Chris Boardman (born August 26 1968) is a former British cyclist, Olympic Gold medalist in 1992. He is known as a specialist in the Individual time trial.

Chris Boardman's nickname is the Professor, for his meticulous attention to detail in preparation and training, and his technical know-how. He had an altitude tent built in his house to help him prepare for the Hour record attempt (see below), although in a recent interview claimed that all it did was just help him focus, and not give any physical advantage at all.

Even though he was part of the GAN team which was regarded as a conservative French team at the time, Chris Boardman focused more on interval training which does not necessarily include long and hard rides most of the time. He was a keen user of power measuring devices.

For his winning ways in time trials and prologues of stage races, he was nicknamed Mr. Prologue. He has been criticized for being a time-trialist who can't climb for his lackluster performance in the mountains of the Tour de France. He denied this in an interview with CycleSport, citing examples in the 1995 edition of the Le Dauphine Libere stage race where he performed very well in the mountain stages. He explained that his disappointing performances in Tour de France is due to his insufficient powers of recovery, which leaves him drained after a few days' worth of racing.

Boardman was also famous for using a specially-designed carbon-fibre time trial bike made by Lotus the sports car manufacturer.

Tour de France

Having started his cycling career as a British track cycling star, he turned professional with the GAN team, which later was renamed the Credit Agricole team of manager Roger Legeay of France. He won instant fame by winning the prologue of the 1994 Tour de France with the fastest time ever recorded.

In the 1995 Tour de France , he crashed heavily at the prologue and was forced to quit. The 1996 Tour de France saw him make a timid return in the wet and rainy prologue where he was beaten by Alex Zulle into second place. However, he made a good comeback in the 1997 Tour de France by winning the prologue of the Tour again, although a crash forced him to quit in the 13th stage.

He again won the prologue in the 1998 Tour de France, but crashed in the following stage while wearing the yellow jersey. He retired in 1999.

The Hour Record

Boardman is also famous for his Hour record. The 1990s saw him compete with Graeme Obree using radically modified time-trial bikes, beating each others' previously established record. The Union Cycliste Internationale finally modified the regulations and made the use of a traditional racing bicycle, similar to the one used by Eddy Merckx to establish the Hour Record in the 1970s. Chris Boardman made his attempt at the Hour Record using this new ruling and succeeded in 2000.

Olympics

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games games, Boardman rode a revolutionary new "super bike", in the 4km pursuit. This incorporated several new features. In the final, he uniquely caught his German opponent.

He chose not to defend his title at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, but did win bronze in the Men's 52km time trial.

External links

• fansite
• International Olympic Committee - history page with video

Further Reading

• "The Fastest Man on Two Wheels - In Pursuit of Chris Boardman" by Phil Liggett published by Boxtree, London, 1994

• "Boardman - A Cycling Career in Pictures" by Phil O'Connor and Graham Watson, published by O'Connor and Watson, 2000