Dmitry Nelyubin

Dmitry Nelyubin was only a junior when he helped the USSR pursuit team win the 1988 Olympic gold medal and the 1988 World Championships, and he also won the amateur Tour de Belgique that year. Still a junior in 1989, he was junior World Champion in the team and individual pursuit. Nelyubin won the team pursuit World Championship in 1989 with the USSR, and again triumphed at the Tour de Belgique. But as he grew older, he did not continue his dominance. After the 1992 Olympics, Nelyubin turned professional, but with few palmares, winning only a few stages in minor races. He rode a few spring classics but never figured in the race for the podium positions. At a New Year’s celebration in 2005, Nelyubin got into an argument between his group and some other revelers. A fight broke out, and Nelyubin was stabbed, dying from his wounds. The assailant, Alimbek Azagoyez, was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.