Djamolidine Abdoujaparov

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Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
Personal information
Full name Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
Nickname The Tashkent Terror
Date of birth February 28, 1964 (1964-02-28) (age 44)
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 Flag of the Soviet Union
Peace race
3 stages winner
1988 Soviet national team Flag of the Soviet Union
Peace race
Points Classification winner (white jersey)
2 stages winner
Olympic games Seuol
5. place
1989 Soviet national team Flag of the Soviet Union
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