Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
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Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Djamolidine Abdoujaparov |
Nickname | The Tashkent Terror |
Date of birth | February 28, 1964 |
Country | Uzbekistan |
Team information | |
Current team | Retired |
Discipline | Road |
Role | Rider |
Rider type | Sprinter |
Professional team(s) | |
1990 1991–1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 |
Alfa Lum Carrera Lampre Polti Novell Refin Lotto |
Major wins | |
Tour de France green jersey (1991, 1993, 1994) | |
Infobox last updated on: | |
April 16, 2007 |
Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (born 28 February 1964 in Tashkent) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Uzbekistan. Abdoujaparov was primarily a specialist sprinter, and was nicknamed "The Tashkent Terror"[1] 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 "Abdujaparov" 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, 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
- 1987 Soviet national team
- Peace race
- 3 stages winner
- 1988 Soviet national team
- Peace race
- Points Classification winner (white jersey)
- 2 stages winner
- Olympic games Seuol
- 5. place
- 1989 Soviet national team
- Peace race
- 1 stage winner
- 1990 Alfa Lum
-
- first year as professional
- 1991 Carrera
- Gent-Wevelgem
- Giro del Piemonte
- Tour de France
- Points Classification winner (green jersey)
- Winner stages 1 and 4
- 1 stage winner Semana Siciliana
- 2 stages winner Vuelta a Murcia
- 1 stage winner Volta a Catalunya
- G.P. Montreal
- 1992 Carrera
- Vuelta a España
- Points Classification winner (blue jersey)
- 4 stages winner
- 1 stage Tour of Britain
- 1993 Lampre
- Tour de France
- Points Classification winner (green jersey)
- Winner stages 3,18 and 20
- Vuelta a España
- 3 stages winner
- Tour de Suisse
- 1 stage
- Criterium Amiens
- Criterium Lisieux
- Criterium Hendaya
- 1994 Polti
- Giro d'Italia
- Points Classification winner (maglia ciclamino)
- Intergiro Classification winner (maglia azuro)
- 1 stage winner
- Tour de France
- Points Classification winner (green jersey)
- winner stages 1 and 20
- 2 stages winner Paris-Nice
- 2 stages winner Three Days of De Panne
- 1 stage Tour DuPont
- Omnium Elsloo
- Profronde Roosendaal
- G.P. Rik van Steenbergen
- Poly Normande
- 2 stages winner Tour of Holland + 2nd place in overall classification
- Criterium Vayrac
- Criterium Bavikhove
- 1995 Novell
- Tour de France
- Winner stage 20
- 1 stage winner Tour DuPont
- Criterium Quillan
- 1996 Refin
- Tour de France
- Winner stage 14
- 1 stage winner Vuelta a Murcia
- 1 stage winner Tirreno-Adriatico
- 1 stage winner Giro de Cerdeña
- Criterium Dijon
- Criterium Cauderan-Burdeos
- 1997 Lotto
- Clásica de la Costa Picarda
- 1 stage Four Days of Dunkirk
- 2 stages Dauphiné Liberé
[edit] See also
[edit] References
Sporting positions | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Olaf Ludwig |
Winner of the green jersey in the Tour de France 1991 |
Succeeded by Laurent Jalabert |
Preceded by Laurent Jalabert |
Winner of the green jersey in the Tour de France 1993-1994 |
Succeeded by Laurent Jalabert |