009, 2014, 2016) and has won a record 33 World Cup cross-country races as of September 4, 2016. He won five cross-country Mountain Bike World Championships (2004–2007, 2014). He has also won all fourteen French cross-country championships between 2003 and 2016, and five European Championships (2006, 2013–2016). He currently rides for the BMC Racing Team. He previously rode for Bianchi (2001–2006) and Orbea (2007–2012).
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2003: Absalon won his first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
2004: Gold at World Champions and the Athens Olympic Games.
2005 Absalon again won the World Championships.
2006: Winner at the World Championships, European Championships, French Championships and the overall World Cup.
2007: World Champion and World Cup Champion
2008: Won 2nd Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympic Games, World Cup Champion
2009: Number 1 World Ranking for all but 5 days of the year. Winner of UCI MTB World Cup for the 5th time, silver at the World Championships
2010: 2nd Overall at World Championships
2011: 3rd at the World Championships and World Cup
2012: At the 2012 Summer Olympics cross-country race, he suffered a tyre puncture in the opening lap. After changing tyre and noticing that he was trailing the leader by 55 seconds, he decided to abandon the race, seeing that his chances of winning a medal had disappeared.[2][3]
2013: Won European Championships
2014: Wins 5th World Championship title, French and European Championships. His season was cut short when, that November, he suffered a broken collarbone during a cyclocross race.
2015: Absalon wins the European Championships, French Championships, and finished second overall in the World Championships. Completed the season ranked world number 1.
2016: Finishes the Rio Olympic Games in 8th place.
He has been overall winner of the World Cup mountain bike cross-country series seven times (2003, 2006–2009, 2014, 2016) and has won a record 33 World Cup cross-country races as of September 4, 2016. He won five cross-country Mountain Bike World Championships (2004–2007, 2014). He has also won all fourteen French cross-country championships between 2003 and 2016, and five European Championships (2006, 2013–2016). He currently rides for the BMC Racing Team. He previously rode for Bianchi (2001–2006) and Orbea (2007–2012).
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicholas Ian Craig (born 3 April 1969, Stockport[1][2]) is a professional racing cyclist specialising in cross country mountain bike racing and cyclo-cross, and a multiple national champion.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bart Jan-Baptist Marie Brentjens (born 10 October 1968 in Haelen) is a Dutch racing cyclist in mountain biking.
Brentjens won a gold medal for mountain biking in the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first to recognize cross-country mountain biking as an event. He followed this with bronze in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Previously he won gold at the 1995 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships.[1] In 2007 he became 10th time Dutch National champion
Brentjens competed in Men's category of the Absa Cape Epic in 2005, winning 1st place overall with team mate Roel Paulissen. In 2009 he won 2nd place overall, this time competing alongside Chris Jongewaard. Brentjens then began competing in the Master's category. He won the category in both 2012 with Jan Weevers and in 2014 with Abraao Azevedo. He has completed the marathon stage race ten times to date.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Frischknecht (born 17 February 1970 in Feldbach, Switzerland) is a former Swiss mountain bike and cyclo-cross racer, often called Europe's Elder Statesman of mountain biking,[1]because of his extraordinarily long career at the top level of the sport. A professional since 1990, he was on top of the Mountain Bike World Championship podium for the first time in 1996 and most recently in 2004.[2]
Frischi (as he is called) advocates staying 'fit for life' and dope free racing. He is considered an excellent example of a clean sportsman.[1][3]
In 1996 he was second at the World Cross-country Mountain Bike Championships, but after France's Jerome Chiotti confessed having used EPO when he won the title that year, he got the rainbow jersey from Chiotti, handed over as a friendly act in an unofficial ceremony.[4]
He won the Olympic silver medal in 1996. The next day he competed in the men's road race on a Ritchey cyclocross bike after fellow Swiss team member Tony Rominger fell ill. He finished the race in the middle of the pack.[5]
Frischknecht also competes in cyclo-cross, where he won an Amateur World Champion title, was Vice World Champion in 1997 and is a multiple-time Swiss Champion.[6]
Thomas is married and has three children. Thomas's father was a cyclo-cross racer as well, winning three silver medals at World Championships. He won a Swiss stage race called Grandprixtell in the early 1990s[citation needed], and took part in the Olympic Road Race in 1996.[citation needed]
Thomas first traveled to America in 1990 to compete in the then new genre of mountain biking. He became closely linked to Tom Ritchey, a major bike-components producer, who provided support and became a mentor and a good friend. Ritchey has sponsored him ever since. Other major sponsors include Swisspower, an electric utility consortium, and Scott bicycles.
Frischknecht was multiple Swiss cyclist of the year[citation needed] and author of a book on mountain biking, Richtig Mountainbiken. He is currently involved with the Frischi Bike School in the Engadin/St. Moritz area of Switzerland.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nino SchurterPersonal informationFull nameNino SchurterBorn13 May 1986 (age 32)[1]Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]Weight68 kg (150 lb)Team informationCurrent teamScott-Sram MTB RacingDisciplineMountain bike racingRoleRiderRider typeCross-countryProfessional team(s)2007–Scott-Sram MTB Racing2014Mitchelton–Scott[3]Medal record[hide]Representing SwitzerlandMen's mountain bike racingEvent1st2nd3rdOlympic Games111World Championships740European Championships141World Cup520European Games100Total15104Olympic Games2016 Rio de JaneiroCross-country2012 LondonCross-country2008 BeijingCross-countryWorld Championships2009 CanberraCross-country2012 SaalfeldenCross-country2013 PietermaritzburgCross-country2015 VallnordCross-country2016 Nove MestoCross-country2017 CairnsCross-country2017 CairnsCross-country team2011 ChamperyCross-country2011 ChamperyCross-country team2014 HafjellCross-country2014 HafjellCross-country teamEuropean Games2015 BakuCross-countryWorld Cup2010 OverallCross-country2012 OverallCross-country2013 OverallCross-country2015 OverallCross-country2017 OverallCross-country2011 OverallCross-country2014 OverallCross-country2016 OverallCross-country
Nino Schurter (born 13 May 1986) is a Swiss cross-country cyclist who races for the SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team.[4]
Schurter won the world championship in men's cross-country in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 and the overall UCI World Cup in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017.[5][6] He won the gold medal in mountain biking at the 2016 Olympics, the silver medal 2012 Olympics and the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics.[7][8] He won the Swiss National Championship in cross-country mountain biking in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.[9][10][11][12] He joined Orica–GreenEDGE for a number of road races during the 2014 season.[3]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean-Christophe Péraud (born 22 May 1977) is a retired French cyclist who rode for Omega Pharma–Lotto and AG2R La Mondiale during his professional career. He was a member of the French team at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
External linksCareer
Competing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he won the silver medal in the cross-country race.[1] In June 2009 he became the surprise winner of the French National Time Trial Championship.[2] This led to him being signed by UCI ProTour team Omega Pharma–Lotto for the 2010 season, to increase its time-trialing presence in stage races.
In 2011, Péraud achieved 6th place overall at the Critérium International and ninth place overall in the Tour de France. He crashed out in the final week of the 2013 Tour de France during the time trial, falling in a slippery late-apex corner, in the same spot his family had gathered to cheer him on, with less than two kilometers to go, riding with a non-displaced fractured collarbone sustained in a prior crash the very same morning. Péraud had again been placed ninth on the general classification before the incident. According to cyclingnews.com, Péraud responded in a composed manner concerning the incident:[3]
"I didn't feel that I was taking too many risks, I was descending as I know how but I was surprised by the corner. It's part of sport. I'm okay and it's only a broken collarbone. It will be a relief to get home, and we'll think about my next objective when my body recovers.”
In 2014, Péraud won the Critérium International in March. He also recorded top-five finishes in the Tirreno–Adriatico, Volta ao Algarve, and Tour of the Basque Country.[4] Péraud followed this up with a strong performance in the 2014 Tour de France, where he finished in second place in the final general classification, behind Vincenzo Nibali and ahead of Thibaut Pinot. He and Pinot became the first Frenchmen to finish in the top three overall in the Tour de France since Richard Virenque finished as runner-up overall in 1997. It was the first time in 30 years that two Frenchmen finished in the top three overall in the Tour de France - Laurent Fignon (winner) and Bernard Hinault (runner-up) finished in the top two overall in 1984.[5]
In 2015, Péraud repeated his victory on the 2.HC Critérium International by winning the last stage finishing atop the Col de l'Ospedale. He won the general classification with a gap of ten seconds to fellow Frenchman Thibaut Pinot. “At the start, I thought that I would help [teammate] Alexis Vuillermoz. But I attacked and I found myself alone,” said Péraud. “This victory is important after hard times and two surgeries this winter.”[6]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roel Paulissen (born 27 April 1976 in Hasselt) is a Belgian professional mountain biker.[1] Throughout his sporting career since 1993, he has won more than ten Belgian national championship titles, mounted top-five finishes at both the European and World Cup series, and claimed a total of four medals, including two golds, in men's cross-country race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Paulissen also represented his nation Belgium in four editions of the Olympic Games (1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008), where he competed in men's mountain biking since it officially became an Olympic sport in 1996. By the start of the 2010 season, Paulissen had been overshadowed by a doping issue after he tested positive for clomiphene that sidelined and effectively ended his mountain biking career.[2] Having lifted a two-year suspension from doping in early 2013, Paulissen came out from his short retirement to join and race professionally for the Italian team Torpado.
Roland Green (born 29 July 1974 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a retired Canadian mountain bike and road bicycle racer. Green was a member of the Canadian Olympic Mountain Bike Racing Team for the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia. He was a Commonwealth gold medalist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, winning the MTB event on the same day as his birthday.[7] Green dominated the world cup circuit of cross-country mountain biking from 2000 until 2003, becoming world champion in both 2001 and 2002. Roland also is the record holder of the Mount Doug Hill climb in his hometown of Victoria BC, Canada with a fast 4Min. 39sec which nobody has broken in 10 years. He was named VeloNews' Mountain Bike Man of the Year in 1999 and Canada's Male Cyclist of the Year in 2000. Green retired at the end of the 2005 racing season.
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Sid Taberlay is a professional mountain biker from Australia.
After training in 2000, he finished third in the U23 National Championships and was selected for the National Team for the U23 World Championships in Spain. Taberley finished in the top 10, qualifying him for a spot in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Taberlay is also a five time National Champion and World Championship medalist.
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Michael Rasmussen (born 1 June 1974) is a retired Danish professional cyclist who competed in road racing and mountain biking. His most notable victories include four stages of the Tour de France, one stage of the Vuelta a España and a win on the Italian classic Giro dell'Emilia in 2002. He also won the best climber classification in the 2005 and 2006 Tour de France.
Specializing in climbing, Rasmussen showed a propensity for attempting spectacular wins in mountain stages in which he broke away from the peloton early and rode alone for most of the stage. Michael Rasmussen was known for his care for detail when considering weight. With a low weight (60 kg) he was usually one of the lightest riders in his class.
In the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen, while wearing the yellow jersey and well on his way to winning the Tour, had his contract terminated by his team and was removed from the Tour. He served a two-year ban from July 2007 to July 2009 for lying about his whereabouts. At a press conference on 31 January 2013, Rasmussen admitted that he had used performance-enhancing drugs and methods, including EPO, growth hormones, insulin, testosterone, DHEA, IGF-1, Oxyglobin, cortisone and blood doping, for most of his professional career.[1]
Biography
Rasmussen began his career as a mountain biker, and he won the Mountain Bike World Championships in 1999 before becoming a stagiaire with the professional cycling team CSC–Tiscali in 2001. There he secured a one-year contract for 2002, and following a string of good results in August and September, including his first professional win, he switched from CSC-Tiscali to Rabobank in 2003. After being sacked by Rabobank in the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen got a contract offer from Acqua & Sapone–Caffè Mokambo. The team's manager then decided that the move would be too expensive and thus Rasmussen was without contract.
Tour de France history[edit]
2004[edit]
His first Tour de France was in 2004, in which he failed to get any stage wins but was third in the mountains classification, which was won by Richard Virenque. Rasmussen then agreed with his team that he could train alone and focus on the Tour de France for 2005.
2005[edit]
At the 2005 Tour de France his training paid off when he took the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification on stage eight. The next day he won stage nine after riding alone for three-quarters of the course; he had broken away after 3 km and stayed clear to the finish 168 km later. He led over the first category 1 climb, the Ballon d'Alsace. In the penultimate stage (Stage 20), an individual time trial, he lost his third place after a fall at 4 km, then two bike changes, two wheel changes and a crash into a ditch. After his first fall, he lost confidence and his ability to descend at speed, said by Rabobank's sports director Erik Breukink. Rasmussen finished 77th that day and dropped from 3rd to 7th on the GC. However he needed only to finish the final stage the next day to assure his status as King of the Mountains.
Rasmussen rode the next day partially alone, saying he needed to clear his mind after the day before.[2] After becoming king of the mountains, Rasmussen wore not only the polka dot jersey, but polka dot helmet, shorts, gloves, and socks. For the final stage, he rode a polka dot bike made by Ernesto Colnago, founder of the Colnago company.[3]
2006 Michael Rasmussen in the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification in the 2006 Tour de France
In the 2006 Tour de France, he finished well overall but he was not team leader; that honour went to the Russian, Denis Menchov. Rasmussen won the mountains classification for the second year and claimed stage 16 in the process. On Stage 16 he broke away after 4 km and took the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, awarded to the first across the summit of the highest mountain in each year's tour, on the Col du Galibier (2645 m), winning 5000 euros. He led over all the climbs and won stage 16 by more than a minute on Carlos Sastre of Team CSC. In Paris he wore the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification while holding his newly born child, who was in a polka-dot shirt and cap.
2007[edit]
In the 2007 Tour de France he won the 8th stage from Le Grand-Bornand to Tignes, taking the lead in the general classification and the mountains classification. On 25 July, he held a 3:10 lead on Alberto Contador, who was in second place for the yellow jersey. With four stages remaining, this made him favourite for the yellow jersey in Paris.[4] That evening however, he was withdrawn from the race and fired by his team Rabobank for "violating internal rules". Davide Cassani, an Italian retired professional rider, reported that he had seen Rasmussen in Italy in June 2007, a time when Rasmussen claimed to have been training in Mexico. The accusations were denied.[5]
Controversy[edit]
Unavailability for doping controls[edit]
Rasmussen was the center of controversy while wearing the yellow jersey in the 2007 Tour de France, when it was announced that he had been suspended from the Danish national cycling team at UCI World Championships and Olympic Games following missed doping controls.[6] Rasmussen failed to report his whereabouts for a three-week training session in Mexico and was unavailable for testing during that period; for that he received a recorded warning from the UCI.[7] Counting these missed tests together, the Danish cycling union decided to ban Rasmussen. Rasmussen said: "I do admit that I've committed an administrative error. I was informed of this at the Danish championship two and a half weeks ago, so it's no news... It might be a surprise that it comes out right now."[8] The timing of the announcement led to speculation by Patrice Clerc, then chief of the Amaury Sport Organisation, which organises the Tour de France, that the UCI had leaked the news in the middle of the Tour to damage it, as part of a dispute between the two organisations over the running of the UCI ProTour.[9] This was rejected by the UCI president Pat McQuaid, who said the timing was the choice of the Danish cycling union.
Alleged doping in 2002[edit]
According to a multiple sourced VeloNews[10] article published on 20 July 2007, mountain bike racer Whitney Richards accused Rasmussen of trying to get him to transport a box, which Rasmussen had told Richards contained his favourite cycling shoes, to his training base in Italy in early 2002. The box turned out to contain packets of Hemopure, a bovine-hemoglobin-based blood substitute which is not currently approved for human use outside South Africa and did not become commercially available there until January 2006, and which might potentially have been used in a doping program. At the time there was no screening test for Hemopure; it is, however, banned by the WADA. Richards said he destroyed the Hemopure, at which Rasmussen is said to have grown angry and said to Richards "Have you any idea how much that shit cost?"[11]
A second journalist[12] confirmed that Richards had related the same story to him over two years ago, off the record, and claims that the incident is the one described in the epilogue of journalist David Walsh's recent book From Lance to Landis. Rasmussen had declined to comment on the story, saying only, "I cannot confirm any of that."
On 23 July 2007 he was pushed about his reluctance to deny the allegations in an interview on British TV channel ITV4 (also broadcast in a podcast). He denied any such incident and said he had not spoken to Richards for five years and was unsure what he had done to cause such allegations.[13]
Removal from the 2007 Tour[edit]
On 25 July 2007, Rasmussen won stage 16 of the 2007 Tour de France. He had led the general classification (overall lead) since winning Stage 8, and with a lead of over three minutes over second-place Alberto Contador, he was all but assured of winning. However, hours after his win, Rabobank abruptly fired him and removed him from the race.[5] Previously, an Italian cycling commentator for RAI and former professional road bicycle racer, Davide Cassani, telling a story about Rasmussen's intense preparations for the Tour,[14] stated he had seen Rasmussen in the Italian Dolomites on 13 June 2007, cycling in the rain. According to the schedule Rasmussen submitted to the UCI, he should have been in Mexico at that time.[15] When confronted with this accusation, according to initial press reports, Rasmussen admitted the facts to his team leader, which resulted in Rasmussen's removal from the team and the Tour.[16] Rasmussen himself later first denied that he had admitted any such thing, stating that Rabobank manager Theo de Rooij "was a desperate man on the verge of a nervous breakdown,"[17][18] but later admitted lying about his whereabouts.[14] Two days later on 27 July Theo de Rooij announced his resignation from his position as team manager.[19] Rasmussen's in-laws later confirmed to the Danish newspaper BT that he had visited them in Mexico, but that they did not know where exactly he had been on 13 and 14 June 2007.[20] Rabobank backed the decision to withdraw Rasmussen but reconfirmed its commitment as a sponsor in cycling,[21] at least at the local level.[22]
On 17 December 2007, the Dutch law firm BrantjesVeerman confirmed Rasmussen had hired it to fight his dismissal from Rabobank.[23]
On 1 July 2008 the Monaco Cycling Federation, which holds Rasmussen's racing license, announced that he was banned from the sport for two years from his exclusion from the Tour de France; the ban ended on 25 July 2009.[24] Rasmussen appealed the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld the ban on 22 January 2009.[25]
2009 return[edit]
Rasmussen's suspension expired on 25 July 2009, and he took part in the Designa Grand Prix in Kjellerup, Denmark two days later, finishing in second place. Later that season, he won the opening stage, a time trial, and was race leader for three days,[26] in the Mexico's Vuelta a Chihuahua, as a member of Team Tecos Trek. The following season, he signed for the Italian Continental ranked team, Miche Silver Cross.[27]
On 30 July 2010 Michael Rasmussen got a personal sponsor in Christina Design London.[28] On 9 December 2010, Rasmussen and Christina Design owner Christina Hembo presented their new team Christina Watches–Onfone. Hembo received a UCI Continental licence and announced the goal to become a UCI Pro Tour team by 2016.
Doping admission[edit]
On 31 January 2013, he admitted to the use of performance-enhancing drugs from 1998 to 2010 during a press conference.[29] He stated that he used EPO, growth hormone, testosterone, DHEA, insulin, IGF-1, cortisone and did blood transfusions.[30] He also stated that his cycling career was over and that he wanted to cooperate fully with the Danish anti-doping institutions.[31] The Danish Authorities stated that they would be looking to enforce a two-year ban, reduced from the normal eight-year ban in exchange for revealing what he knew about other illegal doping activities.
In September 2013 it was confirmed by Danmarks Idræts-Forbund (DIF) that he would receive a 2-year ban from 8 February 2013 to 7 February 2015 and would be stripped of results from January 2005 to March 2010.[32] This decision has yet to be ratified by Danish Anti Doping (ADD) or the UCI.
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Joe Parkin is a US-born cyclist who, at the suggestion of Bob Roll, moved to Belgium in 1985 at the age of 19 to race professionally.[1] After six years as a low-level European pro, competing is such events as Paris–Roubaix[2] and Tour DuPont[3] for such teams as Tulip,[3] he moved back to the US, rode for the Coors Lite,[3] and turned to mountain bike racing in 1995.[4] He now works as editor for cycling magazines.[5] He has written two books about his racing career: A Dog in a Hat[3] and Come and Gone.[6] He witnessed and speaks about the early days of EPO use in professional cycling.
Christoph Sauser (born April 13, 1976 in Sigriswil, Switzerland) [1] is a cross-country mountain biker who won the bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He currently races on the Specialized Cross Country Team.
He was the overall winner of the UCI World Cup in 2004 and 2005, along with taking 2nd in 2002 and 2003, with a 3rd place in 2001. He has won a total of 10 World Cups.
In 2006 Sauser won his first Absa Cape Epic with partner Silvio Bundi. He then partnered up with Burry Stander winning back to back in 2011 and 2012.[2] Sauser partnered up with Jaroslav Kulhavy in 2013, once again claiming 1st in the marathon stage race. At the 2015 Absa Cape Epic Sauser rode himself in the race’s history books by becoming the first person to win it a landmark five times, after which he retired from professional racing. In March, 2017, Sauser came out of retirement in a bid to win his sixth Absa Cape Epic. In spite of being in good form he and partner Jaroslav Kulhavy (Investec Songo Specialized) finished second to Nino Schurter and Matthias Stirnemann (Scott-Sram). The Sauser/Kulhavy combination was hampered by punctures at critical times.
He won first place in the 2008 Mountain Bike World Championships, came second in the 2005 edition, and third in 2001. He has been Swiss champion four times. In his early years of racing he started in both XC and DH races. He is one of the top mountain bikers in the last few years.
