Ronald Alexander Kiefel (born April 11, 1960) is a former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

from the

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. Kiefel is a seven-time

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

racer,

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

bronze medalist and member of the

United States Bicycling Hall of Fame The United States Bicycling Hall of Fame, located in Davis, California, is a private 501c3 non-profit organization formed to preserve and promote the sport of cycling. The organization was founded in 1986 in Somerville, New Jersey and has induct ...

. Kiefel rode for American professional teams such as

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

, Motorola, Coors Light and Saturn. His wins included the 1985

Trofeo Laigueglia The Trofeo Laigueglia is an early season road bicycle race held annually in Liguria, Italy. It is held about ten days after the opening to the Italian season, the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi. From 2005 to 2014, the race was organised as a ...

and the 1987

Tour of Tuscany The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...

. He became the first American stage winner in a Grand Tour when he won stage 15 (from

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

) in the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

. He competed in seven Tours de France, and represented the USA at the

1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an i ...

, where he won bronze in the team time trial with Roy Knickman,

Davis Phinney Davis Phinney (born July 10, 1959) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from the United States. He won 328 races in the 1980s and 1990s, a record for an American, including two Tour de France stages. He has worked in media since retiring ...

, and Andy Weaver. In 1983 Kiefel won the USPRO road championship, the time trial and the team time trial. He was also road champion in 1988. He retired from racing in 1996 and has since commentated on TV and radio for European classics and tours. He is a coach in

Wheat Ridge, Colorado The City of Wheat Ridge is a home rule municipality located in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Wheat Ridge is located immediately west of Denver and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ...

, former vice president of Wheat Ridge Cyclery, and promotes races and rides. In 2004, Kiefel was inducted in the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Meegan, at one time hosted a weekly AM radio show.

Major results

* 3rd

Team time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships (1978) * MaillotUSA

National Road Race Champion (1983, 1988) * National Time Trial Champion (1983) * National Team Time Trial Champion (1983) * 3rd Bronze_medal_blank

Summer Olympics – Men's Team Time Trial (1984)

Year by year

;1978 * 3rd Bronze medal blank

Team time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships ;1980 * 5th, U.S. National Cyclocross Championships ;1981 * 5th, U.S. National Cyclocross Championships ;1983 * 1st, U.S. National Cycling Championships – Road Race * 1st, U.S. National Cycling Championships – Individual Time Trial * 1st, U.S. National Cycling Championships – Team Time Trial ;1984 * 3rd, Bronze medal blank

Los Angeles Summer Olympics – Men's Team Time Trial * 9th, Los Angeles Summer Olympics – Men's Individual Road Race ;1985 * 1st,

(ITA) * 1st, Stage 15,

(ITA) * 1st, Prologue,

Coors Classic The Coors International Bicycle Classic (1980–1988) was a stage race sponsored by the Coors Brewing Company. Coors was the race's second sponsor; the first, Celestial Seasonings, named the race after its premium tea Red Zinger, which began in ...

(USA) ;1986 * 1st, Prologue, Coors Classic (USA) * 1st, Stage 13, Coors Classic (USA) ;1987 * 1st, Los Gatos Cat's Hill ClassicCat's Hill Classic Bicycle Race
/ref> (USA) ;1988 * 1st, Overall, Tour of Tuscany (ITA) * 1st, U.S. National Cycling Championships – Road Race * 1st, Stage 12, Coors Classic (USA) ;1989 * 1st, Stage 10,

Tour de Trump The Tour DuPont was a cycling stage race in the United States held annually between 1989 and 1996, initially called the Tour de Trump in the first two years. It was intended to become a North American cycling event similar in format and prestige ...

(USA) * 6th, Overall, Tour de Trump (USA) ;1990 * 1st, Stage 1, Critérium International (FR) * 2nd, Stage 10, Tour de Trump (USA) * 3rd, Stage 8,

;1992 * 1st, Stage 1, Tour de Luxembourg (LU) ;1993 * 1st, Stage 7, Tour DuPont (USA) * 1st, Los Gatos Cat's Hill Classic (USA) ;1994 * 1st, Overall, CoreStates New Jersey National Bank Classic (USA)

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiefel, Ron 1960 births Living people American male cyclists American cycling road race champions Cyclists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in cycling American Giro d'Italia stage winners Cyclists from Denver Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen