Sylvain Chavanel
Sylvain Chavanel[4] (born 30 June 1979) is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the Cofidis, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, IAM Cycling and two spells with the Brioches La Boulangère/Direct Énergie team.[5] His brother Sébastien Chavanel also rode as a professional cyclist. Sylvain Chavanel was noted as a strong all-rounder who won both sprints and time-trials, and was a good northern classics rider, taking 45 wins during his professional career.[5]
.JPG) Chavanel in 2014 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Sylvain Chavanel |
| Nickname | Chava,[1] Mimosa, La Machine |
| Born | 30 June 1979 Châtellerault, France |
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[2] |
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb; 11 st 0 lb)[2] |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | All-rounder |
| Amateur team | |
| 1999 | Vendée U |
| Professional teams | |
| 2000–2004 | Bonjour |
| 2005–2008 | Cofidis |
| 2009–2013 | Quick-Step |
| 2014–2015 | IAM Cycling |
| 2016–2018 | Direct Énergie[3] |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Medal record
| |
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Background
Chavanel was born in Châtellerault, France, although his family roots are in Spain. His great-grandparents were from Huesca, in the Aragon region. His grandfather was born in Barcelona and moved to Châtellerault during the Spanish Civil War. Other members of the family still live in Aragon.[4] He said: "Last year [2007], when the Vuelta was in Zaragoza, I got to know the cousin of mine using a journalist as the translator and she gave me a picture of my grandfather when he was young. Despite my origins, I hardly know a word of Spanish – just swear words".[4]
As a child he played in the garden with models of racing cyclists. He said:
- We've got quite a big family and we're all into cycling. I remember playing out in the garden with my three brothers and sister with little figures that we gave names to. I was usually Greg LeMond, then later I went on to be Miguel Indurain then eventually Laurent Jalabert. I remember LeMond's accent. I liked the way he spoke French. I just thought he was a nice guy and I liked his style of riding.[6]
Chavanel began cycling at Châtellerault school when he was eight. He gave up to try football, then went back.
- I started cycling again at 12 and from then on I improved every year. I was a fragile little thing, immature physically. I used to finish races halfway down the girls' field and at the back of the boys'. Everything changed the day that I beat my elder brother, Frédéric, in the cadet category, although he was better than me at the time.[6]
Racing career
He began racing when he was 13. He won 29 races on the road as a schoolboy and a junior. He won the national junior individual pursuit championship in 1997. His uncle, Philippe Raby, a former rider in the Vendée region, recommended him to Jean-René Bernaudeau who was building a professional team based there. Bernardeau saw Chavanel race for the first time at Montreveau, in Maine-et-Loire, when he was racing against riders from Bernardeau's Vendée U junior team.
Bonjour (2000–2004)
Bernardeau and Chavanel agreed that Chavanel would spend another year with his club, AC Châtellerault, which had spent time and money on his training. Bernardeau's assistant, Thierry Bricau, was given the job of providing Chavanel with a training programme. Chavanel rode the Tour de l'Avenir in 1999 and then in 2000, aged 21, he turned professional for Bernardeau's Bonjour team, sponsored by a chain of local newspapers. He won the first stage of the Circuit Franco-Belge and lost his leader's jersey only on the last day. He also won the climbers' jersey in the Tour de l'Avenir by breaking clear in the Pyrenees and rode 217 kilometres (135 miles) alone at the front of Paris–Tours.
Bernardeau said:
- Sylvain has some of the faults I had as a young rider. He's always working at the front of the race – you have to rein him in for his own good. At his age, life is beautiful and risks are there to be taken. But he's acquiring self-knowledge and his days of gratuitous long-range sorties and suicide attacks are coming to an end.[7]
Chavanel rode his first Tour de France at 22, finishing 65th, later coming third in the Tour de l'Avenir behind Denis Menchov and Florent Brard. In 2002 he won the Four Days of Dunkirk and finished third in the Tour of Belgium. He later won both of those races in 2005.
Cofidis (2005–2008)
On 25 July 2008 Chavanel won the 19th stage of the Tour de France by outsprinting Jérémy Roy at Montluçon. That and other performances brought him election as the most combative rider of the race.
On 3 September 2008, he came second in the individual time trial stage of the Vuelta a España at Ciudad Real. His ride brought him to second place overall, two seconds slower than the American, Levi Leipheimer. His team worked for him next day from Ciudad Real to Toledo to make sure he won time bonuses offered along the route. The six seconds he collected were enough to give him the leader's jersey on 4 September.
Quick Step (2009–2013)
Chavanel said in 2007 that he had had offers from foreign teams but was discouraged from joining them because he was unsure of his pension payments outside France. In July 2008 he said he had agreed with Patrick Lefevere the directeur sportif to join the Quick-Step team in Belgium for 2009. Chavanel said he made his decision to move after riding well in classic races in Belgium at the start of the year.[8] He won Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Brabantse Pijl. He said:
- I had other options as well. Professionally, it's an experience that can only do me good. I had the chance to sign for three years with AG2R-La Mondiale but I had the feeling that I wasn't going to develop enough. I have always raced in France and, in my heart, some experience abroad has excited me for some time. I therefore decided to take the step and Patrick Lefévère's advances completely persuaded me.[8]
During the 2010 Tour de France, Chavanel took over the yellow jersey after attacking at the 10-kilometre (6.2-mile) mark on stage 2. Following a series of crashes affecting the General Classification contenders on the descent into Spa, the race was neutralized for every rider except Chavanel, who was the lone escapee at that time. He capitalized on that, opening up enough of a gap to win the stage and capture the yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank).[9] The following stage was not so good for Chavanel as two punctures on the cobbled roads meant Fabian Cancellara re-took the yellow jersey, however on the Tour's first mountain stage from Tournus to Station des Rousses Chavanel bridged the gap to an early breakaway and rode away to take a famous win and inherit the yellow jersey for the second time.
In the 2011 Vuelta a España Chavanel held the red leader's jersey for four stages. On stage three, as part of a breakaway, he finished second behind Pablo Lastras which left him second in general classification, 20 seconds behind Lastras.[10] However, on the next stage Chavanel finished just 57 seconds behind the stage winner while Lastras lost over 18 minutes, thereby making Chavanel the overall leader of the Vuelta.[11] He held this jersey until stage 8 where it was taken by Joaquim Rodríguez.[12]
In 2012, Chavanel won the Three Days of De Panne and won the French National Time Trial Championships for the fourth time.
In 2013, after strong appearances in the Tour de San Luis and the Volta ao Algarve, Chavanel won stage six of Paris–Nice,[13] taking the points classification at the race. Chavanel also won the overall classification at the Three Days of De Panne for the second year in a row, winning the final time trial stage.[14]
After five years with the team, Chavanel left the squad at the end of the 2013 season,[15] and joined IAM Cycling for the 2014 season.[16]
IAM (2014–2015)
After winning the National Time trial title, Chavanel went on to win the 2014 Tour du Poitou-Charentes thanks to a great performance in the stage 4 time trial.[17] A couple of days later, Chavanel topped a very successful week as he prevailed in the World Tour race GP Ouest-France by winning the sprint out of a small group ahead of Arthur Vichot.[18] In 2015 he also accomplished the impressive feat of starting and finishing each Grand Tour.
Direct Énergie (2016–2018)
In September 2015 Direct Énergie announced that Chavanel would join them for the 2016 season.[19] In 2018, Chavanel participated in the Tour de France for the 18th time to take the record outright from Stuart O'Grady and Jens Voigt for the most Tour de France participations and was given the most combative rider award for the second stage.[20][21] On 26 July 2018, Chavanel finished Stage 18 of the race to become the man with the biggest number of stages completed - overtaking Joop Zoetemelk's 365. 3 days later, he tied Zoetemelk's record of finishing the Tour de France 16 times. On the last day of the race, 29 July, he announced he would retire after Tour de Vendée on 6 October 2018.[22] He extended his career to the following week's Chrono des Nations before retiring.[5]
Nickname
Chavanel is known as Chava,[1] Mimosa or Mimo, after a French film character he imitates.[6] In the Dutch-speaking Belgian media, he is often nicknamed 'La Machine' for his outstanding stamina and determination.[23][24]
Major results
- 1999
- 7th Overall Circuit des Mines
- 2000
- 1st Mountains classification Tour de l'Avenir
- 3rd Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
- 1st Stage 1
- 6th Overall Tour de l'Ain
- 6th Grand Prix de Villers-Cotterêts
- 8th Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers
- 2001
- 2nd Châteauroux Classic
- 3rd Overall Tour de l'Avenir
- 3rd Polynormande
- 4th Overall Tour de l'Ain
- 6th Overall Tour de Picardie
- 7th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
- 9th Le Samyn
- 2002
- 1st
- 1st Trophée des Grimpeurs
- 2nd Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
- 3rd Overall Tour of Belgium
- 3rd Châteauroux Classic
- 9th Overall Danmark Rundt
- 2003
- 1st Tour du Haut Var
- 2nd Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
- 2nd Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan
- 3rd Overall Tour Méditerranéen
- 5th Overall Paris–Nice
- 5th Overall Critérium International
- 5th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
- 1st Stage 3b (ITT)
- 5th Paris–Bourges
- 9th Overall Paris–Corrèze
- 9th Tro-Bro Léon
- 2004
- 1st
- 1st
- 1st Polynormande
- Tour du Poitou-Charentes
- 1st Stages 3 & 4 (ITT)
- 5th Paris–Camembert
- 5th Trophée des Grimpeurs
- 6th Grand Prix de Fourmies
- 9th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
- 10th Overall Critérium International
- 2005
- 1st
- 1st
- 1st Stage 5
- 1st
- 1st Duo Normand (with Thierry Marichal)
- 9th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 2006
- 1st
- 1st
- 7th Overall Paris–Corrèze
- 7th Paris–Bourges
- 8th Gran Premio di Lugano
- 2007
- 3rd Trophée des Grimpeurs
- 4th Overall Critérium International
- 9th Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan
- 10th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
- 2008
- 1st
- 1st Dwars door Vlaanderen
- 1st Brabantse Pijl
- Tour de France
- 1st Stage 19
- 1st Stage 5 Tour Méditerranéen
- 1st Stage 4 Volta a Catalunya
- 2nd Overall Volta ao Algarve
- 8th Overall Paris–Nice
- 1st Stage 6
- 10th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
- 2009
- 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
- 2nd Overall Eneco Tour
- 1st Prologue
- 2nd Overall Volta ao Algarve
- 3rd Overall Paris–Nice
- 1st
- 1st Stage 3
- 1st
- 4th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
- 5th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
- 7th Dwars door Vlaanderen
- 8th Paris–Roubaix
- 9th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
- 2010
- Tour de France
- 1st Stages 2 & 7
- Held
- Held
- 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
- 7th Overall Tour du Limousin
- 2011
- 1st
- 2nd Tour of Flanders
- 4th Overall Three Days of De Panne
- Vuelta a España
- Held
- Held
- 2012
- 1st
- 1st
- 1st
- 1st Stage 3b (ITT)
- 2nd Overall Eneco Tour
- 2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen
- 2nd Chrono des Nations
- 8th Overall Paris–Nice
- 8th Overall Tour de San Luis
- 10th Tour of Flanders
- 2013
- 1st
- National Road Championships
- 1st
- 2nd Road race
- 1st
- 1st
- 1st Stage 3b (ITT)
- 3rd Chrono des Nations
- 4th Milan–San Remo
- 4th Brabantse Pijl
- 5th Overall Paris–Nice
- 1st
- 1st Stage 6
- 1st
- 6th Overall Eneco Tour
- 1st Stage 5 (ITT)
- 6th E3 Harelbeke
- 7th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- 8th Grand Prix de Wallonie
- 2014
- 1st
- 1st
- 1st Stage 4 (ITT)
- 1st GP Ouest–France
- 1st Chrono des Nations
- 2nd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
- 1st Stage 3
- 3rd Overall Tour of Belgium
- 5th Dwars door Vlaanderen
- 7th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
- 7th Overall Tour of Britain
- 2015
- 1st
- National Road Championships
- 3rd Time trial
- 3rd Road race
- 9th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 2016
- 2016–17 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Glasgow
- 1st
- 2nd
- 1st
- 1st
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- 1st
- 1st
- 1st Stage 4 (ITT)
- 4th Overall Étoile de Bessèges
- 1st Stage 3
- 5th Overall Three Days of De Panne
- 2017
- 4th Time trial, National Road Championships
- 4th Overall Three Days of De Panne
- 5th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
- 1st Stage 4
- 5th Overall Étoile de Bessèges
- 9th Tour of Flanders
- 9th Tro-Bro Léon
- 10th Chrono des Nations
- 2018
- 2nd Overall Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- 4th Overall Étoile de Bessèges
- 4th Overall Tour La Provence
- 5th Cholet-Pays de Loire
- 5th Chrono des Nations
- 6th La Roue Tourangelle
- 6th Paris–Chauny
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
| Grand Tour | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | — |
|
65 | 36 | 37 | 30 | 58 | 45 | DNF | 61 | 19 | 31 | 61 | DNF | 31 | 34 | 54 | 43 | 25 | 39 |
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | 16 | DNF | — | — | 27 | — | — | — | 47 | — | — | — |
References
- "Sylvain Chavanel". Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. Decolef. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- "Sylvain Chavanel profile". Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
- Bonamy, Raphaël (1 September 2017). "Direct Énergie: le point sur l'effectif 2018" [Direct Énergie: Roster Update 2018]. Ouest-France (in French). Groupe Ouest-France. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- Procycling, UK, November 2008
- Bacon, Ellis (16 October 2018). "Sylvain Chavanel: Looking back on 19 years as a pro – Gallery". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- Procycling, UK, February 2003
- Tour de France Official Guide, 2002
- Chavanel part chez Quick Step, L'Équipe, France, 27 July 2008
- "Sylvain Chavanel wins stage to take Tour de France lead". BBC Sport. BBC © 2012. 5 July 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
- "2011 Vuelta a España results, stage 3". Velonews.competitor.com. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- Archived 30 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- "Joaquim Rodriguez takes stage 8, lead in 2011 Vuelta a España". Velonews.competitor.com. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- Symcox, Jonathan (9 March 2013). "Chavanel wins sprint into Nice". Yahoo! Eurosport. TF1 Group. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
- Wynn, Nigel (28 March 2013). "Sylvain Chavanel wins Three Days of De Panne". Cycling Weekly. IPC Media Limited. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
- "Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team (OPQ) – BEL". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
- "Chavanel, Frank among transfers to IAM Cycling". VeloNews. Competitor Group, Inc. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
- "Chavanel wins Tour du Poitou-Charentes". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- "Chavanel wins GP Ouest France-Plouay". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- "Bernaudeau announces Direct Energie as new sponsor". cyclingnews.com. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
- "Tour de France: Chavanel earns Zwift Rider of the Day". www.cyclingnews.com. 8 July 2018.
- "Tour de France: Peter Sagan wins crash-marred stage 2 and takes yellow jersey". www.cyclingnews.com. 8 July 2018.
- "Sylvain Chavanel annonce sa retraite" (in French). L'Équipe. 29 July 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- "Chavanel pakt eindzege Driedaagse na winst in tijdrit". HLN.be. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- Donderdag 29 maart 2012 Om 03u00 Door Hugo Coorevits. "Chavanel: 'Ik ken mijn plaats: ónder Tom Boonen' – Sportwereld". Nieuwsblad.be. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sylvain Chavanel. |
- Sylvain Chavanel at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Sylvain Chavanel at the International Olympic Committee
- Sylvain Chavanel at Cycling Archives
- Sylvain Chavanel at CQ Ranking
- Sylvain Chavanel at ProCyclingStats
- Tour de France results
- Palmares at Cycling Base
- Chavanel pakt eindzege Driedaagse na winst in tijdrit
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| Trade teams (2012–2018) |
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