- Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong Facing testicular cancer and not yet knowing his own fate, in 1997 champion cyclist Lance Armstrong established the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a non-profit organization that inspires and empowers people affected by cancer. This marked the beginning of Lance's role as an advocate for cancer survivors and a world representative for the cancer community.
- Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis (born October 14 1975) is an American cyclist. He is a time-trial specialist as well as a strong climber. Landis turned professional in 1999 with the Mercury Cycling Team. He joined the US Postal Service team in 2002, and moved to the Phonak Hearing Systems team in 2005. Landis was fired from the Phonak team on August 5, 2006, after testing revealed an abnormally high testosterone/epitestosterone ratio.
- Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans (born 14 February, 1977 in Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia) is a professional cyclist. Prior to turning to road cycling in 2001, Evans was a champion mountain biker, riding for the Volvo-Cannondale MTB team, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing 7th in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
- David Millar
David Millar is a Scottish road racing cyclist, currently racing for UCI ProTeam Saunier Duval-Prodir as a time-trial specialist. He has won three Tour de France stages, two Vuelta a España stages, other accolades and has held the King of the Mountains jersey during the current 2007 Tour de France. He has also raced and won gold for Malta, his country of birth, in the 2001 Games of the Small States of Europe, held in San Marino.
- Jan Ullrich
Jan Ullrich (born December 2, 1973 in Rostock, Germany) is a German professional road bicycle racer. In 1997, he was the first German to win the Tour de France. He went on to achieve five second place finishes, along with a fourth place (2004) and a third place finish (2005). In 2006, Ullrich was barred from competing in the Tour de France amid speculation of having doped. In late February, 2007, he announced his retirement at a press conference.
- Eddy Merckx
Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx (born June 17 1945, Meensel-Kiezegem, Vlaams Brabant, Belgium) is a former Belgian professional cyclist. Merckx, regarded as the greatest and most successful cyclist of all time, established several world cycling records, some of which remain unbroken to this day.
- Gary Fisher
Gary Christopher Fisher (born 1950) is considered one of the inventors of the mountain bike. Fisher started competing in road and track races at the age of 12. He was suspended from the sport in 1968 because race organizers felt his hair was too long, and cited a rule that agreed with them. But by 1972 this rule had been repealed and Fisher's cycling career continued. In more recent decades, Gary has won the difficult TransAlp race in Europe and a Masters XC national title.
- Alejandro Valverde
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte is a Spanish cyclist. At age 27, he is thought to be one of the most talented cyclists of his generation. Valverde is an exciting prospect since he is unusual in the way in which he combines all the areas of cycling: Valverde is an excellent climber and more than respectable time trial rider, thus making him a threat for the general classification for the Grand Tours (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España).
- Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who rides for Dutch team Rabobank. Specializing in climbing, Rasmussen has shown a propensity for attempting spectacular stage wins in mountain stages in which he breaks away from the peloton early and rides alone for most of the stage. Michael Rasmussen is known for his care for detail when considering weight and he is known to constantly pester his mechanics to make his bike lighter.
- Greg Lemond
Gregory James "Greg" LeMond (born June 26, 1961 in Lakewood, California) is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three time winner of the Tour de France. In 1986, LeMond became the first American cyclist to win the race. In 1987, he was shot and seriously injured in a hunting accident, taking two years to recover before returning to win the Tour again in 1989 and 1990, …
- Louis Garneau
Louis Garneau OC (born on August 9, 1958 in Quebec City, Quebec) is a Canadian road racing and track cyclist and cyclewear manufacturer. He is probably best known for putting his arm around Elizabeth II (breaking royal protocol) and having his photo taken. Garneau said: "I asked for a picture and she said 'no problem', so I just put my arm around her shoulder. In sport, we do that all the time.
- Sheldon Brown
Sheldon Brown (born July 14, 1944) is an American bicycle mechanic and technical authority. He maintains an extensive website containing authoritative articles relating to bicycle mechanics and maintenance, as well as a thorough glossary of bicycling terminology. He also mirrors the technical work of Damon Rinard, among others. He is an accomplished amateur photographer and his site is well illustrated with his own photographs.
- George Hincapie
George Hincapie is an American professional road bicycle racer residing in Greenville, South Carolina. He is often seen as a key domestique of the seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. However, Hincapie does have several important wins of his own, including Gent-Wevelgem in 2001 and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2005. Also in 2005, Hincapie took two stage wins at Dauphiné Libéré and 2nd place at Paris-Roubaix.
- Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer is an American professional bicyclist who rides with the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. He previously rode for the German cycling team Gerolsteiner.. His major results to date are 1st overall in the 2007 Tour of California (winning the Prologue and Stage 5 time trials), 1st overall in the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré, 1st overall in the 2005 Deutschland Tour, 3rd overall in the 2001 Vuelta a España, …
- Tom Boonen
Tom Boonen (born on October 15, 1980 in Mol, Belgium) is a professional road bicycle racer and is the 2005 World Road Race Champion. He is considered a single-day road race specialist with a strong finishing sprint. His personality and looks, combined with his successes, also turned him into Belgium's main male sports idol of the mid-2000s.
- Tyler Hamilton
Tyler Hamilton (born March 1 1971, Marblehead, Massachusetts) is an American professional road bicycle racer and Olympic gold medalist. He served a two-year suspension for blood doping, which expired in September 2006. In November 2006, Hamilton signed with Tinkoff Credit Systems, an Italian UCI Professional Continential Team team for the 2006-2007 UCI Europe Tour season. He was suspended by his team on May 9, 2007 after continuous links to the Operation Puerto drug scandal.
- Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador Velasco is a professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. He is a cyclist that competes for the overall title and is considered a climbing specialist. His career highlights includes winning Stage 5 of the 2005 Tour Down Under, his first win after overcoming a massive blood clot in his brain, a risky surgery and a long, painful road to recovery and to get back on his bike.
- Ivan Basso
Ivan Basso (born 26 November 1977) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, most recently with Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. Basso, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, is among the best mountain riders in the professional field of the 2000s, and is considered one of the strongest stage race riders. He is a winner of the Giro d'Italia, having won the 2006 edition of the Italian Grand Tour whilst riding for Team CSC.
- Christian Vande Velde
Christian Vandevelde (born 22 May 1976 in Lemont, Illinois, USA), sometimes referred to as Christian Vande Velde, is an American professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for Team CSC. Son of United States Bicycling Hall of Fame inductee, John Vandevelde, Christian became professional in 1998 for US Postal. He twice rode on the Tour de France team that brought Lance Armstrong to victory, …
- Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, specializing in fast sprint finishes. He is considered one of the fastest sprinters in the world. A former junior Australian BMX champion, McEwen switched to road racing in 1990 at the age of 18. He was first selected for the Australian National Road Team in 1994. McEwen lives in Brakel, Belgium with his wife Angélique Pattyn and his son Ewan, and speaks Flemish fluently.
- Carlos Sastre
Carlos Sastre Candil is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer. Through his consistently improved top 10 results in the Vuelta a España and good showings in the Tour de France, Sastre has established himself as a strong and stable climbing specialist, and after working to improve his individual time trial skills, he has become a potential contender for the top GC spots in the Grand Tours.
- Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani (January 13, 1970 - February 14, 2004) was an Italian cyclist widely regarded as being one of the best climbers of all times in professional road bicycle racing. The high point of his career was to win the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in 1998. The bandana he often wore and his attacking style of riding led to him being dubbed 'Il Pirata' (the pirate) by the adoring Italian "tifosi" - his fans. However, his career was dogged by drug allegations, …
- Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis, nicknamed "the Eagle from Herning", is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who won the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team CSC. Other career highlights include winning the Amstel Gold Race in 1997, multiple Danish National Championships, and stage wins in the Giro d'Italia. On May 25 2007 he admitted that he won the Tour de France using banned substances, …
- Stuart O'Grady
Stuart O'Grady OAM (born on 6 August, 1973), nicknamed "Stuey", is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, who started his career as a track cyclist. His most prominent victories came when he and Graeme Brown won a gold medal in Men's Madison at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and when he won Paris-Roubaix in 2007. O'Grady has participated in the Tour de France since 1998, …
- Leonardo Piepoli
Leonardo Piepoli (born September 29, 1971 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland) is a Italian professional road racing cyclist. He rides on the UCI ProTour for the Saunier Duval-Prodir Team. He is a record four-time winner (1995, 1999, 2003, 2004) of the Subida a Urkiola. Piepoli is a very good climber, and this was shown in the 2006 Giro d'Italia, where he was one of the strongest riders in the mountains and won two stages
- Denis Menchov
Denis Nikolayevich Menchov is a professional Russian road bicycle racer. Menchov is a good climber and a man for the General Classification. Menchov started his professional career in 2000, when he signed for the Banesto team of José Miguel Echevarri. His first success came in 2001, when he won the Tour de l'Avenir, a stage race for professional youth riders. The year after he won a stage and the King of the Mountains in the Dauphiné Liberé.
- Thor Hushovd
Thor Hushovd is a professional road bicycle racer, presently rider for the Crédit Agricole Professional team. Hushovd is renowned for his Sprinting and Time Trialing prowess. He is a former Norwegian National Time Trial Champion and was the first Norwegian to wear the coveted yellow jersey. Before turning a professional in 1998, Hushovd won the U23 Time-Trial World Championship and the U23-versions of the two bicycle classics Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Tours.
- Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel is a German professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour Team Milram. With 193 career wins he is considered to be one of the greatest German cyclists and best sprinters of cycling history. Zabel has won a record nine points classification titles at Grand Tours including wearing the final green jersey in the Tour de France a record six consecutive years between 1996 through 2001 and the points jersey at the Vuelta a España in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
- Kim Kirchen
Kim Kirchen (born July 3 1978 in Luxembourg City) is a Luxembourgian cyclist. Kirchen signed as a pro cyclist in 2000 with De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa, and later with Fassa Bortolo (from 2001). For the 2006 cycling season, he joined the T-Mobile Team following the demise of the Fassa Bortolo team. His first recorded race was in Dommeldange in 1992, and he had to wait until 2000 for his first professional victory when he won the Piva Col trophy.
- Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara (born March 18, 1981) is a Swiss Italian professional road bicycle racer. A time trial specialist, he is the current World Time Trial Champion. In 2006 he also became the only second Swiss winner of the Classic one-day race Paris-Roubaix, following Heiri Suter in 1923.
- Phil Liggett
Phil Liggett MBE (born 1943) is a sports journalist and commentator on the Versus (TV channel) and ITV, for the Tour de France and other bike races. He is likely the most popular English-speaking cycling commentator, and he is often called the English-speaking "Voice of the Tour de France". He is a former amateur cyclist and received a professional contract in 1967 but instead of turning professional, …
- Pat McQuaid
Pat McQuaid (born 5 September 1949) is a former Irish professional road racing cyclist and is the current President of the Union Cycliste Internationale. McQuaid comes from a successful Irish cycling family, with his father Joe and uncles being top Irish cyclists. His brother Kieron and Paul as well as his cousin John McQuaid were also successful cyclists in Ireland and represented Ireland in the World Cycling road race championships and in the Olympic road race.
- Bobby Julich
Robert Julich, most commonly referred to as Bobby Julich, (born on November 18, 1971, in Corpus Christi, Texas) is an American professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for Team CSC in the UCI ProTour racing series. He got his international breakthrough when he finished 3rd overall in the 1998 Tour de France race, but has since ridden mainly as a supporting rider.
- Jens Voigt
Jens Voigt (born September 17, 1971) is a German professional road bicycle racer. Voigt is known as an affable cyclist with a propensity to attack whenever he can, and for his positive racing attitude. He is a rider capable of repeated attacking, holding a high tempo over longer distances, as well as good climbing skills in hilly terrain. He has worn the leader's jersey (the "maillot jaune") of the Tour de France twice, …
- Paolo Bettini
Paolo Bettini is an Italian road cyclist with the Belgian Quick Step-Innergetic professional cycling team. He is the gold medal winner of the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and of the 2006 World Road Race Championship. Bettini is a 3-time champion of the UCI Road World Cup series consecutively in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He has also won stages of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España. He finished in 9th place at the 2000 Summer Olympics, …
- Iban Mayo
Iban Mayo Diez (born August 19, 1977, in Igorre, Basque Country, Spain) is a professional road bicycle racer. Renowned as a climber, Mayo turned pro with the Euskaltel-Euskadi team in 2000, and has become one of the Basque Country's top prospects for future cycling glory. He stayed with Euskaltel-Euskadi throughout 2000-2006, further increasing his support among the Basque fans. The biggest result of Mayo's career thus far came in the 2003 Tour de France, …
- Johan Bruyneel
Johan Bruyneel (born August 23 1964, Izegem, Belgium) is a directeur sportif and former road bicycle racer in professional cycling. Retiring from racing in 1998, he is now best known as the director of Team Discovery (formerly U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team), a US-based UCI ProTour cycling team. Bruyneel is known to speak five languages to communicate with the cyclists of diverse nationalities on the team.
- David Zabriskie
David Zabriskie (born January 12, 1979 in Salt Lake City) is a professional road bicycle racer from the United States who rides for Team CSC. His main strength is individual time trials and his career highlights include stage wins in all three Grand Tour stage races, as well as the US National Time Trial Championship.
- Miguel Indurain
Miguel Ángel Indurain Larraya is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. He is best known for having won the Tour de France from 1991 to 1995, becoming one of the five persons to win the event five times, and the first to win five in a row. Indurain's ability and physical size-1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) and 80 kg (176 lbs)-earned him the nickname "Miguelón".
- Stefan Schumacher
Stefan Schumacher (born July 21, 1981 in Großbettlingen, Esslingen) is a German professional road racing cyclist. In 2006, he made his UCI ProTour debute with Team Gerolsteiner after posting impressive continential circuits results on the UCI Europe Tour. He was involved in a doping scandal when an illegal substance was found in his blood following a drug test, …