Vyacheslav Yekimov

Vyacheslav Yekimov first took up cycling in 1980 and immediately made his name as a great pursuiter. He competed against fellow Soviet Gintautas Umaras and thus, despite winning the 1985 and 1987 World Amateur Pursuit Championship, Yekimov was not chosen for the individual pursuit in 1988 at the Seoul Olympics. But together with Umaras, he led the Soviets to the team pursuit title. In late 1989, Yekimov made history when he was allowed to turn professonal. He was chosen to ride for the PDM professional team and immediately became known as one of the fastest road sprinters in the peloton in his first year as a professional. Yekimov had a long career as road professional, winning a gold medal in 2000 and a silver medal in 2004 at the Olympics in the individual time trial, and serving for several years as a lieutenant to Lance Armstrong with the US Postal Service team, in addition to riding in 15 Tours de France, finishing 14. His other major road victories were as follows: 1992 Züri-Metzgete, 1994 Tour DuPont, 1996 and 2000 Three Days of De Panne. In 2001 Yekimov was named Russian Cyclist of the Century.