Djamolidine Abdoujaparov

Personal information
Full name	Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
Nickname	The Tashkent Terror
Date of birth	February 28, 1964 (1964-02-28) (age 45)
Country	Uzbekistan
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Professional team(s)1
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 1 Team names given are those prevailing at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (born 28 February 1964 in Tashkent) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Uzbekistan. Abdoujaparov was a sprinter, nicknamed "The Tashkent Terror"^[1] as he was so ferocious in the sprints. His unorthodox and often erratic sprinting caused a number of crashes.

A graduate of the Soviet sports programme, Abdoujaparov came into his prime just as his country gained independence; after initial difficulties (including Uzbekistan's not being affiliated to the UCI, which caused problems with the Cycling World Championship) he signed for a Western professional team and became one of the world's top sprinters.

Abdoujaparov remains most famous for tussles with Laurent Jalabert in the Tour de France's green sprinters jersey competition in the early 1990s. In 1991 "Abdou" won the competition despite a spectacular crash during the final stage on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where - with 100 metres to the finish - he hit a giant promotional drinks can and somersaulted into the air. Despite still holding enough points to win the sprinters' jersey, he had to cross the line unaided. Members of his team picked him up, put him back on the bike, and he rode slowly over the last few meters, medical staff walking alongside him.

In his last complete tour in 1996, Abdoujaparov achieved a mountain breakaway for his last stage win, unusual for a sprinter. By this stage, though, results were not as good, and after failing anti-doping tests during the 1997 Tour de France’s second stage, he retired from cycling. He failed the tests screening for the presence in his body of, among others, the anti-asthma drug Clenbuterol.

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] Victories

[edit] See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
• List of doping cases in cycling

[edit] References

v • d • e Tour de France points classification winners 1953 Fritz Schär • 1954 Ferdinand Kübler • 1955–1956 Stan Ockers • 1957 Jean Forestier • 1958 Jean Graczyk • 1959 André Darrigade • 1960 Jean Graczyk • 1961 André Darrigade • 1962 Rudi Altig • 1963 Rik van Looy • 1964–1965 Jan Janssen • 1966 Willy Planckaert • 1967 Jan Janssen • 1968 Franco Bitossi • 1969 Eddy Merckx • 1970 Walter Godefroot • 1971–1972 Eddy Merckx • 1973 Herman van Springel • 1974 Patrick Sercu • 1975 Rik Van Linden • 1976 Freddy Maertens • 1977 Jacques Esclassan • 1978 Freddy Maertens • 1979 Bernard Hinault • 1980 Rudy Pevenage • 1981 Freddy Maertens • 1982–1983 Sean Kelly • 1984 Frank Hoste • 1985 Sean Kelly • 1986 Eric Vanderaerden • 1987 Jean-Paul van Poppel • 1988 Eddy Planckaert • 1989 Sean Kelly • 1990 Olaf Ludwig • 1991 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov • 1992 Laurent Jalabert • 1993–1994 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov • 1995 Laurent Jalabert • 1996–2001 Erik Zabel • 2002 Robbie McEwen • 2003 Baden Cooke • 2004 Robbie McEwen • 2005 Thor Hushovd • 2006 Robbie McEwen • 2007 Tom Boonen • 2008 Óscar Freire • 2009 Thor Hushovd