Unusual facts about Pro Cyclists

Abdoujaparov

Rock band The Delgados named themselves after Pedro Delgado.

Due to superstition, Marzio Brushegin has never used a sprocket with a prime number of teeth.

Phil 'the power' Taylor has signed for Astana next season as a mountain domestique.

moray_gub

pb21 wrote:

Moray Gub wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Fair enough, a lot of these are bloody hilarious

Valverde races clean.

Boring

unlike yourself of course as you have really got em rolling in the aisles with these sidesplitters


"On Sundays Jan Ullrich likes to play the piccolo and his favourite song to play is Under Pressure by Queen"

James Cammeron got the idea for the Terminator series of films after witnessing Jens Voight being involved in several extreme cycling crashes, some involving articulated lorries running him over, yet ...

about as funny as a swift kick to the baw sack.

RichN95.

During the winter Samuel Dumoulin grows as tall as 6' 1" and has to undergo a strict beetroot only diet to shrink again.

takethehighroad

RichN95 wrote:

During the winter Samuel Dumoulin grows as tall as 6' 1" and has to undergo a strict beetroot only diet to shrink again.

I thought he contracted in the cold like the Eiffel Tower?

No_Ta_Doctor

As a child Robert Millar used to train by cycling up the stairs at bedtime.

No_Ta_Doctor

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

During the winter Samuel Dumoulin grows as tall as 6' 1" and has to undergo a strict beetroot only diet to shrink again.

I thought he contracted in the cold like the Eiffel Tower?

The Eiffel Tower contracts when the TdF comes to Paris as it suffers from penis envy when it sees Jens Voigt.

Roscobob

Superman wears Jens Voigt pyjamas.

capilinconnemara

Funny How Donkeys have been getting a mention.
Sean Kelly used to buy Donkeys during his winter break and send them to Belgium to sell them. At one stage he was breeding Donkeys on the Farm in Ireland. He nolonger breeds them and just keeps a few as pets

disgruntledgoat

Pedro Delgado's band are names after a donkey, I believe.

pb21

During his ban from international cycling due to blood doping Alexander Vinokorouv kept himself fit and busy by entering the Kazakhstan adult movie business.

Amongst the many movies he was involved with perhaps the most well known, and certainly the title that received the most widespread critical acclaim, was ‘Vino’s Whore de France’. This saw our intrepid hero visiting some of the Tour de Frances most iconic sights with a collection of France’s top class escorts. First Vino would explain the significance of the location before making sweet love to them. Places visited in the film included the cafe in France from where the inaugural TDF set of from, the road to Gap where Beloki crashed whilst Vino was cruising to victory, the top of the Tourmalet and next to Tom Simpsons memorial on the Ventoux, where some of the mementos are used as ‘props’.

inkyfingers

Prior to the 2009 Tour Prologue Bradley Wiggins warmed up to The Jam, however this year Brad's ipod was shagged so he had no option but to listen to Dave Brailsford ipod which mostly contained The Style Council....

No_Ta_Doctor

Prior to his career as a pro cyclist Miguel Indurain was a door to door fish salesman. He cycled around with his fish in a huge basket on his handlebars. His legendary lung capacity is the product of having to hold his breath to avoid the smell in warm weather.

jimmythecuckoo

Pascal Richard starred as tv's milk tray man in the late 80's before becoming a pro cyclist.

Ben6899

Damiano Cunego. Despite being nicknamed "Il Piccolo Principe" (The Little Prince) in Professional Cycling circles, his diminutiveness is actually an optical illusion caused by his preferred bike fit and riding style. He is in fact 7ft 6in tall.

No_Ta_Doctor

Richard Virenque hates Brussels sprouts, but loves Marmite.

inkyfingers

The reason that Juan Mauricio Soler has such a distinctive climbing style is because he has testicles the size of grapefruits and is constantly trying not to squash them as he pedals.

Ben6899

Vincenzo Nibali ate Freddy Starr's hamster.

iainf72

Cadel Evans once ran with scissors against everyones advice. He gloated for 3 weeks afterwards when he was proved right that he'd not harm himself.

EBH is mortally afraid of icebergs.

No_Ta_Doctor

Johan Bruyneel is banned from the John O'Gaunt in Lancaster for standing on top of the piano and waving his willy about.

Matchstick Man

Chris Horner invented smoothies
In the off-season, Michael Barry works as a stand-up comedian on the northern working mens club circuit
All Belgian pros are contractually obliged to grow a mullet at least once in their careers

inkyfingers

Andreas Kloden actually founded Microsoft but typically allowed someone else to take all the glory.

AO1504

The Delgados broke up in 2005 because band member Stewart Henderson went off to breed Donkeys.

Kléber

Michael Rasmussen now makes a living as a model for anatomy students.

TommyEss

iainf72 wrote:

EBH is mortally afraid of icebergs.

How is he with other salad leaves?

pb21

Whilst holidaying in Blackpool Filippo Pozzato likes to wear sandals with mid length white socks.

LangerDan

Federico Bahamontes (aka "The Donkey of Toledo") used to sell doorbells, door-to-door, before he became a pro cyclist.

Uber-professional Robbie McEwen mentioned his sponsor "Katusha" 23 times in a 15 second soundbite. Michele Scarponi tried the same with "Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni " but ran out of time ( and saliva) after 5 minutes.

BikingBernie

For their winter training Roger De Vlaeminck and Freddy Maertens used to run over the sand dunes along the Belgian coast carrying their wives on their backs. (Maertens did actually once claim this to be true in an interview).

When the Belgians were competing in the international 'It's a knockout' competition in the mid 70's, they drafted Roger and Eric De Vlaemink into the team in order to ride the bicycle obstacle course. (This is absolutely true!).

Paul Sherwin is also a 'donkey man'. (According to reliable after-race shower room reports).

disquieting_museeuws

Antoine Dy (VC Evreux and Normandie) is nicknamed Le Manchot (The Penguin).

Fellow Normand Gaylord Cumont once road for Team Oddass. Nothing funny about that.

Norman amateur Eric Le Bastard is not, to the best of my knowledge, a bastard at all.

Abdoujaparov

BikingBernie wrote:

When the Belgians were competing in the international "It's a knockout' competition in the mid 70's, they drafted Roger and Eric De Vlaemink into the team in order to ride the bicycle obstacle course. (This is absolutely true!).

Is that true? Can't find any details online

No_Ta_Doctor

Sean Kelly is mortally afeared of Donkeys.