Chris Boardman

Chris Boardman

Boardman in 2010
Personal information
Full name Christopher Miles Boardman
Nickname The Professor[1]
Born (1968-08-26) 26 August 1968
Hoylake, Merseyside, England
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Weight 70 kg (150 lb; 11 st 0 lb)[2]
Team information
Discipline Road and track
Rider type Time trialist
Amateur team(s)
– Birkenhead Victoria CC
– Manchester Wheelers' Club
– GS Strada
– North Wirral Velo Club-Kodak
Professional team(s)
1993–1998 GAN
1999–2000 Crédit Agricole
Major wins

Grand Tours

Tour de France
3 individual stages (1994, 1997, 1998)

Stage races

Critérium International (1996)

Time trials

Duo Normand (1993, 1999)
Chrono des Nations (1993, 1996)
World Time Trial Championship (1994)
Grand Prix des Nations (1996)

Hour record

Best human effort (1993, 1996)
UCI Hour Record (2000)

Christopher Miles Boardman, MBE, (born 26 August 1968) is a British former racing cyclist who won an individual pursuit gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, broke the world hour record three times, and won three stages and wore the yellow jersey on three separate occasions at the Tour de France. In 1992, he was awarded an MBE for services to cycling.[3]

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, although in an interview he claimed that all it did was help him focus. Boardman focused on interval training. He was a keen user of power measuring devices. For his winning ways in time trials and prologues of stage races, he was also nicknamed "Mr. Prologue".

Boardman is also notable for having used the Lotus 108 time trial bicycle designed by Mike Burrows and made by the sports car manufacturer Lotus. Later he worked with the UK carbon fibre bike specialist Hotta, to produce other time-trial frame designs, which he raced in various events including world championships, and Olympic games. He is now involved in producing commercial and competition bikes with the Boardman Bikes and Boardman Elite ventures.

Early life

He was educated at Hilbre High School in Wirral, Merseyside, and rode in his first bike race at the age of 13. He was on the national cycling team by the age of 16.[4]

Career

UK time trial

Boardman won his first national RTTC time trial title in the 1984 "GHS" schoolboy 10-mile championship and subsequently won the 1986 junior 25-mile championship. He also broke the junior 25-mile national record in 1984.

As a senior he won four consecutive hill climb championships (from 1988 to 1991), five consecutive 25-mile championships (from 1989 to 1993), the 50-mile championship in 1991 and 1992, and the men's British time trial championship in 2000. He broke the record for 25 miles in 1992 and 1993 with 45 minutes 57 seconds (which he held until 2009)[5] on a course based on the A34 near Oxford. He was also a member of the winning North Wirral Velo team in the 1993 100 km team time trial championship (in a record time of 2:00:07), having previously won the event three times with Manchester Wheelers' Club, in 1988, 1989 and 1991.

Professional career and Tour de France

Having started his cycling career as a time trial specialist, he turned professional with the GAN team, later renamed the Crédit Agricole team, of manager Roger Legeay of France. His first race as a professional was the 1993 Grand Prix Eddy Merckx, a 66 km time trial which he won. He further won several stages of the Midi Libre and Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stage races, including the final road stage.

He won fame by winning the prologue of the 1994 Tour de France with what was then the fastest time ever recorded,[6] but lost the yellow jersey in a team time trial. He was hailed as the UK's future Tour de France winner, despite his own insistence that it was a long shot. After retirement he said he was not able to recover from the rigours of stage racing due to a low hormone profile. "I've always had it, it's probably been that way since I was born, but because of the type of racing that I did in the past, it was not a problem."

In the 1995 Tour de France, he crashed 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 Zülle and finished in second place. However, he made a comeback in the 1997 Tour de France by winning the prologue of the Tour again, although a crash forced him to quit on stage 13.

In 1998 Tour de France, when the Tour began in Dublin, Ireland, he won the prologue but crashed on stage 2 while wearing the yellow jersey. In 1998 he was diagnosed with osteopenia due to low testosterone levels.[7] Treatment to prevent worsening in this condition would have required him to take testosterone, which is banned under anti-doping rules. The UCI, in the wake of the Festina doping scandal, refused to allow Boardman an exemption on medical grounds.[7] Faced with either retiring to allow treatment for his osteoporosis, or continuing to cycle without taking testosterone, Boardman chose to continue in cycling untreated for a further two years, hoping to finish his career on a high note at the 2000 Summer Olympics.[8]

His preparation was affected by missing the 1999 Tour de France due to sinus problems.[9] Boardman came eleventh in the time trial at the 2000 Olympics.[10] He retired after the Olympics, at the age of 32.

Hour record

Lotus Type 108 bicycle
The Lotus 108 bicycle Boardman used to win the Olympic Games 4km pursuit in 1992

Boardman is famous for his hour record. The 1990s saw him compete with Graeme Obree using radically modified time-trial bikes, beating each other's records in turn; in one eight-month period in 1994 the record fell four times.[11] The Union Cycliste Internationale finally modified the regulations, mandating 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 riding 49.441 km, just 10 m further than Merckx's 28-year-old record.[11]

Olympics

Boardman rode a Lotus 108 in the 4 km pursuit at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Lotus Engineering's 'uni-axle' design incorporated several new features. Boardman caught Germany's Jens Lehmann, the 1991 World Champion, in the Olympic final.

Boardman won bronze in the 52 km time trial at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He did not defend his 4 km title.

Retirement

In an interview Boardman admitted that the last two years of his professional career were the most difficult, especially because of his debilitating condition and marital issues. Boardman was diagnosed with osteoporosis by the time he was 30, a condition which is uncommon for someone as young as he was. He was criticised for not realising his potential, but in response he said that, "I never considered myself particularly gifted, but I managed to stretch and mould the ability that I have, and found a niche for myself."

Personal life

Boardman lives with his wife and six children in his native Wirral. Since retirement from professional cycling he has presented for ITV's cycling coverage and currently has a brand of cycles and accessories under the name Boardman Bikes.[12][13] He is also involved in producing competition cycles through Boardman Elite.[14]

Boardman was appointed a technical adviser to the British road and track cycling team in 2004, and was equipment and technical manager to the TeamGB cyclists at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.[15][16][17]

In 2009 Boardman took part in the London marathon, finishing in 3hrs 19min 27sec. He was also inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.[18]

In 2012 Boardman commentated alongside Hugh Porter for the BBC on the cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

He is an advocate of policies to greatly increase utility cycling in the United Kingdom, citing the potential to reduce the 35,000 annual deaths from obesity-related diseases, and urging that in road traffic accidents there be a presumption of guilt on the driver of the larger vehicle.[19]

Boardman appeared on the BBC Top Gear TV show in Series 21, Episode 5 (2 March 2014) in his role as a British Cycling policy advisor in the "Make a commercial for reducing cycle-related accidents" feature.

Career achievements

Major results

Source:[20][21][22]

1986
3rd Team pursuit, Commonwealth Games
1988
1st National Hill Climb Championship
1989
1st National Hill Climb Championship
1st Individual pursuit, National Amateur Track Championships
1990
1st National Hill Climb Championship
Commonwealth Games
3rd Team pursuit
3rd Team time trial
1991
1st National Hill Climb Championship
1st Individual pursuit, National Amateur Track Championships
1992
1st Individual pursuit, Olympic Games
1st Individual pursuit, National Amateur Track Championships
1993
1st Chrono des Nations
1st Duo Normand (with Laurent Bezault)
1st Grand Prix Eddy Merckx
3rd Individual pursuit, Track World Championships
4th Grand Prix des Nations
1994
1st Individual pursuit, Track World Championships
1st Time trial, Road World Championships
Tour de France
1st Prologue
Held Yellow after Prologue–Stage 2
1st Prologue & Stages 3 & 7 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
1st Stage 6 Tour de Suisse
1st Stages 1 & 6 Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia
3rd GP Karlsruhe (with Pascal Lance)
1995
1st Stage 4 Four Days of Dunkirk
1st Stage 6 Grand Prix du Midi Libre
2nd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Liberé
1st Prologue
2nd Overall Tour de Picardie
1st Stage 3b
1996
1st Chrono des Nations
1st Duo Normand (with Paul Manning)
1st Grand Prix Eddy Merckx
1st Individual pursuit, Track World Championships
1st Grand Prix des Nations
1st LuK Challenge Chrono (with Uwe Peschel)
1st Overall Critérium International
1st Stage 3 Four Days of Dunkirk
1st Stage 2 Route du Sud
2nd Time trial, Road World Championships
3rd Overall Paris–Nice
1st Stage 8b
3rd Overall Tour de Picardie
3rd Time trial, Olympic Games
4th Grand Prix du Midi Libre
5th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Liberé
1st Prologue
7th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
1997
1st Prologue Volta a Catalunya
1st Prologue Critérium du Dauphiné Liberé
1st Prologue Tour de France
1st Stage 5b Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana
2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
1st Prologue & Stage 6
3rd Time trial, Road World Championships
3rd Grand Prix des Nations
5th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
1998
1st Prologue & Stage 5 Volta a Catalunya
1st Prologue & Stage 4 Critérium du Dauphiné Liberé
1st Prologue Tour de France
2nd Overall Prutour
1st Prologue & Stage 1
4th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx
8th Chrono des Nations
1999
1st Prologue Paris–Nice
1st Stage 3 Critérium International
1st Stage 2b Prutour
1st GP Karlsruhe (with Jens Voigt)
1st Duo Normand (with Jens Voigt)
1st LuK Challenge Chrono (with Jens Voigt)
2nd Grand Prix des Nations
3rd Time trial, Road World Championships
3rd Grand Prix Eddy Merckx (with Jens Voigt)
8th Chrono des Nations
2000
2nd Grand Prix Eddy Merckx (with Jens Voigt)
4th Time trial, Road World Championships
6th Chrono des Nations

World records

Discipline Record Date Event Velodrome Track Ref
4 km individual pursuit 4:27.357 27 July 1992 Olympic Games D'Horta (Barcelona) Open air [23]
4:24.496 27 July 1992 [23]
Hour record 52.270 km 23 July 1993 — Bordeaux Indoor [24]
4 km individual pursuit 4:27.357 28 August 1996 World Championships Manchester [23]
4:24.496 29 August 1996 [23]
Hour record 56.375 km 6 September 1996 — [24]
49.441 km 27 October 2000 — [24]

Awards and honours

References

  1. ↑ "FAQ's". Boardman Bikes. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Chris Boardman". Sports Reference. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "New Year Honours: Prime Minister's List – Peerage for Williams". The Independent.
  4. ↑ www.bbc.co.uk What's so special about Chris Boardman
  5. ↑ The National Governing Body for Cycling Time Trials in England & Wales http://www.rttc.org.uk/Home/tabid/36/itemid/1542/Default.aspx
  6. ↑ "Le Tour en chiffres Les autres records" (PDF) (in French). LeTour.fr.
  7. 1 2 CHRIS BOARDMAN: I had to give up cycling at 32 because I had the bones of an old woman – Daily Mail, 15 November 2009
  8. ↑ Boardman quitting to take drugs – The Guardian, 12 October 2000
  9. ↑ "Boardman: Illness forcing me to quit". BBC.co.uk. 25 September 2000. Retrieved 18 May 2008.
  10. ↑ "Ekimov upstages the rest". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 18 May 2008.
  11. 1 2 Clemitson, Suze (19 September 2014). "Why Jens Voigt and a new group of cyclists want to break the Hour record". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "Boardman Bikes : Chris Boardman".
  13. ↑ "Boardman Bikes at Halfords".
  14. ↑ "Future bike revealed". Sky Sports. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  15. ↑ Mark Appleton. "Boardman's technical quest for Beijing gold". Bike Radar.com.
  16. ↑ Patrick Sawyer (6 August 2008). "Revolutionary skinsuit helps UK cyclists go for Olympic gold". Telegraph.co.uk.
  17. ↑ Jeremy Whittle (12 August 2008). "Chris Boardman frets over final preparations". London: timesonline.co.uk.
  18. ↑ "50 Cycling Heroes Named in British Cycling's Hall of Fame". British Cycling. 17 December 2009.
  19. ↑ BBC interview, 7 September 2012
  20. ↑ "Chris Boardman (Great Britain)". The-Sports.org. Québec, Canada: Info Média Conseil. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  21. ↑ "Chris Boardman". Cycling Archives. de Wielersite. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  22. ↑ "Chris Boardman MBE Cycling Career CV" (PDF). Boardman Bikes. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  23. 1 2 3 4 "Men's World Records" (PDF). Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  24. 1 2 3 Hutchinson 2010, p. 280.
  25. ↑ "Award Winners". The F. T. Bidlake Memorial Trust. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  26. ↑ "Past winners of the SJA British Sports Awards". Sports Journalists' Association. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  27. ↑ "British Cycling Hall of Fame – 2010 Inductees". British Cycling Hall of Fame. Retrieved 21 October 2015.

Sources

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chris Boardman.
Records
Preceded by
Eddy Merckx		 UCI hour record (49.441 km)
27 October 2000 – 19 July 2005 		Succeeded by
Ondřej Sosenka
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