1.
Alberto Contador
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Alberto Contador Velasco is a Spanish professional cyclist, one of six riders to have won all three Grand Tours of road cycling. He was the winner of the 2007 Tour de France with the Discovery Channel team, with the Astana team he has won the 2008 Giro dItalia, the 2008 Vuelta a España and the 2009 Tour de France. Following his return from a suspension, he won the 2012 Vuelta a España, the 2014 Vuelta a España and the 2015 Giro dItalia. Notable summit stage finishes on which he has victories include the Alto de El Angliru in the Vuelta and he has earned a reputation as an all-rounder, a cyclist who excels in all aspects of stage racing which are needed for high places in the general classification. Contadors career has been marked by doping allegations, the Operación Puerto doping case led his Astana–Würth team to withdraw en masse from the 2006 Tour de France before it began. He was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and he was also suspended until 5 August 2012, and his contract with Team Saxo Bank was annulled. Upon the completion of his ban, Contador rejoined the renamed Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank team, Contador was born on 6 December 1982 in Pinto in the Community of Madrid, the third of four children. He has a brother and sister and a younger brother. Having previously practised other sports, such as football and athletics, when Contador was 15, he began to compete in races at the amateur level in Spain, joining the Real Velo Club Portillo from Madrid. Although he got no victories that year or the next, he demonstrated great qualities and was soon nicknamed Pantani for his climbing skills, in 2000, he experienced his first victories, winning several mountains classification prizes from prominent events on the Spanish amateur cycling calendar. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 without having finished his Bachillerato and signed with Iberdrola-Loinaz, in 2001, he won the under-23 Spanish time trial championship. Contador lives with his wife Macarena in the city of Pinto when not competing and he has a fascination for birds, keeping personally bred canaries and goldfinches at home. Contador turned professional in 2003 for ONCE–Eroski, in his first year as a professional he won the eighth stage of the Tour de Pologne, an individual time trial. During the first stage of the 2004 Vuelta a Asturias he started to feel unwell, as a result of the surgery, he has a scar that runs from one ear to the other over the top of his head. He subsequently described this win as the greatest of his career and he went on to win the third stage and the overall classification of the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, thus winning his first stage race as a professional. He also won a time trial during the Tour of the Basque Country, where he finished third, and the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie. In 2006, he won stages at the Tour de Romandie, prior to the start of the race he was implicated along with several teammates in the Operación Puerto doping case by the Spanish authorities, and the team was not able to start. He was later cleared by the Union Cycliste Internationale, cyclings governing body, Contador returned to racing in the Vuelta a Burgos but he crashed after finishing fifth in stage 4, when he was riding back down to the team bus, and briefly lost consciousness
2.
Astana Pro Team
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Astana Pro Team is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its year,2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakhstani rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated, the team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of U. S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, with a lineup including Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador, as well as runner-up Andreas Klöden the results were there, however the team was on the verge of financial collapse in May 2009. Only four Spanish riders, including Contador, and most of the Kazakhs remained with the team for 2010. Those four Spaniards all left the team for Saxo Bank–SunGard in 2011, Astana first became involved in sponsoring cycling during the 2006 season. The Spanish Liberty Seguros-Würth team was heavily implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case and the sponsors Liberty Mutual, the new Astana management initially tried to buy the ProTour licence of the former Liberty Seguros-Würth team, held by Manolo Saiz. However, Saiz was reluctant to sell, so Astana applied for a licence in their own right, initially, the new team was based in Switzerland under the holding company of Zeus Sarl and managed by former Tour de Suisse organiser Marc Biver. Vinokourov was the teams debut leader, the UCI ProTour license commission first informed Astana that they would not be granted a ProTour License for the 2007 season. Following UCIs decision not to grant a ProTour license, the organizers of the three Grand Tours informed Astana Team that they would be included, regardless of ProTour license status, on 20 December 2006 the UCI License Commission relented and awarded Astana Team a 4-year ProTour license. The Astana team was not invited to the 2008 Giro dItalia based on failing to meet the criteria of ethics, quality, however, on 3 May, one week before the start of the race, Giro organizers chose to extend a last-minute invitation to Astana. Contador also won the 2008 Vuelta a España, with teammate Levi Leipheimer finishing a close second, thus, despite not competing in the Tour de France, Astana still won two Grand Tours in 2008 and achieved three podiums. Leipheimer also won a medal in the time trial in the 2008 Olympics, just edging Contador. Various team members also achieved several other results, and Ivanov, Paulinho, Vaikus. Astanas strict anti-doping policy came to the forefront later in the year, on 28 July Astana fired Vladimir Gusev for showing abnormal values in an internal doping check. The company was ordered to pay Gusev back wages, damages, on 25 September 2008, it was confirmed that Lance Armstrong - at the time considered a seven-time Tour de France winner - would leave retirement to ride for the team in the 2009 season. Along with Armstrong, Yaroslav Popovych, another former Discovery Channel rider, joined the ranks of Astana, Contador expressed his support for the return of Vinokourov from his two-year doping suspension but seemed less enthusiastic about Armstrongs return. Armstrong was part of the team participated in the seasons first ProTour race
3.
Andy Schleck
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Andy Raymond Schleck is a Luxembourgish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 2010 Tour de France, being awarded it retroactively in February 2012 after Alberto Contadors hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and he has also been the runner-up at the Tour twice, in 2009 and 2011. He is the brother of Fränk Schleck, also a professional rider between 2003 and 2016. Their father Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España between 1965 and 1974, Andy Schleck was born in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, and is the youngest of Gaby and Johny Schlecks three sons. His older brother Fränk Schleck was also a cyclist on Trek Factory Racing and he won a stage in the 1970 Vuelta a España and the Luxembourg National Championships. Johnys father, Gustav Schleck, also contested events in the 1930s, guimard described Schleck as one of the biggest talents he had seen and compared him to Laurent Fignon. Still an amateur, Schleck won the 2004 Flèche du Sud stage race at 18, as the Danish national team were in the race, word spread to the Danish Team CSC manager Bjarne Riis. Riis asked Fränk, already on Team CSC, about his brother, Schleck secured a professional contract with Team CSC in 2005, and made his debut in a ProTour race at age 19, in the 2005 Volta a Catalunya. He and Fränk shared the 2005 National Championships, Fränk taking the road race, in 2006, Schleck crashed in the GP Cholet and took an eight-week break before returning for the Volta a Catalunya in May. In July, a few days after his brother won the Alpe dHuez stage of the Tour de France, Andy won the mountain stage in the Sachsen Tour, followed by the final stage. In 2007, he won the young rider classification in the Giro dItalia and was second in the classification after Danilo Di Luca. He finished fourth at the Giro di Lombardia after helping his brother Fränk, in 2008, Schleck finished 4th in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège. A few days before he had finished runner-up in La Flèche Wallonne and he again won the young rider classification in the process. Some sections of the media saw Contadors behaviour as unsporting and felt he should have allowed Schleck to regain the lost time, Schleck lost 39 seconds on that stage in the mountains, the same number of seconds by which he eventually lost the Tour de France. Schleck was only the man to ever win the white jersey for best young rider 3 times. He also won two stages, and rode in the yellow jersey for six days. In February 2012 after Contadors CAS hearing Schleck was retroactively awarded the 2010 Title, on 29 July 2010, Schleck and his brother Fränk announced their departure from Team Saxo Bank at the end of 2010. They formed a brand-new Luxembourg-based team with former Saxo Bank director Kim Andersen, Alberto Contador was hired to replace Andy Schleck as part of a two-year contract signed with Team Saxo Bank
4.
Tinkoff
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Tinkoff was a Russian-registered professional cycling team from Russia. It competed in the UCI World Tour, the team was owned by Russian Oleg Tinkov and, from 1999 until March 2015, was managed by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis. The team was sponsored by the Russian Tinkoff Bank, a credit systems company, founded in 1998 as home-Jack & Jones, the team started in cyclings second division. In 2000 it moved into the top division, now known as the UCI World Tour, since 2000, under differing sponsor names, the team rode the Tour de France. It has won the classification in all three of the Grand Tours. In addition, the team has won many classics, including 6 Monuments. The team won the UCI ProTours team classification each year from 2005 through 2007, in March 2015 the team confirmed that Riis had been removed from active duty due to differences between Riis and Tinkov. His departure from the team was announced on 29 March. When Bjarne Riis took over in winter 2000, he hired the former Danish Ranger Corps soldier B. S. Christiansen as advisor and they gave CSC a distinct philosophy and training methods. The team works with four values, communication, loyalty, commitment and respect, the team rides for the rider in the best shape on the day, and separates the function of team captain and team leader to avoid pressure on a single rider. The team staff go on outdoor education trips, physical challenges under pressure. According to B. S. Christiansen, the camps teach people that they can achieve their goals by cooperating and they have to perform their very best under the worst possible circumstances, where every action has a consequence. Bobby Julich, one of the riders, said that those days in the bush bonded us much closer and given us the strategies to work as a team in any racing situation. The team was built on the license of Danish amateur team Herning CK, with headquarters in Herning, Denmark. The team was assembled for 1998 with Alex Pedersen and Torben Kølbæk as sports directors, the main sponsors were a Danish real estate agency, and a clothes manufacturer and the budget was around €1,000,000 for 1998, including secondary sponsors. The team rode its first season in 2nd Division races, holm quit the team in April 1998. He sold his stock in Professional Cycling Denmark, the team finished 32nd best of 1998, and with an increased budget of €2,400,000 combined, the number of riders was increased to 14, with riders of a higher standard. In terms of races won,1999 was the most successful season until 2005, for 2000, Memory Card A/S, a Danish producer of memory cards, stepped in as co-sponsor and Danish cyclist Bo Hamburger was brought in as captain
5.
Bradley Wiggins
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Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He is the rider to have combined winning both World and Olympic championships on both the track and the road, as well as winning the Tour de France. In addition, he has worn the leaders jersey in each of the three Grand Tours of cycling and as of 2016 holds the record in team pursuit. The son of the Australian cyclist Gary Wiggins, Wiggins was born to a British mother in Ghent, Belgium and he competed on the track from the early part of his career until 2008. Between 2000 and 2008 he won ten medals at the world championships, of which six were gold. On the road, Wiggins turned professional in 2001, but made it his focus from 2008. He signed with the newly formed Team Sky in 2010, and in 2011 he claimed his first victory in a stage race in the Critérium du Dauphiné. In 2012, Wiggins won the Paris–Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France and the time trial at the Olympic Games. In 2014, he won gold in the trial at the road world championships. Wiggins returned to the track at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, in 2016, he won a further world championship in the madison, and gold in the team pursuit at the Olympics, his fifth successive medal winning appearance at the Games. He retired from all forms of cycling on 28 December 2016. Wiggins was awarded a CBE in 2009, Wiggins was born on 28 April 1980 in Ghent, Belgium, to an Australian father, Gary Wiggins, and a British mother, Linda. His father lived in Belgium as a professional cyclist and his father left the family when Wiggins was two. Wiggins moved with his mother to her parents house in Villiers Road, Willesden Green, north-west London and he was educated at St Augustines junior school and then St Augustines Church of England High School in Kilburn, where his mother was a secretary. He has a younger half-brother, Ryan, from his mother and her partner Brendan and she explained it was one of the events at which his father had been successful. He watched the rest of the Olympics and fell in love with cycling, in 1992, aged 12, he entered his first race, the West London Challenge 92, on the unopened A312 dual carriageway in Hayes, west London. Later that year he broke a collarbone in a road accident and he received £1,700 compensation for his injuries. He gave his mother £700 and used the rest to buy his first racing bicycle, at 12, he recalled, I told my art teacher, Im going to be Olympic champion, Im going to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour
6.
Thor Hushovd
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Thor Hushovd is a Norwegian former professional road bicycle racer. He is known for sprinting and time trialing, Hushovd is a three-time Norwegian national road race champion and he was the first Norwegian to lead the Tour de France, and first Scandinavian to win the road race in cycling world road championship. He is also the Scandinavian with the most stage wins in Grand Tours and he is widely considered the greatest Norwegian cyclist of all time. Born in Grimstad, Aust-Agder, Norway, Hushovd won the time trial world championship. He was Norwegian time trial champion in 2004 and 2005 and road race champion in 2004 and 2010, in 2006, he won seven UCI ProTour races and two stages of the Tour de France. He won the prologue in Strasbourg and led after the first day despite a cut arm and he continued with stitches and regained the yellow jersey after stage 2 with a third place. He won the last stage, beating Robbie McEwen in a sprint, in the 2006 Vuelta a España he won stage 6, wore the golden jersey for three stages and won the points classification At the 2008 Tour de France, Hushovd won stage 2 in a bunch finish. In 2009, Hushovd rode for the Cervélo TestTeam and he took one of the teams first victories of the season by winning Stage 3 of the Tour of California. At the Tour de France, he won green jersey for the classification for the second time. Typically the sprinter with the most stage wins the points classification, though Hushovd only won one stage, stage 6. After a controversy on stage 14, where Cavendish was relegated to the back of the peloton for impeding Hushovd, Hushovd attacked alone on stage 17, a mountain stage, winning two intermediate sprints. Hushovd won stage 3 at the Tour of Missouri –114 mi over rolling hills – in September 2009, on 9 May 2010, Hushovd broke his collarbone on a training ride after colliding with a young girl. At the Tour de France, Hushovd won the third stage and he prevailed in the sprint involving five other riders. That victory netted him the Green jersey, but he ultimately lost it to Alessandro Petacchi of the Lampre–Farnese Vini team, on 3 October 2010, Hushovd won the road world championship, which started in Melbourne and finished in Geelong, Australia. He was the first Norwegian to win the rainbow jersey, veloNews said, Hushovd. dominated a bunch sprint at the end of a thrilling 267km race, beating Denmark’s Matti Breschel and Australia’s Allan Davis. The favorite, Philippe Gilbert, was caught with three kilometers to go, in 2012, Hushovd joined BMC Racing Team on a three-year contract. Suffering from an unknown medical condition, he had to abandon the Giro dItalia and cancelled his scheduled participation to the Tour de France. The medical impairment was later identified as a virus and muscle inflammation by team doctors, Hushovd hardly achieved any notable result in the season except fourteenth at Paris-Roubaix
7.
Franco Pellizotti
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Franco Pellizotti is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, currently riding for the Bahrain–Merida team. Pellizotti is known as a climbing specialist and won Stage 10 in the 2006 Giro dItalia, Stage 16 in the 2008 Giro dItalia and Stage 17 in the 2009 Giro dItalia. After finishing third overall in the 2009 Giro, he won the polka dot jersey in Paris as the best climber of the 2009 Tour de France, as well as named the Most Combative Rider on Stages 9 and 17. At the start of race, Pellizotti can be seen making the sign of the cross. On 3 May 2010, Pellizottis name was released by La Gazzetta dello Sport as being one of several riders under investigation by the Union Cycliste Internationale for irregular blood values. Pellizotti was reported to have had suspicious values on the eve of the 2009 Tour de France and this was confirmed later that day in a UCI press release. He was due to be one of Liquigas–Doimo team leaders at the 2010 Giro dItalia and his team said they have faith in the explanation put forward by Pellizotti and are conducting a further investigation. Shortly after the end of the season, the suspension was lifted on the grounds of lack of evidence, Liquigas–Doimo declined to re-sign Pellizotti after the 2010 season. Pellizottis case reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport in March 2011, after asking the court for a speedy verdict, he was suspended for two years after it upheld the UCIs appeal. His ban lasted until May 2012, following the conclusion of his ban, Pellizotti signed with the Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela team. In August 2013, it was announced that two years with Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela, Pellizotti was to join Astana for the 2014 season. Further talks between Pellizotti and Astana resulted in his contract with the squad being nullified, and Pellizotti was able to return to Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela for a third season, did not finish = DNF, In progress = IP, Voided results = struck through. Franco Pellizotti profile at Cycling Archives
8.
2008 Tour de France
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The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July, the race was won by Carlos Sastre. Unlike previous years, time bonuses were no longer awarded for intermediate sprints and this altered the way the General Classification was awarded in comparison to previous seasons. Long running disputes between the event organisers, the ASO and the UCI reached a head when the organisers insisted upon the right to invite, or exclude. Under UCI rules, any ProTour event must be open to all teams of the UCIs top level. This meant that the champion and third-place finisher from 2007, both of whom had signed with Astana, could not compete in the 2008 Tour. The ASO announced on 20 March 2008 that all ProTour teams except Astana would be invited, with each team consisting of nine riders,180 riders started the Tour. Ten days before the start of the tour, Contador picked Cadel Evans as the winner for 2008. The odds shown are the odds in July 2008, directly before the start of the race, thomas Dekker and Michael Rogers were also given odds in this range, but were not included in the Tour de France. The 2008 Tour de France was almost entirely in France, with only a part in Italy. In previous years, the Tour started with a prologue, followed by a week of flat stages, the flat stages were dominated by the sprinters teams, and the yellow jersey was worn by a sprinter who had a good prologue. The time bonuses at the end of each stage were removed, in the first week of the 2008 Tour de France, the stages were mostly flat. As traditionally in the Tour de France, this resulted in small breakaways of cyclists, in the first stage, the sprinters won, with Thor Hushovd winning the stage, but in the second stage, four cyclists managed to stay away. The fourth stage was a trial, won by Stefan Schumacher. In the fifth stage, the won the battle and Mark Cavendish won the stage. The Massif Central mountains were visited in stage six and seven, in stage six, all the breakaways were caught, and the favourites stayed together and finished together. In stage seven, the scenario, only now Luis León Sánchez managed to stay a few seconds ahead. The eighth stage was a stage, won by Cavendish
9.
2010 Tour de France
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The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cyclings Grand Tours. It started on 3 July with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the race visited three countries, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, and finished on 25 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The total length was 3,642 kilometres including 60.9 kilometres in time-trials, following an opening prologue time trial, the first three stages passed through the Netherlands and Belgium on routes designed to replicate some features of the spring classic cycle races. This included seven cobblestone sectors totaling 13.2 kilometres, the longest distance of cobblestones in the Tour since 1983, there were six mountain stages, three of them with mountaintop finishes, and two medium mountain stages. In the 100th anniversary year of their first inclusion on the Tour, the Tour was initially won by Alberto Contador, who was later revealed to have failed a doping test. After a series of events, the CAS finally decided in February 2012 that Contador lost his results from 2010, Schleck also won the young riders competition for the third time running. Frances Anthony Charteau won the jersey as the King of the Mountains whilst the Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi won the green jersey for victory in the points classification. The official Tour presentation was held on 14 October 2009 and it was the third consecutive Grand Tour to begin in the Netherlands, as the 2009 Vuelta a España began in Assen, and the 2010 Giro dItalia in Amsterdam. Twenty-two teams accepted invitations to participate in the 2010 Tour de France, sixteen of the teams were covered by a September 2008 agreement with the Union Cycliste Internationale, including two no longer part of the UCI ProTour. The sixteen teams were, Six other teams, including the four ProTour teams not guaranteed a place, the teams entering the race were, Qualified teams Invited teams, Teams not part of the ProTour. Before the start of the race, Contador was the race favorite. Among the other favorites were Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans, the US media, led by the US Tour broadcaster Versus, pitched the race as a showdown between Contador and Armstrong, both multi-tour champions going in. The 97th edition of the Tour consisted of nine stages, six mountain stages, four medium mountain stages. The race started in Rotterdam with a 9 km prologue won by Fabian Cancellara, sylvain Chavanel claimed the lead from Cancellara on Stage 2, after a massive crash which involved many riders, most notably Andy Schleck, a contender for overall victory, and Alessandro Petacchi. The riders in the peloton chose to wait for the fallen riders, however, on the cobbles of Stage 3, Cancellara retook the overall lead as Chavanel struggled. A number of their rivals, including Cancellara, Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans and Thor Hushovd, were ahead of the crash and so were able to gain a time advantage. Evans took the jersey from Chavanel the following day on Stage 8. On Stage 15 Schleck was race leader and pressing the pace over the final climb of Port de Bales when he threw his chain
10.
Tour de France
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The Tour de France is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. The race was first organized in 1903 to increase sales for the newspaper LAuto, the race has been held annually since its first edition in 1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars. As the Tour gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened, participation expanded from a primarily French field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams. Traditionally, the race is primarily in the month of July. The modern editions of the Tour de France consist of 21 day-long segments over a 23-day period, the race alternates between clockwise and counterclockwise circuits of France. The number of teams usually varies between 20 and 22, with nine riders in each, all of the stages are timed to the finish, the riders times are compounded with their previous stage times. The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race, gaining a stage win is also a hotly contested competition, fought for by a specialist cycling sprinter on each team. The Tour de France was created in 1903, the roots of the Tour de France trace back to the emergence of two rival sports newspapers in the country. On the one hand was Le Vélo, the first and the largest daily newspaper in France which sold 80,000 copies a day. On the other was LAuto, which had been set-up by journalists and business-people including Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, Adolphe Clément, the new newspaper appointed Henri Desgrange as the editor. He was a prominent cyclist and owner with Victor Goddet of the velodrome at the Parc des Princes, De Dion knew him through his cycling reputation, through the books and cycling articles that he had written, and through press articles he had written for the Clément tyre company. LAuto was not the success its backers wanted, stagnating sales lower than the rival it was intended to surpass led to a crisis meeting on 20 November 1902 on the middle floor of LAutos office at 10 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, Paris. The last to speak was the most junior there, the chief cycling journalist, Desgrange had poached him from Giffards paper. Lefèvre suggested a six-day race of the sort popular on the track, long-distance cycle races were a popular means to sell more newspapers, but nothing of the length that Lefèvre suggested had been attempted. If it succeeded, it would help LAuto match its rival and it could, as Desgrange said, nail Giffards beak shut. Desgrange and Lefèvre discussed it after lunch, Desgrange was doubtful but the papers financial director, Victor Goddet, was enthusiastic. He handed Desgrange the keys to the safe and said
11.
Individual time trial
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An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock on flat or rolling terrain, or up a mountain road such as Alpe dHuez. There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, the opening stage of stage race will often be a short individual time trial called a prologue. Starting times are at intervals, usually one or two minutes apart. The starting sequence is based on the finishing times in preceding races with the highest ranked cyclist starting last. Starting later gives the racer the advantage of knowing what time they need to beat, competitors are not permitted to draft behind each other. Any help between riders is forbidden, the rider with the fastest time is declared the winner. Bicycle construction is limited by regulations covering dimensions and other such as weight. Race regulations typically dictate a minimum distance behind the cyclist which the car must maintain, the Vuelta a España often features a final individual time trial in Madrid in which the winner is often decided, providing much drama and excitement at the end of the stage race. In recent years, Óscar Sevilla and Roberto Heras have seen their lead evaporate in the trial in Madrid. The Grand Prix des Nations was an event, professionals may also compete in the annual World time trial championship. The individual time trial is also an Olympic event in which professionals are allowed to participate, most recent winners of the Tour de France have been good time-trialists, exceptions include Marco Pantani, Carlos Sastre, and Andy Schleck, who were climbing specialists. As a result, the trial is often considered the most difficult part of any major competition for young cyclists. Special aerodynamic time trial bicycles, clothing, helmets, aerobars, generally, components are designed to be as aerodynamic as possible, as most of the riders effort goes into overcoming aerodynamic drag. TT bikes often have lower handlebars than normal road racing bikes to facilitate this, also, the saddle is sometimes moved forwards relative to the handlebars and bottom bracket to allow the hips a more natural angle of motion, improving performance. Up until the late 1980s, low-profile bullhorn handlebars were used, then in the late 1980s triathletes developed so-called tri-bars that allowed for a much better aerodynamic position. Fignon was using conventional handlebars, Lemond the new triathlon style, the concept has changed little since then, with only Scotsman Graeme Obree attempting to improve the idea. His arms-under-the-torso tuck was revolutionary, helping him and others to break world records, the UCI banned it in 1994, but he came back with the Superman position, an evolution of the traditional tri position, but with the arms fully stretched out in front. Equipment used is very specialized, and component manufacturers can spend vast sums of time, deep section or solid disc wheels are often used to reduce turbulence around the spokes, but these can affect handling in windy conditions
12.
Circuit de Monaco
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Circuit de Monaco is a street circuit laid out on the city streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine around the harbour of the principality of Monaco. It is commonly referred to as Monte Carlo because it is largely inside the Monte Carlo neighbourhood of Monaco. The circuit is used on two weekends in the month of May of each year to host the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and Formula E Monaco ePrix or Monaco Historic Grand Prix alternating yearly. Formula Ones respective feeder series over the years – Formula Two, Formula 3000, the inaugural race was held in 1929 and was won by William Grover-Williams in a Bugatti. To date, only three drivers have won a race at the Circuit. Louis Chiron did it at the non-championship 1931 Monaco Grand Prix,82 years later, the third driver to do so was Stéphane Richelmi at the sprint race of the 2014 Monaco GP2 Series round. The building of the circuit takes six weeks, and the dismantling after the race three weeks. The race circuit has many elevation shifts, tight corners and is narrow and these features make it perhaps the most demanding track in Formula One racing. Although the course has changed many times during its history, it is considered the ultimate test of driving skills in Formula One. It contains both the slowest corner in Formula One and one of the quickest, due to the tight and twisty nature of the circuit, it favours the skill of the drivers over the power of the cars. However, there is very little overtaking as the course is so narrow, nelson Piquet likened racing round the course to riding a bicycle around your living room. Prior to 1987, the number of starting the race was limited to 20. The famous tunnel section is said to be difficult for drivers to cope due to the quick switch from light to dark, then back to light again. As a result, race outcomes tend to be decided by grid positions as well as pit strategies, several attempts have been made to improve cramped conditions in the pit garages. The circuit is generally recognised to be safe than other circuits used for Formula One. Driver and former winner Michael Schumacher stated before the 2012 Grand Prix that the risk is justifiable once a year. If it were not already an existing Grand Prix, it would not be permitted to be added to the Formula One schedule, in January 2009, the circuit was voted top of the Seven Sporting Wonders of the World in a poll of 3,500 British sports fans. The lap starts with a sprint up Boulevard Albert Ier
13.
Team time trial
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A team time trial is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock. Teams start at intervals, usually two, three or four minutes apart. Starting sequences will usually be based on times in previous events. Later starters have the advantage of knowing what times they need to beat, after their turn, the lead rider will swing over, allowing the next rider to take the lead, while the leader goes to the back of the team. Should one team overtake another, the team would be expected to drop back. The main principle behind a TTT is that a few riders can ride at the front of the formation slightly above their aerobic threshold while others draft behind these riders, the riders then rotate, allowing some riders to recover while drafting behind fresher teammates. A rider who is riding at the front is said to be taking a pull, accelerations require harder efforts, and therefore it is desirable to have a smooth, steady pace. Different riders have different power outputs, lactate thresholds and aerodynamics, a rider finishing a pull usually rotates to the very back of the formation, and the rider who was formerly behind this rider takes over. A rider who needs time to recover may take a longer time at the back of the formation while the other teammates rotate in front of this rider. With increased desired speed, the riders take harder but shorter pulls at the front so as not to burn themselves up, the choice of formation is crucial to the performance of the team because it dictates how fast the riders can rotate. The two most popular formations are the single paceline and double paceline, in a single paceline, riders take longer pulls. Often, a double paceline is desirable since each rider takes shorter pulls and this is why double pacelines are more often seen at the end of a TTT event when the teams are nearing the finish line. The recorded finishing time in a time trial is often based on the N-th rider of that team. For example, in races such as the Tour de France or Giro dItalia the finishing time is based on the 5th rider of the team. They then drop back and leave the remainder of the team to finish the time trial, at the professional level, cycling teams are frequently accompanied by motorcycle outriders, team cars and official scrutineers. In a large race, the TTT will involve all remaining members of the team, with the time taken when, say. In a Stage race, teams usually consist of several members, each member of the team is credited with the time of the N-th team member to cross the finish line, this is usually after the median member of a nine-person team. However, if a rider is dropped from the main group on the course, finishing separately in -th position or later, then the dropped rider will get his actual time
14.
2005 Tour de France
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The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cyclings Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance 3,593 km, the first stages were held in the département of the Vendée, for the third time in 12 years. The 2005 Tour was announced on October 28,2004 and it was a clockwise route, visiting the Alps before the Pyrenees. Armstrong took the top step on the podium, for what was then the consecutive time. He was accompanied on the podium by Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, the points classification was won by Thor Hushovd, and the mountains classification by Michael Rasmussen. The race was seen by 15 million spectators along the road, in 2005, the UCI had started the ProTour,20 teams were given a ProTour licence, and were required to start in all ProTour races, which included the Tour de France. The Tour de France organisation was not happy with this rule, while negotiations were still ongoing, it was decided to use the UCI rule for the 2005 Tour, so all 20 ProTour teams were automatically invited. The Tour organisation could invite one team with a wildcard. All teams were composed of nine cyclists, so 189 riders in 21 teams commenced the 2005 Tour de France, the teams entering the race were, The main favourite was six-time winner Armstrong. Armstrong had had doubts if he should start the 2005 Tour and his main rival Ullrich was happy with this decision, as he thought it would be a better race with Armstrong present. In previous years, Ullrich never had the support of his team to win the general classification. On the day before the Tour started, Ullrich crashed into his team directors car, the Tour commemorated the death of Fabio Casartelli. During the 15th stage the riders passed the Col de Portet dAspet, the Tour also commemorated the first time there was an official mountain climb in the Tour, the Ballon dAlsace. During the 9th stage this mountain was passed again, exactly 100 years after the first ascent in the Tour, the 2005 Tour de France was divided into 21 stages. These stages belong to different categories,8 were flat stages,5 were medium mountain stages,5 were high mountain stages,2 were individual time trials and 1 was a time trial. The distinction between flat stage, medium mountain stage and high mountain stage is important for the points classification, there were two rest days, in Grenoble and in Pau. The traditional prologue on the first day was replaced by a time trial of more than twice the length of a standard prologue. This stage crossed from the mainland of France to the Île de Noirmoutier, the most famous route to this island is the Passage du Gois, a road that is under water at high tide
15.
2007 Tour de France
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The 2007 Tour de France the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 to 29 July. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the finish in Paris. Along the way, the route passed through Belgium and Spain. It was won by Spanish rider Alberto Contador, the mountains classification, indicated by the polkadot jersey, was won by Mauricio Soler in his first Tour appearance. The general classification, indicated by the jersey, was closely contested until the final time trial on stage 19. In the end, each rider held his place after the time trial. Alberto Contador also won the young rider classification, indicated by the white jersey, a total of 21 teams were invited to the 2007 Tour de France. Each team sent a total of nine riders to participate in the Tour, the organisers of the Tour and London mayor Ken Livingstone announced on 24 January 2006 that the start of the Tour would take place in London. The routes for the Prologue in London and the first full stage through Kent and this was the third time the Tour visited United Kingdom, including Plymouth in and two stages in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire in. Tour director Christian Prudhomme unveiled the 2007 route in Paris on 26 October 2006, in total, the route covered 3,570 km. The first scandal arrived when it was public on 18 July that rider Patrik Sinkewitz from the T-Mobile Team had tested positive one month before the Tour started. Sinkewitz had already withdrawn from the race having incurred an injury during the 8th stage, the scandal was big enough to prompt German TV broadcasters ZDF and ARD to drop their coverage. Vinokourovs teammates Andreas Klöden and Andrey Kashechkin were in 5th and 7th place respectively at the time, at the start of the 16th stage on 25 July, some teams made a protest against the laxness of the official attitude to doping in the race. After the stage, race officials announced that Cofidis team member Cristian Moreni of Italy had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo tested positive for EPO on the second rest day of the Tour, on 24 July. French prosecutors wanted to start a case against Vinokourov, Mayo and Moreni. The UCI refused to give them, and in May 2011 the investigation was stopped, German cyclist Marcus Burghardt collided with a Labrador Retriever during Stage 9. The bike struck the dog on its backside, which buckled the front wheel, remarkably the dog was unhurt by the collision, and it was grabbed by a spectator before it could cause any more damage. A second incident involving a dog occurred on Stage 18, sandy Casar and Frederik Willems were in a four-man break when Casar collided with a dog running across the road, causing both him and Willems to fall
16.
Lance Armstrong
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Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist. At age 16, Armstrong began competing as a triathlete and was a national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990, in 1992, Armstrong began his career as a professional cyclist with the Motorola team. In 1996, he was diagnosed with a fatal metastatic testicular cancer. After his recovery, he founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation to assist other cancer survivors. Returning to cycling in 1998, he was a member of the US Postal/Discovery team between 1998 and 2005, when he won his Tour de France titles, as well as a medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics. Between 2010 and 2011, he raced with Team Radio Shack and he retired for a second time in 2011. Armstrong had been the subject of doping allegations ever since winning the 1999 Tour de France, Armstrong chose not to contest the charges, citing the potential toll on his family. As a result, he received a ban from all sports that follow the World Anti-Doping Agency code—effectively ending his athletic career. He was also stripped of all of his achievements after 1998, the Union Cycliste Internationale upheld USADAs decision and decided that his stripped wins would not be allocated to other riders. Armstrong chose not to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in a 2013 interview, Armstrong confessed that some of the allegations were true. He has declined to testify about the extent of his use of the drugs. His great-grandfather was the son of Norwegian immigrants and he was named after Lance Rentzel, a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver. His parents divorced in 1973 when Lance was two, the next year, his mother married Terry Keith Armstrong, a wholesale salesman, who adopted Lance that year. At the age of 12, Armstrong started his career as a swimmer at the City of Plano Swim Club and finished fourth in Texas state 1. He stopped swimming-only races after seeing a poster for a triathlon, called the Iron Kids Triathlon. Armstrongs total points in 1987 as an amateur were better than those of five professionals ranked higher than he was that year, at 16, Lance Armstrong became a professional triathlete and became national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at 18 and 19, respectively. In 1992 Armstrong turned professional with the Motorola Cycling Team, the successor of 7-Eleven team, in 1993, Armstrong won 10 one-day events and stage races, but his breakthrough victory was the World Road Race Championship held in Norway. Before his World Championships win, he took his first win at the Tour de France and he was 97th in the general classification when he retired after stage 12
17.
United States Anti-Doping Agency
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The United States Anti-Doping Agency is a non-profit, non-governmental organization and the national anti-doping organization for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport, USADA provides education, leads scientific initiatives, conducts testing, in 2001, USADA was recognized by the U. S. Congress as the official anti-doping agency for Olympic, Pan American and Paralympic sport in the United States. In October 1999, the USOC launched USADA and operations were set to begin in October 2000, one of the major adjustments made to the Code by USADA included reducing the standard of proof required in doping-related adjudication. Before modifications, the standard of proof was equal to that required in a United States court of law, after modification, USADA reduced the standard required to establish a doping violation to comfortable satisfaction of a hearing body. Despite its name and status as the countrys official anti-doping organization, USADA is a private organization, USADA is responsible for implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code in the United States. The Code is the document that harmonizes anti-doping policies, rules. The International Olympic Committee required that all Olympic sports adopt the World Anti-Doping Code prior to August 13,2004, while the WADA Code has been accepted by numerous sport organizations, leagues, and federations around the world, the overwhelming majority of U. S. The USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing outlines the organizations testing program and is consistent with the WADA Code, USADA collects both blood and urine samples during in-competition and out-of-competition tests, which can occur at any time, at any location, and without advance notice. Comprehensive, no-notice testing programs like USADAs that are consistent with the WADA Code have often referred to as Olympic style drug testing. USADA does testing for International Federations, other National Anti-Doping Organizations, USADA does not test at the Olympic Games. The Local Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and WADA oversee testing at the Games, USADA maintains a group of elite athletes as part of its registered testing pool. USADA determines its test distribution plan or the determination of who, when, even though testing may be described as random, the term random is inaccurate, as USADA uses various factors to strategically plan when and where they test athletes. High-profile or elite athletes are tested significantly more frequently than others, USADAs sample collection process is also consistent with the WADA IST and tests are conducted by doping control officers, who are employed and extensively trained by USADA. For tests in blood is collected, USADA contracts trained phlebotomists who work in conjunction with a USADA DCO. In accordance with the WADA International Standard for Laboratories, all samples are analyzed at laboratories that have been accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA accredited labs comply with the WADA International Standard for Laboratories. This independent results management process removes the inherent conflict of interest associated with sport organizations trying to promote and police their sports. Athletes can either accept or challenge the sanction through a legal process. In the United States, athletes can take a case before an arbitration panel, USADA maintains a list of all sanctioned athletes on its website
18.
Mountains classification in the Tour de France
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The mountains classification is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1933. It is given to rider that gains the most points for reaching mountain summits first, the leader of the classification is named the King of the Mountains, and since 1975 wears the polka dot jersey, a white jersey with red polka dots. The first Tour de France crossed no mountain passes, but several lesser cols, the first was the col des Echarmeaux, on the opening stage from Paris to Lyon, on what is now the old road from Autun to Lyon. The stage from Lyon to Marseille included the col de la République, also known as the col du Grand Bois, the first major climb—the Ballon dAlsace in the Vosges — was featured in the 1905 race. True mountains were not included until the Pyrenees in 1910, in that year the race rode, or more walked, first the col dAubisque and then the nearby Tourmalet. The assistant organiser, Victor Breyer, stood at the summit of the Aubisque with the colleague who had proposed including the Pyrenees, the tour organiser, Henri Desgrange was confident enough after the Pyrenees to include the Alps in 1911. The highest climb in the race was the Cime de la Bonette-Restefond in the 1962 Tour de France, the highest mountain finish in the Tour was at the Col du Galibier in the 2011 edition. Since 1905, the organising newspaper lAuto named one cyclist of the Tour de France the meilleur grimpeur, in 1933, Vicente Trueba was the winner of this classification. However, Trueba was a poor descender, so he never gained anything from reaching the tops first. The Tour de France director, Henri Desgrange, decided that cyclists should receive a bonus for reaching the tops first. From 1934 on, the gap between the first and the second cyclist to reach the top was given as a bonus to the one reaching the top first. These time bonuses were removed, but the King of the Mountain recognition remained. Although the best climber was first recognised in 1933, the jersey was not introduced until 1975. The colours were decided by the sponsor, Chocolat Poulain. The Tours jersey colours have also adopted by other cycling stage races, for example. At the top of many climbs in the Tour, there are points for the riders who are first over the top. The climbs are divided into categories from 1 to 4 based on their difficulty, measured as a function of their steepness, length, location within the stage, and location in the overall race. In 2004, the system was changed such that the first rider over a fourth category climb was awarded 3 points while the first to complete a hors catégorie climb would win 20 points
19.
Court of Arbitration for Sport
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international quasi-judicial body established to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York City, Sydney, temporary courts are established in current Olympic host cities. Generally speaking, a dispute may be submitted to the CAS only if there is an agreement between the parties which specifies recourse to the CAS. According to rule 61 of the Olympic Charter, all disputes in connection with the Olympic Games can only be submitted to CAS, all Olympic International Federations have recognised the jurisdiction of CAS for at least some disputes. Starting in 2016, a division of CAS judges doping cases at the Olympic Games. These decisions can be appealed to CASs ad hoc court in the Olympic host city or, if the ad hoc court is no longer available, the inaugural anti-doping division handled eight cases, of which seven where doping cases within its jurisdiction. As a Swiss arbitration organization, decisions of the CAS can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, as of March 2012 there have been seven successful appeals. Six of the appeals were procedural in nature, and only once has the Federal Supreme Court overruled a CAS decision on the merits of the case. This was in the case of Matuzalém, a Brazilian football player, the Federal Court of Justice of Germany ruled against the German speed-skater Claudia Pechstein, recognising a lack of jurisdiction to revisit her case. With the intermixing of sports and politics, the body was conceived by International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch to deal with disputes arising during the Olympics. It was established as part of the IOC in 1984, in 1992, the case of Gundel v. La Fédération Equestre Internationale was decided by the CAS, and then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, challenging CAS impartiality. The Swiss court ruled that the CAS was a court of arbitration. In response, the CAS underwent reforms to make itself more independent of the IOC, as of 2004, most recent cases that were considered by the CAS dealt with transfer disputes within professional association football or with doping. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is planning to move its headquarters from the Château de Béthusy to the part of the Palais de Beaulieu. Prior to that, the case of skater Claudia Pechstein had been decided on similar grounds, according to CAS, those abnormal values were not caused by an error occurred in a laboratory, as the athlete asserted, but due to the banned manipulation of the athlete’s blood. In 2001, the decided the case of Andreea Răducan versus International Olympic Committee. This was a controversial anti-doping case, where it was clear the athlete received cold. This resulted in a urine test, with the court concluding, The Panel is aware of the impact its decision will have on a fine, young
20.
Biological passport
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Not to be confused with a biometric passport. Doping violations can be detected by noting variances from an athlete’s established levels outside permissible limits, rather than testing for, although the terminology athlete passport is recent, the use of biological markers of doping has a long history in anti-doping. The T/E has been used by authorities since the beginning of the 1980s to detect anabolic steroids in urine samples. It is only in 2002 that the concept of using biological markers to detect doping became known by the athlete passport. The merits of this testing paradigm were exposed in the scientific literature, many believe that the athlete passport provides an excellent alternative to ensure fairness in elite sports. While a new drug test must be developed and validated for each new drug, new drugs are produced at an unprecedented pace today and there is often a lag of several years between the availability of a new drug and the application of an effective detection method. In contrast, the physiology of the human being remains the same through several generations, the athlete passport received a lot of attention when its blood module was established at the beginning of the 2008 racing season by the UCI. In May 2008 they revealed that 23 riders were under suspicion of doping following the first phase of tests conducted under the new biological passport. Each of these modules are however at different steps of development, the biological passport uses the standardized approach of urine sampling to determine steroid abuse. The objective of testing is to identify athletes in a haematological module. The haematological module tests for certain markers in the body that identify the enhancement of oxygen transport, the steroidal module collects information on markers for steroid doping and aims to identify endogenous anabolic androgenic steroids. The specific markers the module tests for include testosterone, epitestosterone, the ratio, androsterone. The World Anti-Doping Agency recently released the 2014 Prohibited Substances list, in the new list, the agency modified the definitions of exogenous and endogenous steroids being tested for in the steroidal module of the biological passport. Under the new rules, registered riders have to give the Union Cycliste Internationale daily information about their location and provide a one-hour window for possible testing. They have to submit a form every quarter year saying where they will be every day of the next quarter, the biological passport programme has allowed the UCI to sanction riders for committing an anti-doping rule violation. Riders have also targeted with further doping controls based on their biological passport. During the first three years of UCIs bio passport program 26 riders were found positive for EPO, in 20 out of the 26 cases, it was the abnormal blood profile which raised suspicions leading to a targeted doping test. Manuel Beltran tested positive for EPO at the 2008 Tour de France in a targeted test after anomalies appeared in a sample taken at the start of the Tour
21.
Mark Cavendish
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Mark Simon Cavendish MBE is a British professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Team Dimension Data. As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, as a road cyclist, Cavendish turned professional in 2005, and achieved a record eleven wins in his first professional season. Cavendish has won thirty Tour de France stages, putting him second on the all-time list and he won the road race at the 2011 road world championships, becoming the second British rider to do so after Tom Simpson in 1965. Other notable wins include the 2009 Milan–San Remo classic and the classification in all three of the grand tours, the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2011 Tour de France. In 2012 he became the first person to win the final Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France in four consecutive years, in the Queens Birthday Honours 2011, Cavendish was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to British Cycling. He won the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, Cavendish was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, the son of David also from the Isle, and Adele from Yorkshire, England. He began riding BMX at an age, racing at the National Sports Centre in Douglas. He said, I was always riding a bike, getting dropped in little races and my mum would laugh at me, and I said it was because all my mates had mountain bikes, so I asked for a mountain bike for my thirteenth birthday and got one. The very next day I went out and beat everyone and it was at that time that Cavendish met David Millar at a race on the Isle of Man. Cavendish said he was inspired by Millar, Cavendish worked in a bank for two years after leaving school to earn enough money for an attempt at a professional career. He won two medals at the 2003 Island Games. He won gold in the madison with Rob Hayles at the 2005 track world championships in Los Angeles and they had not raced together before. They finished one lap ahead of the field to claim the medal, ahead of the Dutch and Belgian teams. Cavendish also won the 2005 European championship points race, Cavendish turned professional in 2005 with Team Sparkasse. He rode the Tour de Berlin and Tour of Britain, Cavendish began 2006 with the Continental team, Team Sparkasse, a feeder squad for T-Mobile Team. In June, he won two stages and the points and sprint competitions in the Tour de Berlin and he rode for the Isle of Man on the track at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, riding the scratch race. He lapped the field with three others, Rob Hayles, Ashley Hutchinson of Australia, and James McCallum of Scotland, Hayles then led him out for the sprint to win gold for the Isle of Man. The race time was 2325, an average 51.9 km/h and his success at the Tour de Berlin led to a post as a stagiaire with T-Mobile Team from August until the end of the season
22.
Points classification in the Tour de France
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The points classification is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and it is considered a sprinters competition. The leader is indicated by a jersey which has become a symbol for the points classification in the sense that when a cyclist wins the points classification. After scandals in the 1904 Tour de France, the rules of the 1905 Tour de France were changed, the winner was no longer determined by the time system, but with the points system. The cyclists received points, equal to their ranking in the stage, after the 1912 Tour de France, the system was changed back to the time system that is still in use. In the 1953 Tour de France, to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Tour de France, the system was reintroduced. Because the leader in the general classification wears a jersey, the leader in the points classification also received a special jersey. The color green was chosen because the sponsor was a lawn mower producer, in the first years, the cyclist only received penalty points for not finishing with a high place, so the cyclist with the least points was awarded the green jersey. From 1959 on, the system was changed so the cyclists were awarded points for high place finishes, in 1968 the jersey was red, to please the sponsor. On four occasions, the winner of the classification was also the winner of the general classification. In 1969, Eddy Merckx won the classification, the points classification and the mountains classification. Currently, the classification is calculated by adding up the points collected in the stage. Points are rewarded for the first cyclists to cross the finish-line or the sprint line. In the 2011 Tour de France, the scheme was used, Riders can lose points for various infractions to the rules. Before the start of the Tour de France, the organization declares which stages are considered flat, when the order in which cyclists crossed the line cannot be determined or when cyclists score exactly the same time in the prologue/individual time trial, the cyclists divide the points. A cyclist that does not finish a stage is removed from the points classification, after every stage, the leader in the points classification is given a green jersey. In the event of a tie in the ranking, the cyclist with the most stage victories is the leader, if that is also a tie, the number of intermediate sprint victories indicates the leader. If that is also a tie, the classification determines the leader
23.
Team Sunweb (men's team)
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Team Sunweb is a professional German cycling team that participates in UCI World Tour events and, when selected, in UCI Continental Circuits races. The team is managed by Iwan Spekenbrink and uses Giant bicycles, the team has existed since 2005 but Skil previously sponsored a French cycling team, Skil-Sem, from 1984 to 1985, with a similar jersey. Thanks to aggressive strategies during Paris–Nice in 2008 and 2009, the team was awarded a wildcard for the 2009 Tour de France, making it their first appearance in a Grand Tour. After losing its sponsors at the end of 2011, the team adopted the name Project 1T4i, standing for team spirit, inspiration, integrity, improvement and innovation, until a new sponsor was secured. In 2012, the team received their second wildcard invitation to the 2012 Tour de France, in December 2012 it was announced that the team would compete at the World Tour level for the 2013 season. In September 2014 German shampoo manufacturer Alpecin announced that they would co-sponsor the team alongside Giant for the 2015 season, in December 2014 Sunweb was announced as a new major sponsor of the team, signing a 2-year deal. Sunweb also sponsor the cyclocross focussed UCI Continental team – Sunweb-Napoleon Games, on 23 January 2016, six members of the team while in training in Spain were hit by a car which drove into on-coming traffic. All riders were in stable condition, on the first rest day of the 2016 Tour de France, the team announced that Sunweb would become a named sponsor of the team for the 2017 season
24.
AG2R La Mondiale
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AG2R La Mondiale is a French cycling team with UCI ProTour team status. In 1992 Vincent Lavenu, who had just retired from professional cycling, Lavenu had previously organised sponsorship from Chazal of his last professional team. This sponsor stayed from 1992 to 1995, in 1996 Petit Casino, a chain of coffee shops in supermarkets, took over the sponsorship of the team. At this time the team was a second team that relied on the public to sponsor the team. The team had the saying Petit Casino- c’est votre equipe – it’s your team, in 1997 Casino, the supermarket chain that contained the Petit Casino coffee shops, took over the sponsorship of the team and the budget increased substantially. Lavenu’s team could compete in the big races such as the classics, the team obtained successes with Alexander Vinokourov, Jaan Kirsipuu and Lauri Aus. The insurance company Ag2r Prevoyance took over as the sponsor in 2000. The team obtained successes with Laurent Brochard, Jaan Kirsipuu. In 2006, the joined the UCI ProTour, following the signings of big cycling names Francisco Mancebo. Ag2r obtained success in the 2006 Tour de France with a win by Sylvain Calzati. Nocentini retained the leadership for eight stages, and Ag2r-La Mondiale also led the team classification from stage 7 to stage 11. In 2014, the team had great results at the Tour de France, winning a stage, on September 21,2012, Steve Houanard tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test and was provisionally suspended. On May 15,2013, Sylvain Georges tested positive for the banned stimulant Heptaminol, Georges blamed the positive result on the freely available product Ginkor Fort. On May 21 Georges B Sample also tested positive for the stimulant causing the team to remove itself from the 2013 Criterium du Dauphine in accordance with MPCC rules. As a result of the positive Georges was banned by the French Cycling Federation for 6 months, on March 10,2015, the UCI announced that Lloyd Mondory had tested positive for EPO on February 17 in an out of competition test. As a result, Mondory was suspended bearing the outcome of his B sample analysis, ‹See Tfd› Official website Chambery CF
25.
Movistar Team (men's team)
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Movistar Team is a professional road bicycle racing team which participates in the UCI ProTour and has achieved thirteen general classification victories in Grand Tours. The title sponsor is the Spanish mobile telephone company Telefónica, with the team riding under the name of the companys brand Movistar, the team offices are in Egüés, a municipality of Navarre, Spain, in the metropolitan area of Pamplona. A later sponsor was Caisse dEpargne, a French semi-cooperative banking group, having previously used Pinarello bikes, the team rode Canyon frames in 2014, with Campagnolo parts. Since 2008 Eusebio Unzué has been the manager of the team after the long running manager, José Miguel Echavarri, directeurs sportifs of the team include Neil Stephens, Alfonso Galilea and José Luis Jaimerena. The team began in 1980 as the Reynolds team which José Miguel Echavarri as the directeur sportif, in 1982 signed a young Pedro Delgado who acted as a domestique for team leader Ángel Arroyo during the 1982 Vuelta a España. Arroyo won the Vuelta after his team controlled the race after he took the lead, but 48 hours after his Vuelta win, the results of a positive test were made known for Methylphenidate. Arroyo and the Reynolds team denied that Arroyo doped and asked for a B-analysis which confirmed the positive A-sample, Arroyo became the first winner of the Vuelta a España to be disqualified. Delgado changed teams in 1985 but returned to Reynolds in 1988 where he won the 1988 Tour de France, in 1984, Miguel Indurain made his professional debut with the team. In 1990 Spanish bank Banesto took over as the sponsor of the team from Reynolds. Delgado was the leader for the Tour de France while Miguel Indurain. When Gorospe took the lead in that years Vuelta, the team went behind him in a bid to win the race. Over the following years, Indurain rose to become a dominator of stage races winning five editions of the Tour de France, Delgado was the team leader for the Vuelta. The team also achieved success with Jean-François Bernard who won the 1992 edition of Paris–Nice with the team, the team won the Vuelta again in 1998 with Abraham Olano. During this time Alex Zülle joined the team and finished the 1999 Tour de France second overall while legendary climber José María Jiménez performed in the Vuelta a España, the team became known as iBanesto. com in the final years of the sponsorship of the Banesto bank. In 2004 Illes Balears, the Balearic Islands Tourism Board, became the principal sponsor. Caisse dEpargne took over from Banesto as the sponsor in the 2005 season. Caisse dEpargne then became the sponsor in 2006 reversing the title sponsor ordering with the name. The team fielded a number of contenders in the 2005 Tour de France including Francisco Mancebo, Alejandro Valverde, Vladimir Karpets
26.
Cofidis (cycling team)
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Cofidis Solutions Crédits is a French professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by a money-lending company, Cofidis. It was started in 1996 by Cyrille Guimard the former manager of Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond, the teams sponsor has supported the team despite repeated problems such as doping scandals. After it was part of the UCI ProTour for the ProTours first five seasons, Cyrille Guimard started the team in 1996 with backing from François Migraine, the chief executive of Cofidis. An acquisition was Lance Armstrong, formerly of Motorola Cycling Team, Armstrong was dropped because of his cancer and another American, Bobby Julich, became leader for stage races. Julichs place in the top three of the 1998 Tour de France brought the team to the spotlight, and Frank Vandenbroucke brought further results in classics and that year, Cofidis won the team classification in the Tour. Years of drought followed as Julich and Vandenbroucke left the team, vandenbrouckes Belgian compatriots, Nico Mattan, Chris Peers, Peter Farazijn, and Jo Planckaert, stayed on but were criticised for inconsistent performances. Cofidis, on the demand of Migraine, began paying riders by results, Belgian riders criticised the policy, saying it would lead riders to ride conservatively to be sure of good placings at the finish. They debated the issue publicly with the manager, Alain Bondue, David Millar raised the teams profile by winning the prologue of the 2000 Tour de France, taking leadership of the team. Millar criticized the system and the team relented. In 2004 Cofidis had three world champions – Igor Astarloa on the road, David Millar in the time trial. However, a scandal involving Millar and other riders led them to stop racing until it was resolved. The investigation decided that doping was by individual riders and that the team was not involved, however, David Millar has since suggested otherwise, in a strongly worded interview with the BBC. The team then returned to competition for the 2004 Tour de France, in which Stuart OGrady and David Moncoutié won stages, Moncoutié won on Bastille day again in the 2005 Tour de France – the only French stage win – with OGradys help. However, a new signing, Sylvain Chavanel failed to win a stage or to make a strong impression, OGrady and Matthew White left in 2006. Cédric Vasseur – often the road captain – also left, an early victory in Classic Haribo by Arnaud Coyot showed the team still had firepower. Cofidis won the first stage of the 2006 Tour de France with Jimmy Casper, for 2007 the team signed Belgians Nick Nuyens and Kevin De Weert from Quick Step-Innergetic. On 25 July 2007 Cofidis rider Christian Moreni failed his doping test after the 11th stage of the Tour de France and his blood contained traces of testosterone. The team withdrew from the Tour, on 29 September 2009, the UCI ProTour decided not to renew the ProTour licenses of Cofidis and Bbox Bouygues Telecom, due to poor results
27.
UAE Team Emirates
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UAE Team Emirates is an Emirati road bicycle racing team. The team is a member of the UCI ProTour, and has been since the tour was formed as the top category of road cycling in 2005, however the team was temporarily suspended from the ProTour in 2010, missing one ProTour event. The team consists mostly of Italian riders, general manager Giuseppe Saronni was himself a professional cyclist. Following the tradition at Saeco, the team is known for its publicity stunts. In the 2005 Giro dItalia the team engaged in a press campaign Battaile dItalia featuring their co-captains Gilberto Simoni, during a rest day of the Giro, the team elected to visit the Monza race track for a photo-op and some training sessions. For the 2013 season the team no longer be using Wilier bikes. Although Wilier had been contracted through to the end of the 2013 season, they cited that Lampre broke the terms and conditions of the contract, former Saunier Duval–Prodir team manager Mauro Gianetti was announced as the co-ordinator for the project. However when the UCI awarded 17 WorldTour licences to teams in November, according to Saronni, the reason for the delay was that the head of the TJ Sport project, Li Zhiqiang, had fallen seriously ill, which prevented funding for the project from being confirmed. As a result the team looked elsewhere for sponsorship, securing funding from the United Arab Emirates, the UCI confirmed the teams WorldTour licence on 20 December. In February 2017, the announced that arline Emirates had signed on with the team as a naming-rights sponsor. The team will subsequently be known as, UAE Team Emirates
28.
Liquigas
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Cannondale Pro Cycling Team was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour. The most recent title sponsor, Cannondale, is an American bicycle manufacturing company, in 2005 the team was co-title sponsored by Liquigas and Bianchi and was named Liquigas-Bianchi. Liquigas was formed at the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005 and added a number of big names including Mario Cipollini, Danilo Di Luca, Stefano Garzelli, in 2007, Cannondale replaced Bianchi as the bicycle sponsor. This marked Cannondales return to the ProTour after discontinuing sponsorship of the Lampre-Caffita team at the end of the 2005 season. On 11 July 2008 the news broke from the French sports paper LEquipe that Spanish rider Manuel Beltrán had tested positive for EPO after the first stage of the tour and it was blood abnormalities before the start of the tour that led Frances Anti-Doping Agency to target the rider. According to AP a spokesperson for Liquigas confirmed the day that Beltrán had been thrown off the tour. It was also reported that the police had picked Beltrán up from his hotel where he had been staying with the rest of the Liquigas team and it was later confirmed that his B-sample also tested positive. From the 2009 Giro dItalia until the 2012 Tour de France, the team finished every Grand Tour with all nine riders, for the 2013 season Liquigas-Cannondale became Cannondale Pro Cycling as Cannondale Bicycle Corporation took over as the title sponsor in partnership with Brixia Sports. In August 2014 the team announced their intention to merge with Cannondale–Drapac for the 2015 season
29.
Quick-Step Floors
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Quick-Step Floors is a Belgian UCI World Tour cycling team led by team manager Patrick Lefévère. The directeurs sportifs are Davide Bramati, Wilfried Peeters, Rik Van Slycke, Tom Steels, Brian Holm, the team was created as Quick-Step–Davitamon in 2003 from staff and riders of Domo-Farm Frites and Mapei–Quick-Step when the latter disbanded after nine years in the sport. Paolo Bettini won the UCI Road World Cup in 2003 and 2004 as well as the 2004 Summer Olympics road title in 2004, in late 2005 Tom Boonen won the 2005 UCI Road World Championships in Madrid, where Michael Rogers won the time-trial. In 2006 Boonen retained the Tour of Flanders and held the jersey in the 2006 Tour de France during stage 3–6. Paolo Bettini won the championship in Salzburg and retained his Giro di Lombardia crown. In 2007 Tom Boonen won the classification in the Tour de France. Bettini defended his championship in Stuttgart. In 2008 Gert Steegmans took the stage of the 2008 Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées. Paolo Bettini retired after the championship in Varese. In both 2008 and 2009 Stijn Devolder took the Tour of Flanders and Tom Boonen, Paris–Roubaix, in October 2012, the team fired their veteran rider Levi Leipheimer after he admitted to doping in a sworn affidavit to USADA. This was despite the statement that commended Leipheimer for his open cooperation in the USADA investigation that exposed Lance Armstrong long term cheating in cycling via doping. The teams action was described by USADA head Travis Tygart as The classic Omertà move right, on the one hand, they say they congratulate him on coming forward, their action terminating him for being truthful speaks a lot louder than their words. Cyclingnews noted that Omega Pharma general manager Patrick Lefevere had admitted in 2007 to having used doping products, including amphetamines, Lefevere is still CEO of Etixx as of September 2015. On 17 July 2014, the announced that Iljo Keisse had been given a 2-year contract extension. Tony Martin confirmed via his Twitter account that he had signed a 2-year contract extension, in 2014 Michał Kwiatkowski won a rainbow jersey in 2014 UCI Road World Championships – Mens road race in Ponferrada, Spain. In August 2015, the team signed Davide Martinelli for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, on the second rest day of the 2014 Tour de France the team announced a change to one of their main sponsors from 2015 onwards for 3 season. Omega Pharma will be exchanged for one of its subsidiaries, Etixx, giving a new team name, Etixx is a brand of supplements and nutrition products by Omega Pharma, while Quick-Step is a manufacturer of laminate flooring. On the eve of the 2015 Tour of Flanders Quickstep confirmed their sponsorship of the team would be extended to the end of the 2017 season, in September 2015, the team announced that supermarket chain Lidl would sponsor the team, becoming the teams Fresh food supplier
30.
Team Milram
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Team Milram was a German pro cycling team, participating at the UCI ProTour. The pro cycling team was founded in the beginning of 2006, taking over the UCI ProTeam license of Team Domina Vacanze, the main sponsor is the Milram brand of the Bremen based Nordmilch dairy company. Some smaller sponsors include Motorex, an oil based in Switzerland. Sprinters Alessandro Petacchi and Erik Zabel initially were the top riders, the squad is completed by 25 mainly German riders. Since 2008, Team Milram is a German team, the general manager is Gerry van Gerwen. The new team basis is Dortmund’s Club Olympia, with a new organisation structure, a much younger squad, clear objectives and an enhanced anti-doping-programme the team has changed extensively. In 2009 and 2010, the team was sponsored by Focus Bikes, after a lengthy search for a title sponsor to replace the outgoing Nordmilch dairy company proved fruitless, the team was forced to disband effective at the end of the 2010 season. Van Gerweren hoped to form a new team for 2012, at 23 May 2007, during the 2007 Giro dItalia, Alessandro Petacchi was found guilty of using salbutamol after a doping control. Petacchi had a certificate to use salbutamol in the treatment of asthma, Petacchi was placed on non-active status and missed the 2007 Tour de France. In July 2007, Italian Cycling Federation ruled that Petacchi gave good reasons for this high level, Petacchi was then absolved by the FCI when they deemed any overuse of Salbutamol as simple human error. On May 6,2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Petacchi until the end of August, results obtained after 31 October 2007 and during the period of ineligibility will be disqualified. As a result of this, on May 16,2008, list of teams and cyclists in the 2008 Tour de France 2008 Tour de France Tour de France Official page Team presentation 2009
31.
Carlos Sastre
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Carlos Sastre Candil is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer and winner of the 2008 Tour de France. He consistently achieved results in the Vuelta a España and equally good showings in the Tour de France. Sastre established himself as a strong and stable climbing specialist, and after working to improve his time trial skills. In total, Sastre finished in the top ten overall of fifteen Grand Tours during his career, also remarkable was that Sastre never tested positive or was caught in a doping investigation given he performed at the top level of cycling for many years. Sastre rode for UCI Professional Continental team Saunier Duval–Prodir in 2011, when Sastre was young, professional cyclist Francisco Ignacio San Román lived in his parentss house during military service. Sastre was at first coached by his father, until he became an amateur, Sastre signed his first professional contract in 1997 with ONCE. In 2002 he switched to Team CSC, where he filled the role of captain in the Vuelta a España and, until 2005, had a free role in the Tour de France. This resulted in his winning the 13th stage of the 2003 Tour de France, Sastre finished 2 minutes 32 seconds ahead of team captain Tyler Hamilton on the stage. Before the 2004 season, Carlos Sastre and teammate Ivan Basso trained extensively to improve their time trial skills. They went to Boston to train on MITs wind tunnel and this helped Sastre improve his Vuelta a España performance, ranking 6th in the overall classification, as well as 8th in the 2004 Tour de France. In the 2005 Tour de France he was a domestique for Ivan Basso, however, as the captain of Team CSCs 2005 Vuelta a España campaign, Sastre finally reached the podium of a Grand Tour, finishing in third place behind Denis Menchov and initial winner Roberto Heras. Heras was later disqualified due to a positive EPO test, making Sastre the de facto second placed rider of the competition, after the Vuelta a España, he extended his contract with Team CSC for another year. In May 2006 he signed a new contract expired after the 2008 season. In the Giro, Sastres pace on select mountain stages helped Basso win the overall classification, Sastre finished 43rd in the GC of the 2006 Giro. Days before the 2006 Tour de France started in July, Team CSC suspended Ivan Basso as his name was brought up in the Operación Puerto doping case and this meant Sastre became the CSC team captain at the 2006 Tour. Even though his focus for the season had been the 2006 Vuelta a España in September. Sastre was placed well on stage 15, and came in 2nd on both stage 16 and 17, where he closed the gap to the yellow jersey Óscar Pereiro. Before the penultimate stage of the Tour, the stage 19 individual time trial, Sastre was the second placed rider overall, Sastre thus finished the 2006 Tour in 4th place
32.
2009 Giro d'Italia
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The 2009 Giro dItalia was the 92nd running of the Giro dItalia, one of cyclings Grand Tours. It was held from 9 to 31 May 2009, and marked the 100th year since the first edition of the race, starting in Venice and finishing in Rome,22 teams competed over 21 stages. The Giro was raced on a path through Italy, taking the peloton to some historic cities. Though the route lacked any well-known, storied climbs, the intermediate and mountain stages in the second. The 10th and the 16th stages were called the races queen stage, as both contained multiple difficult mountain climbs. Riders protested during the stage, a criterium in Milan. This protest was nominally about the safety conditions of the stage. In the protest, riders declined to contest the stage except for a sprint finish. Di Luca came in second,41 seconds behind the winner, subsequent to the Giro, both he and third-place finisher Franco Pellizotti became embroiled in doping scandals, were given bans, and had their results stripped. Twenty-two teams were announced for the Giro and these included fifteen ProTour teams, and seven Professional Continental teams. Three ProTour teams did not wish to participate, and were not invited, Cofidis, Euskaltel–Euskadi. Conversely, the organizers of the race originally declined to invite Fuji–Servetto, each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 198 cyclists. Contador and Evans both chose to focus on the Tour de France later in the season. Many riders were named as contenders, including Ivan Basso, Levi Leipheimer, Armstrong, Damiano Cunego, Carlos Sastre, Gilberto Simoni, Danilo Di Luca, Marzio Bruseghin, and Denis Menchov. Pre-race analysis noted that Armstrong, when on his best form, former winner Stefano Garzelli named Leipheimer as the favorite, as did some American media outlets. Armstrong considered Basso to be the favorite when speaking about the Giro in December 2008, other news outlets also referred to Basso as the pre-race favorite. Only a small number of stages were expected to end in a sprint, sprinters in the event included Mark Cavendish, Alessandro Petacchi, Allan Davis, Filippo Pozzato, Robert Hunter, Robert Förster, Tyler Farrar, Juan José Haedo, and Oscar Gatto. Milan, which had for years been the city in which the Giro concluded, was the site of a ten-lap criterium on the circuit that began the first Giro dItalia
33.
Denis Menchov
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Denis Nikolayevich Menchov is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general classification rider, a climber, in 2005 he won the Vuelta a España, which he won for a second time in 2007. Menchov also won the centenary Giro dItalia in 2009, and finished second in the Tour de France in 2010 becoming the first Russian to do so. He was later disqualified from this Tour de France, along with the 2009 and 2012 editions, born in Oryol, Menchov started his professional career in 2000 with the Banesto team of José Miguel Echevarri. His first success came in 2001, when he won the Tour de lAvenir, a year later he won a stage in the Dauphiné Liberé. In 2003, Menchov had his breakthrough when he finished 11th in the Tour de France,2004 was his last year at Banesto and his most successful. He won Tour of the Basque Country, a stage in Vuelta a Aragón, menchovs contract ran out in September 2004 and he moved to the Dutch Rabobank team for two years. He became team captain following Levi Leipheimers departure to Gerolsteiner, Menchov was Rabobanks main contender for the 2005 Tour de France, but due to a cold, he finished 85th, 2h 35m behind Lance Armstrong. His 2005 Vuelta was more successful and he won the opening time trial to Granada and the stage nine time trial to Lloret de Mar, and wore the leaders red jersey. On the fifteen stage, he lost sight of Roberto Heras on a climb, Heras was later disqualified for doping, and Menchov received the official win of the 2005 Vuelta, but the title was given back to Heras in 2012. He also captured the events Combined Classification, in the 2006 Tour de France Menchov won the 11th stage – the second mountain stage – from Tarbes to Aran Valley-Pla-de-Beret after a sprint with Leipheimer and Floyd Landis. The final week took its toll and he dropped from 3rd to 6th in the Alps and he later moved up to 5th overall after the disqualification of race winner Floyd Landis. Menchov abandoned the 2007 Tour de France on stage 17, the day after his teammate Michael Rasmussen was fired from Rabobank, later that year, he won the Vuelta a España after leading during the second half of the race. In the Vuelta he also won a stage, the mountains classification, in 2008 Menchov concentrated on Tour de France and did not defend his Vuelta title. He ended third in the Tour because Bernhard Kohl was disqualified for doping, also Menchov finished fifth in Giro prior. In 2009 Menchov won the Giro dItalia, with wins in stages 5 and 12, despite crashing in the final kilometer of the last-stage time-trial through Rome, Menchov held the pink jersey and extended his lead by 21 seconds, winning by 41 seconds over Italys Danilo Di Luca. Menchov also won the jersey that year. In the 2010 Tour de France, Menchov came in place after passing Samuel Sanchez in the final Time Trial
34.
Cadel Evans
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Cadel Lee Evans AM is an Australian former professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Cadel Evans is a four time Olympian, 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 and he became the first Australian to win the UCI ProTour and the UCI Road World Championships in 2009. Finally, he won the Tour de France in 2011, riding for BMC Racing Team, at age 34, he was among the five oldest winners in the races history. He is also one of only two non-Europeans to have won the Tour, the other being Greg LeMond, Evans retired on 1 February 2015, after completing a race named in his honour. Cadel Evans was born on 14 February 1977 at the Katherine Hospital, Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia, to Helen, a manager, and Paul Evans. He spent his childhood in the small Aboriginal community of Barunga,80 km east of Katherine. At the age of seven, he was hit in the head by a horse, and spent seven days in an induced coma. In 1986, his parents separated and he first moved with his mother to Armidale, New South Wales, and then to the Melbourne suburb of Eltham, Victoria, Evans attended Newling Public School in Armidale, and Eltham High School in Melbourne. Skateboarding was one of his teenage interests and his father describes him as a good student, but otherwise just an ordinary kid who would leave his toys around, Not in wildest dreams would he imagine that his son would become a top world athlete. Evans started his career in 1995 as a Scholarship-holder in the Australian Institute of Sport mountain bike Program. Cycling Programs MTB coach Damien Grundy, and up to 1998 under road coach Heiko Salzwedel.9 per cent of the population and this ability led to him becoming affectionately known as The Lung. Evans won bronze medals at the 1995 Junior world mountain bike championship and Junior world road time trial championship and he won the cross-country event in the Mountain Bike World Cup in both 1998 and 1999. In 1998 Shayne Bannan was the road cycling coach based in Italy. In 1997, he rode for the Diamondback MTB team, and he has ridden for Saeco, Mapei and Team Telekom. In Mapei, he was coached by Aldo Sassi, who helped him make the transition from mountain biker to grand tourer, after Sassis death from cancer in 2010, Evans continued cooperation with his protege Andrea Morelli. After winning the Tour in 2011, Evans dedicated the victory to the late coach, from the 2005 season he joined Davitamon-Lotto and came eighth in his first Tour de France, the first Australian in the top ten since Phil Anderson. Evans won the Tour de Romandie, beating the Spaniards Alberto Contador Velasco and Alejandro Valverde on the very last stage and he finished fifth in the Tour de France but was promoted to fourth after the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis due to a failed drug test
Fabian Cancellara (SUI)
Mark Cavendish (GBR)
Thomas Voeckler (FRA)
Thor Hushovd (NOR)
Luis León Sánchez (ESP)
Nicki Sørensen (DEN)
Heinrich Haussler (GER)
Sergei Ivanov (RUS)
Fränk Schleck (LUX)
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Lance Armstrong (USA)
Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)
Roman Kreuziger (CZE)
Nicolas Roche (IRL)
Peter Velits (SVK)
