Djamolidine Abdoujaparov

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Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (born 28 February 1964, Tashkent) is a former professional cyclist from Uzbekistan. Abdoujaparov was primarily a specialist sprinter, and was nicknamed "The Tashkent Terror" as he was so ferocious in the sprints. His unorthodox and often-erratic sprinting style caused him to have a number of spectacular crashes.

A graduate of the Soviet sports programme, Abdoujaparov came into his prime just at the time his home country gained its independence; after some initial difficulties (including the cycling authorities in Uzbekistan not being affiliated to the UCI, which caused problems with Abdoujaparov's desire to compete in the Cycling World Championship) he signed for a Western professional team and quickly earned a reputation as one of the world's top sprinters.

Abdoujaparov remains most famous for his tussles with Laurent Jalabert in the Tour de France's green sprinters jersey competition in the early 1990s. Most famously in 1991, "Abdou" won the points-based competition despite a spectacular crash during the final stage on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where - with less than 100 metres to go to the finish - he appeared to swerve into the barrier, colliding with a giant promotional Coke can and being somersaulted into the air. Despite still holding a large enough points lead over Jalabert to win the sprinters' jersey, the competition's rules meant that he had to finish the stage - and cross the line unaided - in order to win. In a move broadcast live around the world, members of his team therefore picked him up, put him back on the bike and then let go as Abdoujaparov rode slowly over the last few meters, the medical staff walking along on either side of him ready to catch him in case he fell. His green jersey win was Uzbekistan's highest-profile sporting victory to date; he repeated the feat twice more, in 1993 and 1994.

In his last complete tour in 1996, Abdoujaparov achieved a major mountain breakaway for his last stage win, a highly unusual feat for a specialist sprinter. By this stage of his career, though, the results were generally not as good as they had been, and after failing anti-doping tests conducted during the 1997 Tour de France’s second stage, he retired from competitive cycling.

His nine syllable name - also transliterated from Cyrillic as "Abdujhaparov" and "Abduschaparov" - struck terror into the hearts of cycling commentators, more used to saying shorter, Western names like "Erik Zabel" or "Greg LeMond". According to the 2003 book The Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour de France: "His name is correctly pronounced "jah-mohl-ih-deen ahb-doo-ja-pahr-awf"."

Eddy Merckx, Djamolodine Abdoujaparov and Laurent Jalabert are the only riders to have won the Points Competition in all three Grand Tours.

Abdoujaparov has a band named after him consisting of ex-Carter USM member Les Carter (AKA Fruitbat).

[edit] Palmarès

1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
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