Jack Bobridge (born 13 July 1989) is an Australian former professional

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

, who rode professionally between 2010 and 2016. In 2019 he was convicted of drug dealing and sentenced to a four-year prison term. He admitted to using banned recreational drugs during his racing career, noting that he used cocaine in training leading up to major cycling events, including the Olympics.

Career

Bobridge's career combined both track and road cycling. In 2008, he was part of the Australian men's pursuit team that finished in fourth place at the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, along with

Graeme Brown Graeme Allen Brown (born 9 April 1979 in Darwin, Northern Territory) is an Australian former professional cycle sport, cyclist, who competed professionally between 2002 and 2016 for the , and teams. A former Australian Institute of Sport s ...

Mark Jamieson Mark Ian Jamieson (born 4 May 1984, in Dandenong) is an Australian professional racing cyclist. He started competing at the age of 10 in 1994, he first represented his country in the World Junior Track Championships in 2001. He was an Australi ...

, Luke Roberts and Brad McGee. In May 2009, Bobridge signed with , with his contract starting on 1 January 2010 and had been contracted to race with the team until 2012. He left the team at the end of 2011, and joined for the 2012 season. In September 2009 he won the under-23 time trial at the

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

. In January 2011 he became the Australian National Road Race Champion with a daring solo breakaway. On 2 February 2011, he set a new world record for the track 4k

individual pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the rac ...

. Bobridge was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he was part of the Australian team that won the silver medal in the men's team pursuit, with

Glenn O'Shea Glenn O'Shea (born 14 June 1989, Swan Hill) is an Australian track cyclist who won the Omnium at the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. He was also a member of the Australian team that won silver in the team pursuit at the 2012 World Ch ...

Rohan Dennis Rohan Craig Dennis (born 28 May 1990) is an Australian former cyclist, who competed professionally in the track cycling, track and road bicycle racing, road disciplines of the sport for five different teams. Having been a member of the Australi ...

and Michael Hepburn. Bobridge left at the end of the 2012 season, and joined on a two-year contract from the 2013 season onwards. Bobridge won two gold medals at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, one in the men's team pursuit with Luke Davison,

Alex Edmondson Alexander Edmondson (born 22 December 1993) is an Australian road and track cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Edmondson was a member of the Australian Olympic Track Cycling team at the 2012 London Olympics, alongside his sister, A ...

and Glenn O'Shea, where Australia set a new Games record in the final, and in the men's individual pursuit. In November 2014 Bobridge was announced as part of the Team Budget Forklifts line-up for 2015 alongside fellow members of the Australian endurance track squad Luke Davison, Glenn O'Shea, Scott Sunderland and Mitchel Mulhearn, riding a domestic programme with a focus on achieving success on the track at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. Bobridge won the opening stage of the 2015 Tour Down Under. He lost the overall lead on stage three but finished the race with the King of the Mountains jersey. On 31 January 2015 Bobridge attempted to break the world

hour record The hour record is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. Cyclists attempt this record alone on the track without other competitors present. It is considered one of the most prestigious record ...

in Melbourne. He rode 51.3 kilometres falling short of the record of 51.852 kilometres. However he did break Brad McGee's Australian national hour record of 50.3 kilometres which had stood since 2000. In September 2015 it was announced that Bobridge would return to the UCI WorldTour peloton in 2016, signing a one-year contract with . In 2016, Bobridge won his second Olympic silver medal, again in the men's team pursuit, this time with Alex Edmondson, Michael Hepburn, Sam Welsford and Callum Scotson. Bobridge announced his retirement from cycling in November 2016. His retirement was due to the effects of rheumatoid arthritis which he was first diagnosed with in 2010. The Jack Bobridge Track, a cycling and walking trail from his hometown of Gawler into the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

was named for Bobridge when it was built in 2014, however the Barossa Council was concerned that this sent the wrong message to young people after he was convicted of using and selling drugs in 2019. In July 2019, the council resolved to remove Bobridge's name and rename the track to the Barossa Trail, a name already used for the northern and eastern extension.

Legal issues

In September 2017, Bobridge was charged with selling trafficable quantities of recreational drugs. In May 2019, during a court hearing concerning his case, he admitted to using recreational drugs, such as

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

and ecstasy, during his active career. He claimed that he took them ahead of some races, but that they would be out of his body by race day. He denied the charges brought against him that he trafficked ecstasy. On 5 July 2019, he was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, being found guilty for four charges of drug dealing. He is eligible for parole after two years and six months.

Major results

Track

;2006 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Team pursuit, UCI Junior Track World Championships ;2007 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Team pursuit, UCI Junior Track World Championships : National Track Championships ::1st MaillotAustralia

Team pursuit ::1st MaillotAustralia

Madison ;2008 : 1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit, 2007–08 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Los Angeles ;2009 : Oceania Track Championships ::1st Gold medal blank

Individual pursuit ::1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit : 1st MaillotAustralia

Individual pursuit, National Track Championships ;2010 :

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

::1st

Individual pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the rac ...

::1st

Team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

UCI Track World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

::1st

Team pursuit ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Individual pursuit ;2011 :

::1st

: 1st

Overall, Individual pursuit, 2010–11 UCI Track Cycling World Ranking ;2012 :

::2nd

::2nd

: 2nd

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

;2015 : 2nd Silver medal blank

;2016 : 2nd Silver medal olympic

Road

;2007 : 3rd Overall Tour of the Murray River : 4th Time trial, UCI Juniors World Championships ;2008 : 8th Overall Tour de Berlin ;2009 : 1st Jersey rainbow chrono

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships : National Under-23 Road Championships ::1st MaillotAustralia

Road race ::1st MaillotAustralia

: 1st Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop U23 : 3rd Overall Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23 ::1st Stage 2 & 5 ( ITT) : 7th Overall

Tour of Japan The Tour of Japan is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Japan since 1996 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.2 category race. History Tour of Japan was forme ...

::1st Stage 4 & 6 ;2010 : 1st Stage 5 Eneco Tour : 7th Overall Delta Tour Zeeland ;2011 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotAustralia

Road race ::2nd

: 2nd Overall

Herald Sun Tour The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria, sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six-day event. It is now held annuall ...

: 5th

;2014 : 5th Road race, National Road Championships ;2015 :

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour ...

::1st

Mountains classification ::1st Stage 1 : 3rd

, National Road Championships ;2016 : 1st MaillotAustralia

Road race, National Road Championships : 4th Overall

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bobridge, Jack 1989 births Living people Australian male cyclists Olympic cyclists for Australia Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) Australian Institute of Sport cyclists Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic silver medalists in cycling Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cyclists from Adelaide Australian track cyclists 21st-century Australian criminals Criminals from Western Australia Prisoners and detainees of Australia Doping cases in cycling Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from South Australia Australian sportspeople convicted of crimes 21st-century Australian sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in cycling