|
Paris–Nice
Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlooking the city. The event is nicknamed ''The Race to the Sun'', as it runs in the first half of March, typically starting in cold and wintry conditions in the French capital before reaching the spring sunshine on the Côte d'Azur. The hilly course in the last days of the race favours stage racers who often battle for victory. Paris–Nice is part of the UCI World Tour and is the competition's first stage race in Europe each season, starting one day before its Italian counterpart, the Tirreno–Adriatico, Tirreno-Adriatico/Race of the Two Seas. It is organized by Amaury Sport Organisation, ASO, which also manages most other French World Tour races, most notably the Tour de France and Paris–Roubaix. The roll of honour fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the yellow jersey on day one and wear it all through the tour, a tall order with two previous winners in the field—Charly Gaul and Federico Bahamontes—but he did it. His victories in stage races such as the Tour were built on an exceptional ability to ride alone against the clock in individual time trial stages, which lent him the name "Monsieur Chrono". He won eight Grand Tours in his career, which was a record when he retired and was surpassed only by Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Early life Anquetil was born on 8 January 1934 in a clinic in Mont-Saint-Aignan, a suburb of Rouen in Normandy situated next to Bois-Guillaume, where his parents had a house at the time. His father Ernest was the grandson of a Prussian soldier called Ernst, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sean Kelly (cyclist)
John James 'Sean' Kelly (born 24 May 1956) is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer, one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest Classic cycle races, Classics riders of all time. From becoming a professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won 193 professional races, including nine Cycling monument, Monument Classics, Paris–Nice a record seven years consecutively and the first UCI Road World Cup in 1989. Kelly won one Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tour, the 1988 Vuelta a España, and four Points classification in the Tour de France, green jerseys in the Tour de France. He achieved multiple victories in the Giro di Lombardia, Milan–San Remo, Paris–Roubaix and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, as well as three runners-up placings in the only Monument he failed to win, the Tour of Flanders (men's race), Tour of Flanders. Other victories include the Grand Prix des Nations and stage races, the Critérium International, Tour de Suisse, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice (2007, 2009), the Giro d'Italia twice (2008, 2015), and the Vuelta a España three times (2008, 2012, 2014). He is one of only seven riders to have won all three Grand Tours of cycling, and one of only two riders to have won all three more than once. He has also won the Vélo d'Or a record 4 times. He was regarded as the natural successor of Lance Armstrong and won the 2007 Tour de France with the team. During his time at the Astana team, he won the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Vuelta a España and the 2009 Tour de France. Between 2007 and 2011 he won six consecutive Grand Tours that he entered. This included winning the 2010 Tour de France with Astana, although it later emerged that he had tested positive for clenbuterol during the race. After a long battle in court, he was suspended by the Court ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joop Zoetemelk
Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk (; born 3 December 1946) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in Tour de France history with 62,885 km ridden. He won the 1979 Vuelta a España and the 1980 Tour de France. Besides winning the Tour de France he also finished the Tour in 8th, 5th, 4th (three times) and 2nd (six times) place for a total of eleven top 5 finishes which is a record. He was the first rider to wear the Tour de France's polka dot jersey as the King of the Mountains and even though he never won this classification in the Tour de France, he did win it in the 1971 Vuelta a España and was considered one of the best climbers of his generation. If not for a ten minute time penalty for a doping infraction in 1977, he would have finished in the top 5 in each of the first 12 Tours he entered. He won the World Professional Road Champ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurent Jalabert
Laurent Jalabert (born 30 November 1968) is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Affectionately known as ''"Jaja"'' (slang for a glass of wine; when he continued drinking wine as a professional, the nickname stuck because of the similarity to his name), he won many one-day and stage races and was ranked number 1 in the world in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999. Although he never won the Tour de France, where he suffered altitude sickness, he won the Vuelta a España in 1995; as well as the leader's jersey, he won the sprinting specialist, sprinter's jersey and climbing specialist, climber's jersey in the same race — only the third rider to have done this in a Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tour. With Alessandro Petacchi, Eddy Merckx, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov and Mark Cavendish, he is one of only five riders to win the points classification in all three grand tours. Biography He turned professional with the French Toshiba team in 1989 and quickly esta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matteo Jorgenson
Matteo Jorgenson ( ; born July 1, 1999) is an American professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Known for his prowess in the mountains, he is the two-time defending winner of Paris–Nice. Jorgenson was born in Walnut Creek, California, grew up in Boise, Idaho and credits BYRDS (Boise Young Rider Development Squad) for his start in cycling. Cycling career Jorgenson had an active 2022 Tour de France and was involved in several breakaways including on stages 10 and 16. Late in stage 16, he was in the process of chasing down the lead rider Hugo Houle when he crashed while rounding a sharp corner. Despite the crash, he was still able to finish fourth on the stage. In the 2023 Tour de France, Jorgenson was involved in a 14-man breakaway on stage 9. With around 47 km remaining of the stage, he went clear from the group, leading the stage for most of the climb up the Puy de Dôme. However, within the final 500 metres, he was passed by Michael Woods and ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddy Merckx
Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (born 17 June 1945), known as Eddy Merckx (, ), is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist racer who is the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an unequalled eleven Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours (five Tour de France, Tours de France, five Giro d'Italia, Giros d'Italia, and a Vuelta a España), all five Cycling monument, Monuments, setting the hour record, three UCI Road World Championships, World Championships, every major one-day race other than Paris–Tours, and extensive victories on the track. Born in Meensel-Kiezegem, Province of Brabant, Brabant, Belgium, he grew up in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre where his parents ran a grocery store. 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. After winning eighty races as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miguel Induráin
Miguel Induráin Larraya (; born 16 July 1964) is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. Induráin won five Tours de France from 1991 Tour de France, 1991 to 1995 Tour de France, 1995, the fourth, and last, to win five times, and the only five-time winner to achieve those victories consecutively. He won the Giro d'Italia twice, becoming one of seven people to achieve the Giro-Tour double in the same season. He wore the race leader's yellow jersey in the Tour de France for 60 days. He holds the record for the most consecutive Tour de France wins and shares the record for most wins with Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Eddy Merckx. In 1993, Indurain came close to cycling's 'Triple Crown of Cycling, Triple Crown' when, having already won the 1993 Giro d'Italia, Giro and the 1993 Tour de France, Tour, he finished in second place just 19 seconds behind in the 1993 UCI Road World Championships, World Championship. Induráin's ability and physical size— and —earned him the ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louison Bobet
Louis "Louison" Bobet (; 12 March 1925 – 13 March 1983) was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955. Origins Louis Bobet was born one of three children above his father's baker's shop in the rue de Montfort, Saint-Méen-le-Grand, near Rennes. His father gave him a bicycle when he was two and after six months he could ride it 6 km.On the Wheel, USA, undated cutting Bobet's father was also called Louis and the son was called Louison – little Louis – to avoid confusion The ending ''-on'' is a diminutive in French but outside Brittany Louison refers more usually to a girl. He was known as Louis in his early years as a rider, even as a professional, until the diminutive Louison gained in popularity. His sister played table tennis, his brother Jean football, although he also became a professional cyclist. Louison played ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2003 Paris–Nice
The 2003 Paris–Nice was the 61st edition of the Paris–Nice cycle race and was held from 9 March to 16 March 2003. The race started in Issy-les-Moulineaux and finished in Nice. The race was won by Alexander Vinokourov of the Telekom team. Andrey Kivilev (), fourth in the 2001 Tour de France, crashed heavily during stage 2. He was taken to hospital with severe head injuries and placed in a coma. An emergency surgery was conducted the same night, but Kivilev died in the early morning of 12 March 2003. Following his death, calls to make the wearing of crash helmets compulsory in professional cycling increased. Less than a month later, the sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, declared helmets mandatory for all UCI-sanctioned events. Teams Twenty teams, containing a total of 158 riders, participated in the race: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Route General classification References Further reading * * * * * * * * * * * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UCI World Tour
The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon performances in these. The World Ranking was launched in 2009, (known from 2009–2010 as the ''UCI World Ranking'') and merged fully with its predecessor the UCI ProTour in 2011. UCI WorldTeams must compete at all events that were part of the tour prior to the 2017 expansion. History Until the end of 2004, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) maintained both the UCI Road World Rankings, which awarded results for all its sanctioned races, and the UCI Road World Cup, which was awarded on the basis of performance in ten selected one-day events. Both were replaced from the 2005 season by the UCI ProTour and UCI Continental Circuits. However, disputes between the UCI and ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France and other classics, and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrey Kivilev
Andrei Mikhailovich Kivilev (, 20 September 1973 – 12 March 2003) was a professional road bicycle racer from Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan. In March 2003, he crashed during the Paris–Nice race and subsequently died of his injuries. His death was the trigger for the UCI to implement the compulsory wearing of helmets in all endorsed races. Career Born in Taldykorgan, Almaty Province, Kivilev began his amateur racing career in Spain, before moving to France, where he wore the EC Saint-Étienne jersey. In 1993, he had a successful Regio-Tour as part of a successful tour for the Kazakh team: Kivilev won the points competition; teammate Alexander Vinokourov won the combined competition; and the team won the team competition. He secured a professional contract with Festina in 1998 and rode with them until the end of 1999. Kivilev had a modest time at Festina, where his best results were fifth at the Championship of Zurich and seventh at the Critérium International. Despite his lack ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
