1.
Road bicycle racing
–
Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events. Professional racing has been most popular in Western Europe, centered historically on France, Spain, Italy, since the mid-1980s the sport has diversified with professional races now held on all continents of the globe. Semi-professional and amateur races are held in many countries. The sport is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale, as well as the UCIs annual World Championships for men and women, the biggest event is the Tour de France, a three-week race that can attract over 500,000 roadside supporters a day. Road bicycle racing began as a sport in 1868. The first world championship was in 1893 and cycling has been part of the Olympic Games since the sequence started in Athens in 1896. Road racing in its modern form originated in the late 19th century, the sport was popular in the western European countries of France, Spain, Belgium, and Italy. Some of Europes earliest road bicycle races remain among the sports biggest events and these early races include Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Paris–Roubaix, the Tour de France, the Milan–San Remo and Giro di Lombardia, the Giro dItalia, the Volta a Catalunya, and the Tour of Flanders. They provided a template for other races around the world, while the sport has spread throughout the world, these historic races remain the most prestigious for a cyclist to win. Single-day race distances may be as long as 150 miles, races over short circuits, often in town or city centres, are known as criteriums. Individual time trial is an event in which cyclists race alone against the clock on flat or rolling terrain, a team time trial, including two-man team time trial, is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock. In both team and individual time trials, the start the race at different times so that each start is fair. Race distances vary from a few km to between approximately 20 miles and 60 miles, stage races consist of several races, or stages, ridden consecutively. The competitor with the lowest cumulative time to all stages is declared the overall, or general classification. Stage races may also have other classifications and awards, such as stage winners, the points classification winner. A stage race can also be a series of road races, the stage winner is the first person to cross the finish line that day or the time trial rider with the lowest time on the course. The overall winner of a race is the rider who takes the lowest aggregate time to complete all stages
Road bicycle racing
–
A breakaway of three riders during the
women's road race at the
2012 Summer Olympics
Road bicycle racing
–
The Tour of Gippsland – a stage race in Australia– climbing through the scenic area of the Omeo Shire
Road bicycle racing
–
Cyclists
drafting behind one another, forming a paceline
Road bicycle racing
–
GT:
1991 Giro d'Italia.
2.
Europe
–
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
Europe
–
Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map
Europe
Europe
–
A medieval
T and O map from 1472 showing the three continents as domains of the sons of
Noah — Asia to Sem (
Shem), Europe to Iafeth (
Japheth), and Africa to Cham (
Ham)
Europe
–
Early modern depiction of
Europa regina ('Queen Europe') and the mythical
Europa of the 8th century BC.
3.
Tour de France
–
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
Tour de France
–
Maurice Garin, winner of the first Tour de France standing on the right. The man on the left is possibly
Leon Georget (1903)
Tour de France
–
Tour de France
Tour de France
–
Jacques Goddet memorial at the top of the
Col du Tourmalet
Tour de France
–
Fabian Cancellara pictured at the
2010 Tour de France. He is the rider who has worn the yellow jersey as leader of the
general classification for the most days without ever winning the race.
4.
Union Cycliste Internationale
–
The Union Cycliste Internationale, commonly known by the acronym UCI, is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland, the UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces disciplinary rules, such as in matters of doping. It also oversees the World Championships, UCI was founded in 1900 in Paris by the national cycling sports organisations of Belgium, the United States, France, Italy, and Switzerland. Britain found itself outflanked and it was not able to join the UCI – under the conditions the UCI had imposed – until 1903, there were originally 30 countries affiliated to the union. They did not have voting power and some had no vote at all. Votes were distributed by the number of tracks, or velodromes, France had 18 votes, the highest number, and Germany and Italy 14 each. Britain had eight, a number the writer Bill Mills said was acquired by including many rather doubtful grass tracks, in 1965, under the pressure of the IOC, the UCI created two subsidiary bodies, the International Amateur Cycling Federation and the International Professional Cycling Federation. The UCI assumed a role coordinating both bodies, the FIAC was based in Rome, the FICP in Luxembourg, and the UCI in Geneva. The FIAC was the bigger of the two organisations, with 127 member federations across all five continents and it was dominated by the countries of the Eastern bloc which were amateur. The FIAC arranged representation of cycling at the Olympic Games, in 1992, the UCI reunified the FIAC and FICP, and merged them back into the UCI. The combined organisation then relocated to Aigle, close to the IOC in Lausanne, in 2004, the UCI constructed a 200-metre velodrome at the new World Cycling Centre adjacent to its headquarters. In September 2007 the UCI announced that it had decided to award ProTour status for the first time ever to an event outside of Europe, the announcement followed negotiations between UCI President Pat McQuaid and South Australian Premier Mike Rann. In 2013 Tracey Gaudry became the first woman appointed as president of the UCI. The UCI organises cyclings world championships, administration of which it gives to member nations, the first championships were on the road and on the track. They were allocated originally to member nations in turn, on condition the country was deemed competent, a nation given a championship or series of championships was required to pay the UCI30 per cent of ticket receipts from the track and 10 per cent from the road. Of this, the UCI kept 30 per cent and gave the rest to competing nations in proportion to the number of events in which it competed, the highest gate money in this pre-war era was 600000 francs in Paris in 1903. There were originally five championships, amateur and professional sprint, amateur and professional road race, continental European organisers generally preferred massed races on circuits, fenced throughout or along the finish to charge for entry. The original records were on the track, unpaced, human-paced and they were promoted for three classes of bicycle, solos, tandems and unusual machines such as what are now known as recumbents, on which the rider lies horizontal
Union Cycliste Internationale
–
The Union Cycliste Internationale headquarters in
Aigle, Switzerland
5.
UCI World Tour
–
The UCI World Tour is the premier annual male elite road cycling tour, sitting above the various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 28 events and a ranking system based upon performances in these. The World Ranking was launched in 2009, and merged fully with its predecessor the UCI ProTour in 2011, both were replaced from the 2005 season by the UCI ProTour and UCI Continental Circuits. As a result, the UCI World Ranking was introduced, merging performances from both the ProTour and other prestigious events, at the start of 2011, the ProTour and World Ranking were fully merged again. The ranking system was re-branded as the World Tour, whilst ProTeam was retained as a category for professional teams. All ProTeams gain automatic entry to World Tour events, despite finishing second in the team rankings in 2012, Team Katusha were initially refused a place in the top tier for 2013. After appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, they were reinstated in February 2013, although the UCI had earlier asserted that the reinstatement of Katusha would result in demotion of another team, they eventually announced that there would be 19 ProTour teams for that one season. In 2015, there are only 17 teams, as there was no applicant for the 18th slot, for the 2017 season the UCI added 10 new events to the calendar, bringing the total number of events to 38. The UCI World Tour consists of 37 events, when a national squad, that is not a UCI registered team, participated in a race, its members were not eligible to receive points. In 2011, a rule meant that only riders on ProTeam squads were eligible for points. From 2012 to 2015, the Team Time Trial at the UCI Road World Championships contributed points to the team classification only, riders in italics are no longer active. Teams in Italics are no longer active in the UCI World Tour, dark grey indicates that the team was not operating in the year in question. Light blue indicates that the team was competing at a level in the year in question
UCI World Tour
6.
Climbing specialist
–
A climbing specialist or climber, also known as a grimpeur, is a road bicycle racer who can ride especially well on highly inclined roads, such as those found among hills or mountains. In a sustained climb, the average speed declines, the advantage of drafting is diminished. A good climber modulates his speed and chooses the best line on a climb, if the group maintains a high tempo, it is more difficult for a rider to attack and ride away from the group. Another important role in climbing is that of attacker or counter-attacker, a successful escape can help the climber achieve a victory if the race has a mountain-top finish, or even in a flat finish if the climber is able to maintain his lead after the climb is over. Climbing stages, along with individual time trials, are key stages in winning long stage races, climbers tend to have a lot of endurance and specifically developed muscles for long hard climbs. They also tend to have a slim, lightweight physique, the most successful climbing specialists come in different shapes and specializations. Their endurance also makes them good stage race specialists, marco Pantani, champion of the 1998 Tour de France, was able to make attack after attack to quickly tire out his opponents. The other type of rider or puncheur have similarly small physiques to climbing specialists but possess more power which may give them an advantage in short, examples of such hills include the Mur de Huy in the Flèche Wallonne and the Manayunk Wall in the Philadelphia International Championship. Examples of such riders include Philippe Gilbert, Paolo Bettini and Danilo Di Luca, however, their lower endurance is a disadvantage in stage races where the climbs are usually longer, albeit at lower gradients. Many climbers cannot sprint very well because their small size does not allow them to possess the strength of the bigger. The last type of climber is the breakaway specialist who can ride aggressively with many attacks and sustain their lead over ascents, descents, and flats. Famous examples include Laurent Jalabert and Richard Virenque both of whom earned their King of the Mountains jerseys in the Tour de France by day-long breakaways amassing points at every summit. Most notably, Laurent Jalabert started his career as a sprinter but later transformed himself into a different type of rider, many riders who are primarily time-trialists have also been able to compete in everything but the steepest climbs because of their good power-to-weight ratio. Sports physiologists have attributed the advantage that small stature holds in cycling up steep ascents to the way in which body mass and body surface area scale according to height. As a hypothetical cyclist’s height increases, the areas of his body increase according to the square of his height whereas the mass of his body increases according to the cube of his height. The surface area relation applies not only to the surface area of the body, but also to the surface areas of the lungs and blood vessels. Thus, an equally proportioned cyclist who has 50% more body mass will generate only about 30% more aerobic power, on a steep climb most of the cyclist’s energy goes into lifting his own weight, so the heavier cyclist will be at a competitive disadvantage. There is, of course, a limit to the benefit of small stature because, among other factors
Climbing specialist
–
Marco Pantani was a climbing specialist
7.
Cycling sprinter
–
Apart from using sprinting as a racing tactic, sprinters can also compete for intermediate sprints, often to provide additional excitement in cities along the route of a race. In stage races, intermediate sprints and final stage placings may be combined in a points classification, for example, in the points classification in the Tour de France, the maillot vert is won by the races most consistent sprinter. At the Tour de France, the most successful recipient of this honor is German sprinter Erik Zabel, sprinters have a higher ratio of fast-twitch muscle fibers than non-sprinters. Some sprinters have a top speed but may take a longer distance to achieve it, while others can produce short. A sprinter is usually heavier, limiting their speed advantage to relatively flat sections and it is therefore not uncommon for sprinters to be dropped by the peloton if a race is through hilly terrain. Some prefer a longer launch while others prefer to draft or slipstream behind their teammates or opponents before accelerating in the final meters, some prefer slight uphill finishes, while others prefer downhill finishes. In conventional road races, sprinters may bide their time waiting until the last few hundred metres before putting on a burst of speed to win the race. These teammates tend to peel off one by one as they tire, the last teammate is known as the lead-out sprinter, several of the Classic one day races, for example Milan–San Remo or Paris–Tours tend to favour sprinters because of their long distance and relatively flat terrain. Most editions of these end in a bunch sprint, often won by racers also successful in the points classification at stage races. Stronger sprinters with abilities in hilly terrain or on cobblestones also have good prospects of winning other major classics such as the Tour of Flanders or the Amstel Gold Race. The first great pure sprinter in the Tour de France was Frenchman Charles Pélissier who won eight stages in the 1930 Tour de France, still a record (shared with Eddy Merckx and Freddy Maertens. A year later, Pélissier battled with Italian sprinter Raffaele di Paco in one of the first major sprinter clashes, in the 1941 Vuelta a España, Delio Rodríguez won 12 stages, followed by 8 the next year. He even managed to win the Overall Classification a few years later, another successful sprinter of the interbellum was French allrounder André Leducq. Although he could do more than sprint alone, including winning stage races, Freddy Maertens only participated in six grand tours but took home the Points Jersey on four occasions, winning 12 of his 15 Tour de France stage wins in a bunch sprint. His only Vuelta-participation in 1977 resulted not only in a record 13 stage wins, cipollini holds the record for most stage wins in the Grand Tours as a sprinter,57, of which 42 were in the Giro dItalia. Fellow Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi won stages and the Points Classification in all three tours, including 20 stage wins in the Vuelta. The record for wins in the Vuelta belongs to Delio Rodriguez. Mark Cavendish was named the Tour de Frances best sprinter of all time by French paper LEquipe on July 15,2012 and his tally currently stands on 43 stage wins in Grand Tours,28 of which have been bunch sprints in the Tour de France
Cycling sprinter
–
A
bunch sprint finish at the
2011 Tour de France, in which sprinter
Mark Cavendish (in the
green jersey) is being led out by the last of his team's
sprint train.
8.
Individual time trial
–
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
Individual time trial
–
Bradley Wiggins at the
2012 Tour de France, riding a time trial
bicycle with aerodynamic wheels and aero bars
Individual time trial
–
Ellen van Dijk riding the time trial at the
2012 Summer Olympics.
Individual time trial
–
2014 time trial bike of world champion
Ellen van Dijk
9.
Team time trials
–
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
Team time trials
–
Team CSC at the
2004 Tour de France,
Stage 4
Team time trials
–
Rotation in a single pace line.
10.
UCI ProTour
–
The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI. Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of ProTour cycling teams, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the series. It was initially the basis of a long competition for rankings points, created for 2005 to replace the UCI Road World Cup series. For 2011, the ProTour and World Ranking were fully merged into the UCI World Tour, ProTour status for teams – relabelled UCI ProTeams – will continue as the highest level of registration, and will carry the right and obligation to participate in all World Tour races. The ProTour licences are given to a maximum of 20 teams, the exception to this rule was the Phonak team, which was given only a two-year licence due to previous doping allegations. Licence holders can apply for each year, which is dependent upon a check on contracts and budgets. After 2005, the Fassa Bortolo and Domina Vacanze teams folded, the Unibet. com Cycling Team received Phonaks ProTour license, and the Swiss-based, Kazakh-backed Astana Team received the license previously owned by Manolo Saiz and his Liberty Seguros-Würth. Unibet. com and Discovery Channel discontinued after the 2007 season, at the end of 2008, another two teams dropped out, Crédit Agricole and Gerolsteiner. Their licenses were taken over by Garmin-Slipstream and Team Katusha, bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis were denied licence renewals for the 2010 season, and new licences were given to Team Sky and Team RadioShack. Although Lampre–Farnese Vini had had its licence renewed until 2013, its registration for 2010 season was temporarily rejected, UCI bylaws were later changed to require a team to be registered before its license is granted or renewed, to avoid a repeat of this situation. Season-long competitions for professional road racing were first instituted in 1948, the ProTour has been criticized for not having a system in place for a timely upgrade and downgrade of teams from/to the lower-tier UCI Continental Circuits. During the 2007 UCI ProTour season, the ASO, RCS and Unipublic, organisers of the Tour de France, Giro dItalia and Vuelta a España respectively, remained at odds with each other. The primary reason was that grand tour organisers wanted more freedom to invite national teams. Failure to achieve agreement lead UCI chairman Pat McQuaid to send a letter in February 2008 to all professional teams urging them to boycott Paris–Nice because it was an outlawed race. In response, the AIGCP announced that the teams had unanimously decided to part in Paris–Nice. Quick Step team manager Patrick Lefevere commented, Im more than fed up all the arguing. ASO and UCI dont know how much damage they are doing to the sport, what am I supposed to tell my sponsors. This conflict has been going on for three years and is escalating all the time, can the teams be certain that they will be able to take part in the Tour de France later in the year
UCI ProTour
–
Asia
11.
Unibet.com Cycling Team
–
Cycle Collstrop was a Swedish UCI Professional Continental cycling team. It was the successor to Unibet. com, which was sponsored by the online gambling website Unibet. com. The team rode on the European Continental Circuit, until the beginning of the 2007 season, in 2008, they were awarded a Professional Continental licence. The new team was led by Steffen Wesemann, and problems previously experienced through having had sponsorship from a company were avoided with new sponsorship from a wooden flooring company. Unibet. com had also drawn into the Operación Puerto doping investigation. The cyclist Carlos Quesada was named by the Spanish authorities as a patient of Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes and was suspended by the team. Although Quesada had been named, he has not yet been charged with doping. Nevertheless, the team did not pay the Spanish cyclist his salary, the team, whose sponsors have pulled out of cycling, failed to submit its application for renewal by the 20 November 2007 deadline and did not take part in the 2008 UCI ProTour. Many of the members went to the newly formed team Vacansoleil. Despite obtaining a ProTour license for the 2007 season, Unibet. com were not granted entry in Paris–Nice, the organiser of the French race, Amaury Sport Organisation, argued that French law bans gambling companies. Nevertheless, Unibet. com took part in the French races GP La Marseillaise, RCS also snubbed Unibet. com for the Tirreno–Adriatico, explaining that Italian gambling law required a special license for Unibet. However, as the Unibet. com management pointed out, Unibet did have the license, while Predictor-Lottos sponsor did not, however, Unibet. com was not chosen to ride in any of the three Grand Tours
Unibet.com Cycling Team
–
Jersey
12.
Astana Team
–
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
Astana Team
–
Alexander Vinokourov -
Vuelta -2006 winner
Astana Team
–
Astana Pro Team
Astana Team
–
2008 team car
Astana Team
–
Alberto Contador
13.
2008 Tour de France
–
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
2008 Tour de France
–
Romain Feillu was the only French cyclist to wear the
yellow jersey in the 2008 Tour de France; he wore it for one day after stage 3.
2008 Tour de France
–
2008 Tour de France
2008 Tour de France
–
Team CSC received €450,000 for the overall victory of
Carlos Sastre.
2008 Tour de France
–
Writing on the street during Tour de France 2008 at
Alpe d'Huez, satirically saying that
EPO is available in 500 meters.
14.
Team Columbia
–
HTC–Highroad is a former professional cycling team competing in international road bicycle races. Their last title sponsor was HTC Corporation, a Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones, High Road Sports was the management company of team manager Bob Stapleton. Past title sponsors include Columbia Sportswear and Deutsche Telekom, the team was founded in 1991 as Team Telekom, sponsored by Deutsche Telekom. In 2004 their name changed to the T-Mobile Team, the team was under the management of Bob Stapleton and Rolf Aldag. Former leaders included Olaf Ludwig, Walter Godefroot and Eddy Vandenhecke, Luuc Eisenga and Brian Holm, at the end of 1988, former World Champion Hennie Kuiper set up a German cycling team that was sponsored by the city of Stuttgart and rode on Eddy Merckx cycles. The team was called Stuttgart-Merckx-Gonsor for the 1989 season and had nine riders, at that time when there were no German cycling teams and the countrys main cycling event, the Rund um den Henninger Turm had not been won by a German since Rudi Altig in 1970. During its first year of existence team rider Dariusc Kajzer brought the team its first success in the National Road Race Championships in Germany, the team became Stuttgart-Mercedes-Merckx-Puma in 1990 and Bölts continued the success of the team by becoming road race champion of Germany. Deutsche Telekom came in as the sponsor in 1991 and the team was known as Telekom-Mercedes-Merckx-Puma. According to an interview with Godefroot, it was Bölts’ 17th place at the 1991 Vuelta a España that prompted him to accept the Telekom management’s offer to take over the running of the team, Godefroot signed several riders including Classics specialist and 1991 Paris–Roubaix winner Marc Madiot. Jens Heppner continued this streak with his tenth place at the 1992 Tour de France. The Telekom team signed all the cyclists that were coming from Germany at that time. These included Jens Heppner and Christian Henn in 1992, Erik Zabel, Rolf Aldag and Steffen Wesemann in 1993, many of these riders would ride for more than ten years with the team. Olaf Ludwig also signed in 1993 and finished his career with the team, in 1994, Zabel won the first UCI Road World Cup victory in the history of the team, the Paris–Tours. In 1993, the team achieved success in the national championship road race in Germany. This was the start of the team’s 11 year domination and possession of the German champion’s jersey, the team soon became an important presence on the international cycling stage. However the team was not invited to the 1995 Tour de France, Zabel went on to win two stages in the race. The next two years saw the breakthrough of the team. In addition, Zabel won the first of six green jerseys for winning the points competition, Bolts won the Clásica de San Sebastián and Wesemann won his second and the first of four wins with the Telekom team of the Peace Race
Team Columbia
–
1997 Tour:
Jan Ullrich in the leader's jersey, with
Udo Bölts riding in support.
Team Columbia
–
HTC-Highroad
Team Columbia
–
T-Mobile-Team, 2004 Tour de France
Team Columbia
–
Serhiy Honchar riding the
Prologue at the
2006 Tour de France
15.
ProTour
–
The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI. Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of ProTour cycling teams, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the series. It was initially the basis of a long competition for rankings points, created for 2005 to replace the UCI Road World Cup series. For 2011, the ProTour and World Ranking were fully merged into the UCI World Tour, ProTour status for teams – relabelled UCI ProTeams – will continue as the highest level of registration, and will carry the right and obligation to participate in all World Tour races. The ProTour licences are given to a maximum of 20 teams, the exception to this rule was the Phonak team, which was given only a two-year licence due to previous doping allegations. Licence holders can apply for each year, which is dependent upon a check on contracts and budgets. After 2005, the Fassa Bortolo and Domina Vacanze teams folded, the Unibet. com Cycling Team received Phonaks ProTour license, and the Swiss-based, Kazakh-backed Astana Team received the license previously owned by Manolo Saiz and his Liberty Seguros-Würth. Unibet. com and Discovery Channel discontinued after the 2007 season, at the end of 2008, another two teams dropped out, Crédit Agricole and Gerolsteiner. Their licenses were taken over by Garmin-Slipstream and Team Katusha, bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis were denied licence renewals for the 2010 season, and new licences were given to Team Sky and Team RadioShack. Although Lampre–Farnese Vini had had its licence renewed until 2013, its registration for 2010 season was temporarily rejected, UCI bylaws were later changed to require a team to be registered before its license is granted or renewed, to avoid a repeat of this situation. Season-long competitions for professional road racing were first instituted in 1948, the ProTour has been criticized for not having a system in place for a timely upgrade and downgrade of teams from/to the lower-tier UCI Continental Circuits. During the 2007 UCI ProTour season, the ASO, RCS and Unipublic, organisers of the Tour de France, Giro dItalia and Vuelta a España respectively, remained at odds with each other. The primary reason was that grand tour organisers wanted more freedom to invite national teams. Failure to achieve agreement lead UCI chairman Pat McQuaid to send a letter in February 2008 to all professional teams urging them to boycott Paris–Nice because it was an outlawed race. In response, the AIGCP announced that the teams had unanimously decided to part in Paris–Nice. Quick Step team manager Patrick Lefevere commented, Im more than fed up all the arguing. ASO and UCI dont know how much damage they are doing to the sport, what am I supposed to tell my sponsors. This conflict has been going on for three years and is escalating all the time, can the teams be certain that they will be able to take part in the Tour de France later in the year
ProTour
–
Asia
16.
Maillot jaune
–
The general classification is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey, the winner of the first Tour de France wore a green armband, not a yellow jersey. After the second Tour de France, the rules were changed, and the classification was no longer calculated by time. This points system was kept until 1912, after which it changed back into the time classification, at that time, the leader still did not wear a yellow jersey. There is doubt over when the yellow jersey began, Thys declined, saying making himself more visible in yellow would encourage other riders to ride against him. He said, He then made his argument from another direction, several stages later, it was my team manager at Peugeot, Baugé, who urged me to give in. The yellow jersey would be an advertisement for the company and, so a yellow jersey was bought in the first shop we came to. It was just the size, although we had to cut a slightly larger hole for my head to go through. He spoke of the years race, when I won the first stage and was beaten by a tyre by Bossus in the second. On the following stage, the maillot jaune passed to Georget after a crash, the Tour historian Jacques Augendre called Thys a valorous rider. Well-known for his intelligence and said his claim seems free from all suspicion, but, No newspaper mentions a yellow jersey before the war. Being at a loss for witnesses, we cant solve this enigma, the formal history, therefore, is that the first yellow jersey was worn by the Frenchman Eugène Christophe in the stage from Grenoble to Geneva on July 18,1919. You already know that our director decided that the man leading the race should wear a jersey in the colours of LAuto, the battle to wear this jersey is going to be passionate. Christophe disliked wearing it, anyway, and complained that spectators imitated canaries whenever he passed and it was a habit encouraged by his nickname of Cri-Cri which is French babytalk for a bird. Christophe remembered riders and spectators teasing, Ah, the yellow jersey, what are you doing, Madame Cri-Cri, adding, And that lasted the whole course. There was no formal presentation when Christophe wore his first yellow jersey in Grenoble and he was given it the night before and tried it on later in his hotel. In the next Tour de France in 1920, the jersey was initially not awarded. After Desgranges death, his initials were added to the yellow jersey
Maillot jaune
–
Yellow jersey
17.
Maglia rosa
–
The general classification in the Giro dItalia is the most important classification of the Giro dItalia, which determines who is the overall winner. It is therefore considered more important than secondary classifications as the classification or the mountains classification. Since 1931, the leader of the classification is identified by a pink jersey. In the first editions of the Giro dItalia, a system was used for the calculation of the general classification. All stage results are added together, taking into account time bonuses for high finishes and intermediate sprints, the color pink was chosen because La Gazzetta dello Sport, the sports newspaper that created the Giro, was printed on pink paper. List of Giro dItalia general classification winners Pink jersey statistics Media related to General classification in the Giro dItalia at Wikimedia Commons
Maglia rosa
–
Pink jersey
18.
Maillot vert
–
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
Maillot vert
–
Green jersey
19.
Eddy Merckx
–
He was born in Meensel-Kiezegem, Brabant, Belgium. He grew up in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre where his parents ran a grocery store and he played several sports, but found his true passion in cycling. Merckx got his first bicycle at the age of three or four and competed in his first race in 1961. His first victory came at Petit-Enghien in October 1961, and after winning eighty races as an amateur racer and his first major victory came in the Milan–San Remo a year later, after switching to Peugeot–BP–Michelin. After the 1967 season, Merckx moved to Faema, and won the Giro dItalia, four times between 1970 and 1974, Merckx completed a Grand Tour double. His final double also coincided with winning the road race at the UCI Road World Championships to make him the first rider to accomplish cyclings Triple Crown. Merckx broke the record in October 1972, extending the record by almost 800 meters. He acquired the nickname The Cannibal after a teammate told his daughter of how Merckx would not let anyone else win, Merckx achieved 525 victories over his eighteen-year career. He is one of three riders to have won all five Monuments of Cycling. The other two are fellow Belgians Roger De Vlaeminck and Rik Van Looy, the only major one-day race he did not win was Paris–Tours, his best performance was sixth in 1973. Merckx was successful on the road and also on the track, as well as in the stage races. He is widely thought to be the greatest and most successful rider in the history of cycling, however, Merckx was caught in three separate doping incidents during his career. Since Merckxs retirement from the sport on 18 May 1978, he has remained active in the cycling world and he began his own bicycle chain, Eddy Merckx Cycles, in 1980 and its bicycles were used by several professional teams in the 1980s and 1990s. Merckx coached the Belgian national cycling team for years, stopping in 1996. In 2001, he played a role in getting the Tour of Qatar organized to start in 2002. He co-owns the tour and also the Tour of Oman, both of which he still organizes, edouard Louis Joseph Merckx was born in Meensel-Kiezegem, Brabant, Belgium on 17 June 1945 to Jules Merckx and Jenny Pittomvils. Merckx was the first-born of the family, in September 1946, the family moved to Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, in Brussels, Belgium in order to take over a grocery store that had been up for lease. In May 1948, Jenny gave birth to twins, a boy, Michel, as a child Eddy was hyperactive and was always playing outside
Eddy Merckx
–
Merckx in 1973
Eddy Merckx
–
Merckx finished in twelfth position in the men's road race at the
1966 UCI Road World Championships.
Eddy Merckx
–
During the twelfth stage of the
1968 Giro d'Italia, Merckx caught the leading group, passed them, and rode solo to the stage finish atop the
Tre Cime di Lavaredo (pictured) in poor weather to win the stage and take the race lead.
Eddy Merckx
–
The Velodrome Eddy Merckx at Mourenx was named in honor of Merckx in 1999 due to his efforts during the seventeenth stage at the
1969 Tour de France.
20.
Tony Rominger
–
Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992,1993 and 1994 and the Giro dItalia in 1995. He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother, romingers strengths were time-trialling, climbing and recuperation. He was a challenger to Miguel Indurain in the Tour de France, placing second in 1993 and his three wins in the Vuelta is a record. In 2005 Roberto Heras broke that record but two months later tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO and was disqualified, Heras win has since been reinstated. In 1994 Rominger broke the hour record twice in a few days. He used Bordeaux velodrome to ride 53.832 km and then 55.291 km and he retired in 1997 after breaking his collarbone at that years Tour de France. He is the agent of Austrian racing cyclist Matthias Brändle, for his attempt on the Hour Record in 1994, he was coached by Dr Michele Ferrari, who was at the trackside during the ride. Palmarès Tony Rominger profile at Cycling Archives
Tony Rominger
–
Rominger at the 1993
Paris–Nice
21.
Laurent Jalabert
–
Laurent Jalabert is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Affectionately known as Jaja, he won many one-day and stage races and was ranked number 1 in the world in 1995,1996,1997 and 1999. With Alessandro Petacchi, Eddy Merckx, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov and Mark Cavendish and he turned professional with the French Toshiba team in 1989 and quickly established himself as a daring sprinter. He moved on to the Spanish ONCE team under Manolo Saiz, where he reinvented himself as a capable of winning one-day races. A catalyst was an accident at the finish of the 1994 Tour de France stage in Armentières, a policeman leaned out and several riders hit him. Jalabert was flung into the air and his bicycle was destroyed and he injured his face and promised his wife to change his style of riding. It only took a short while and he won the 1995 Vuelta a España along with the points and climbers competitions. This caused discontent among French fans and it took years for them to warm to him and he moved to CSC in 2001, where he won the stage on 14 July, the French national day, Bastille Day, in the 2001 Tour de France. Earlier in the year he had injured his back in a domestic accident and he retired in 2002 after winning the climbers jersey in the Tour and going on a solo escape in the Pyrenees. He won several stages of the Tour de France, as a winning the green jersey twice. His wins on Bastille Day in Tour de France in 1995 and 2001 ensured him a place in the hearts of French fans, in the 1990s he dominated Spanish stage races. Jalabert and Alex Zülle were a constant threat to other teams in the Vuelta a España, taking turns winning stages, the overall classification and the points jersey. The strength of ONCE, with such as Johan Bruyneel and Neil Stephens. Jalabert is known for sporting generosity, I never thought wed catch him, and when I saw he was ready to drop I felt sorry for him. I wanted to show its not true Im trying to win it all and my goal is the Tour of Spain, Jalabert said. When the Vuelta was moved to September, Jalabert was finally able to compete in the classics and stage races such as Paris–Nice, winning many stages. His palmarès include Milan–San Remo in 1995 and the Giro di Lombardia in 1997 and he also won La Flèche Wallonne in 1995 and 1997, and the Clásica de San Sebastián in 2001 and 2002. Absent from his palmares is the world cycling championship road race and he also won an award as the most combative rider in the Tour de France in 2001 and 2002
Laurent Jalabert
–
Jalabert at the
1993 Tour de France
Laurent Jalabert
–
Jalabert at the
2009 UCI Road World Championships
22.
Alessandro Petacchi
–
Alessandro Petacchi is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for the Wilier Triestina–Selle Italia team. A specialist sprinter, Petacchi has won 48 grand tour stages with wins of the jersey in the Giro dItalia in 2004, the Vuelta a España in 2005. He also won the classics Milan – San Remo in 2005 and his career spanned over 18 years during which he earned 183 victories. In 2007, Petacchi was banned from cycling and had his results achieved disqualified for doping, the court later said that he had not cheated on purpose but had not taken enough care when consuming his legal asthma drug. He announced his retirement as a sprinter on 23 April 2013, and terminated his contract at Lampre–Merida. He rejoined the peloton in August 2013, joining the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step squad. Petacchi turned professional in 1996, and rode for a number of teams, in 2006 he moved to Team Milram with sprinter Erik Zabel, following the disbanding of Fassa Bortolo. His explosive speed won him stages in all three of the Grand Tours, in 2004 he won a record nine stages at the Giro dItalia, which resulted in winning the points classification. He won his first classic in 2005, Milan–San Remo and he had the better of a mass sprint, beating Danilo Hondo, Thor Hushovd, Stuart OGrady and Óscar Freire. He withdrew from the 2006 Giro dItalia after crashing during the third stage and he had finished the stage with a broken kneecap. In 2007, he won five stages in the Giro dItalia, bringing his tally of ProTour victories to 21, during that season, he registered a success of prestige in Paris-Tours. With support from his teammate Erik Zabel, Petacchi was the victor in the gallop, with Francesco Chicchi. In 2010, he won the first and fourth stages of the Tour de France, before going on to complete the grand slam as he won the green sprinters jersey to complete the feat at all the grand tours. In so doing he was the 1st person to complete the feat since 1999, after a non-negative result for the asthma drug salbutamol, which Petacchi had clearance to use, he was placed on non-active status and missed the 2007 Tour de France. Petacchi was absolved when the Italian Cycling Federation ruled that overuse of Salbutamol was human error, on 6 May 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Petacchi until the end of August, applied retroactively from November. It said all competitive results obtained during the 2007 Giro dItalia shall be disqualified with all of the resulting consequences including forfeiture of any medals, points, results after 31 October 2007 and during his ban were disqualified including five Giro dItalia stage wins. The court said Petacchi had not intended to cheat and that it was likely that he had consumed too much medication. Petacchi maintained that he had done no wrong, as a result of this, on 16 May 2008, Petacchi was fired by Team Milram
Alessandro Petacchi
–
Petacchi at the
2015 Brabantse Pijl.
Alessandro Petacchi
–
Petacchi at the 2006 Rund um den Henninger Turm.
Alessandro Petacchi
–
Petacchi at the
2005 Milan–San Remo, where he won his first
Classic race.
23.
Mark Cavendish
–
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
Mark Cavendish
–
Cavendish at the
2015 Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
Mark Cavendish
–
Cavendish (center) sprinting for
stage six of the
2006 Tour of Britain against
Tom Boonen (left) while riding for
T-Mobile Team
Mark Cavendish
–
Cavendish (foreground) handing over to
Bradley Wiggins, on their way to winning gold in the
madison at the
2008 track world championships in Manchester
Mark Cavendish
–
Team-mates
George Hincapie and Cavendish during stage three of the
2009 Tour de France
24.
Adam Hansen
–
Adam Hansen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour Lotto–Soudal. In 2012, Hansen became the second Australian to complete all three Grand Tours – the Giro dItalia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España – in a calendar year. He was the rider to accomplish that feat in 2012. In completing the 2015 Vuelta a España, his grand tour in a row. By completing the 2016 Vuelta, he became the first rider to complete 16 consecutive Grand Tours, in 2013, Hansen broke away early in the seventh stage of the Giro dItalia, a stage featuring numerous short and steep climbs. Hansen shed his breakaway companions and won in solo fashion in Pescara in pouring rain, in stage 19 of the 2014 Vuelta a España, Hansen attacked the peloton with 4 km to go and resisted the disorganized chase to win solo. As an engineer Hansen has designed his own shoes and ridden with them on numerous occasions and he has also written software for his current team, Lotto-Soudal, which manages the teams logistics. He lives in Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Czech Republic, and has since 2005, official website Media related to Adam Hansen at Wikimedia Commons
Adam Hansen
–
Hansen at the
2009 Tour Down Under.
25.
Carlos Sastre
–
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
Carlos Sastre
–
Carlos Sastre
Carlos Sastre
–
Tour 2005: Sastre during the stage 20
individual time trial.
Carlos Sastre
–
Carlos Sastre entering Paris wearing the yellow jersey.
26.
Gastone Nencini
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Gastone Nencini was an Italian road racing cyclist who won the 1960 Tour de France and the 1957 Giro dItalia. Nicknamed Il Leone del Mugello, The Lion of Mugello, Nencini was a powerful all-rounder and he was an amateur painter and a chain smoker. The only reason to follow Nencini downhill would be if you had a death wish and it was in trying to follow Nencini down a mountain that Roger Rivière missed a bend, crashed over a wall and broke his spine. Nencinis downhill race with Henry Anglade has become part of the legend of cycling, Anglade was a proud rider and Nencini one of the fastest down hills. They met at a col in the Dolomites during the Giro dItalia, the weather was bad and a snowstorm had forced 57 riders to abandon that day. Anglade said, I couldnt tolerate the idea that Nencini was the best descender of the peloton, I said to him, call the blackboard man, well do the descent together and whoever comes second pays for the aperitifs this evening. So he called the ardoisier and asked him to follow us, the road was of compressed earth. We attacked the drop flat out, I let Nencini take the lead so that I could see how he negotiated the bends before attacking him. In the end I dropped as though I was alone, at the bottom, I had taken 32 seconds out of him, written on the blackboard. The next time I saw him was that evening in the hotel I was staying at and he had just bought me an apéritif. Il comune di Barberino, gli sportivi, i compagni di tante battaglie ricordano il campione mugellano
Gastone Nencini
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Nencini at the
1960 Tour de France
Gastone Nencini
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Gastone Nencini with wife Bianca, wearing the pink jersey from the Giro d'Italia 1957
27.
Tom Dumoulin
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Tom Dumoulin is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer for UCI WorldTeam Team Sunweb. Dumoulin was born in Maastricht, and grew up in the city near the Maas Boulevard, originally his ambition was to study medicine and become a doctor, however after not being offered a place at medical school he opted to pursue cycle racing for a year. Later that year he won a time trial stage of the Girobio and he was due to ride for Cervélo TestTeam in 2011, however the team disbanded at the end of the 2010 season. After riding for the Rabobank Development Team in 2011, Dumoulin turned professional with the Dutch Project 1t4i team in 2012, in June 2014 Dumoulin won the Dutch National Time Trial Championships. In September 2014 he came in place at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec after surging ahead on the last climb. Later that month he took a medal in the UCI World Time Trial Championships, placing third behind Bradley Wiggins. He started the 2015 season by finishing fourth overall at the Tour Down Under and he took his first success of the season by winning the final individual time trial on the Tour of the Basque Country. His second victory of the year came at the Tour de Suisse and he also won the closing stage of that race, a 38.4 km time trial he covered at an average 47.407 km/h. In the Tour de France, Dumoulin was one of the favourites to take victory in the time trial on home soil in Utrecht, the Netherlands. On stage 3, he was involved in a massive, high-speed crash and had to abandon the race, Dumoulin recovered from his injuries to ride the 2015 Vuelta a España. On Stage 5 there was a split in the peloton, and Chaves lost six seconds to Dumoulin, however, Chaves won Stage 6 ahead of Dumoulin in third to re-take the Red Jersey. Stage 9 was another summit finish. There was a series of attacks on the part of the climb. Dumoulin eventually took a win in the stage, two seconds ahead of Chris Froome and took back the red jersey as Chaves lost significant time. Froome had originally been dropped, but rode at a steady tempo, after Froome crashed out on Stage 11, Dumoulin limited his losses on the following mountain stages, as Fabio Aru and Joaquim Rodríguez traded the race lead. On Stage 17, Dumoulin won the 38.1 km individual time trial, Dumoulin lost almost four minutes to Aru and slipped down to sixth place in the general classification. In December 2015, he won the Gerrit Schulte Trophy, the award for the best Dutch of cyclist of the year. He was named in the start list for the 2016 Giro dItalia, where he won the time trial on home soil in Apeldoorn
Tom Dumoulin
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Dumoulin at the
2015 Tour de France
Merckx, EddyEddy Merckx (BEL)
Hinault, BernardBernard Hinault (FRA)
Contador, AlbertoAlberto Contador (ESP)
Coppi, FaustoFausto Coppi (ITA)
Froome, ChrisChris Froome (GBR)
Rominger, TonyTony Rominger (SUI)
Switzerland
Luxembourg
United States
Netherlands
Germany
Russia
Colombia
Ireland
Sweden
Canada
Australia
Denmark
Kazakhstan
Jacques Anquetil (FRA): 5 Tours (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964), 2 Giro (1960, 1964), 1 Vuelta (1963).
Alberto Contador (ESP): 2 Tours (2007, 2009), 2 Giro (2008, 2015), 3 Vueltas (2008, 2012, 2014)
Felice Gimondi (ITA): 1 Tour (1965), 3 Giro (1967, 1969, 1976), 1 Vuelta (1968)
Eddy Merckx (BEL): 5 Tours (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974), 5 Giro (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974), 1 Vuelta (1973)
Stephen Roche (IRL): 1987
Chris Froome (GBR): 2017
Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (UZB), 
Miguel Poblet (ESP) in 1956, 
Julian Dean
