Chris Boardman

Chris Boardman came to prominence at the 1992 Olympics, when he won the individual pursuit by overtaking his opponent in a new, extremely expensive, aerodynamic bicycle manufactured by Lotus. A year later, he took the week-old world hour record from compatriot Graeme Obree, regaining the record in 1996 and 2000, the latter under new UCI rules banning several high-tech improvements, and breaking the vaunted record set by Eddy Merckx. Boardman became a renowned time trialist on the road, winning the Tour de France prologue (a short time trial) three times (1994, 1997-98), as well as the 1994 world title in the time trial and the 1996 Grand Prix des Nations. Boardman has also been World Champion in the individual pursuit twice (1994, 1996) and won an Olympic bronze in the road time trial at the 1996 Atlanta Games. He retired somewhat early because of problems with osteoporosis, and has since served as technical advisor to the British track team.