Stuart O'Grady
Stuart O'Grady Peter ( born August 6, 1973 in Adelaide ) is an Australian former professional cyclist. He was - still as an amateur - medalist at the 1992 Olympic Games and world champion and won as a professional three stages in the Tour de France.
Driver Profile
Stuart O'Grady was considered so -called all-rounder and had because of his track cycling sprint training good qualities. His pace hardness and its pretty good climbing abilities came to his benefit in breakaways. He was one of the Tour de France at the striking drivers, because he - if he does not Freire & Co. dueled in the sprint final with McEwen, Zabel, Oscar - was to be found again and again among the brave ones who try their luck in a top group. In addition, O'Grady was also a good time trialist.
Sports career
Under the influence of his father, who himself has actively pursued cycling, O'Grady began at age 13 with the cycling. His first outstanding sporting highlights, he experienced even as an amateur at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, where he won the silver medal in the four train with his teammates Brett Aitken, Stephen McGlede and Shaun O'Brien. The following year, the Australians managed with O'Grady revenge when they defeated in the World Cup finals the track four of the Olympic champion Germany with a new world record.
Since 1995, Stuart O'Grady is a pro, winning three stages of the Tour de France. In classic one day races he did not appear particularly evident when he also achieved one or other prestigious success, as on 1 August 2004, when he won the HEW cyclassics in Hamburg. Quite different in the Tour de France: he is there represented in the mass sprints as in the breakaways and become one of the personalities of the tour, even if it were always denied in the overall standings front seats With its great all-rounder. In the battle for the green jersey he reached second place four times (1998, 1999, 2001 and 2005). In 2003, he won the uniquely extended Centenaire classification, in which only the cities included, who were present at the first staging of the Tour de France, exactly 100 years earlier, when the stage destinations (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes).
At the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, he returned to the origin of his career, winning along with Graeme Brown the gold medal in the two - team approach ( Madison ). In fact, he was never entirely absent from the web: In Six Days, he mixed with often, even though he could not enter into the winners' lists itself.
After two years without success Stuart O'Grady was able to win the 2007 Queen of the Classics Paris - Roubaix velodrome of Roubaix and at the same time celebrated the biggest win of his career hereby.
In the 2007 Tour de France O'Grady crashed heavily on the descent of Cormet de Roselend and pulled to a violation of the lung, several ribs and vertebral fractures and a fracture of the scapula.
2012 started O'Grady at the Olympic Games in London and finished in sixth place in the road race.
One day after the end of the Tour de France 2013 O'Grady announced the end of his sporting career ..
On July 24, 2013 O'Grady confessed to taking EPO before the Tour de France in 1998 ..
Team
Success - the most important victories and placements
1992:
- Olympic silver medal in the team pursuit
1993:
- World champion in track four
1996:
- Olympic bronze medals in the 4000 -meter track and four in the points race
1998:
- Prudential Tour
1999:
2001:
- Tour Down Under
2003:
- Australian road champion
2004:
- HEW cyclassics
- Olympic champion in Madison
2006:
- 2nd place Championship of Zurich
- 3rd Paris -Tours
2007:
- Paris -Roubaix
- TTT Vuelta a España
- Tirreno Adriatico team time trial -
- Team time trial Tour de France
Stage victories:
- Three stages of the Tour de France ( 2/1998, 1/2004)
- 2 stages of the Dauphiné Libéré
- 2 stages of the Tour Down Under
- 1 stage of the Vuelta a Murcia