Bob Roll (born July 7 1960, in
Oakland, CaliforniaOakland is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and a major West Coast port city, located on San Francisco Bay about eight miles east of the City of San Francisco. Oakland is a major hub city for the Bay Area subregion collectively called the East Bay, and it is the county seat...
) is a former American professional cyclist, author, and television sports commentator. He was a member of the
7-Eleven Cycling TeamThe 7-Eleven Cycling Team, later the Motorola Cycling Team, was a professional team founded in the U.S. in 1981 under Jim Ochowicz, a former U.S. Olympic cyclist...
until 1990 and competed for the Motorola Cycling Team in 1991. In 1992 Roll moved to
Greg LeMondGregory James "Greg" LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California....
’s Z team and added mountain biking to his racing accomplishments. He continued racing mountain bikes through 1998.
He has written
Bobke: A Ride on the Wild Side of Cycling, Bobke II, and two
Tour de France Companion volumes.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Bob Roll' Start a new discussion about 'Bob Roll' Answer questions from other users |
Bob Roll (born July 7 1960, in
Oakland, CaliforniaOakland is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and a major West Coast port city, located on San Francisco Bay about eight miles east of the City of San Francisco. Oakland is a major hub city for the Bay Area subregion collectively called the East Bay, and it is the county seat...
) is a former American professional cyclist, author, and television sports commentator. He was a member of the
7-Eleven Cycling TeamThe 7-Eleven Cycling Team, later the Motorola Cycling Team, was a professional team founded in the U.S. in 1981 under Jim Ochowicz, a former U.S. Olympic cyclist...
until 1990 and competed for the Motorola Cycling Team in 1991. In 1992 Roll moved to
Greg LeMondGregory James "Greg" LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California....
’s Z team and added mountain biking to his racing accomplishments. He continued racing mountain bikes through 1998.
He has written
Bobke: A Ride on the Wild Side of Cycling, Bobke II, and two
Tour de France Companion volumes. ("Bobke" is
Southern DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
for "Bobby".) He has also had many columns published in
VeloNews.
In 1998,
Lance ArmstrongLance Edward Armstrong is an American professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTeam . He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support....
was recovering from cancer and had dropped out of the Paris-Nice race. Armstrong's coach, Chris Carmichael, asked Roll to go to Boone, North Carolina, to ride with Armstrong for a few days. Armstrong was discouraged by Europe and on the verge of retiring. Carmichael wanted him to do one more training session, with Roll. According to Roll, "Lance had probably never met a bike racer like me...a person who could still find some happiness in such misery. We had eight hours a day for eight days of riding in the pouring rain - rain in Biblical proportions! I think Lance would’ve turned things around even without that time in the Appalachia[n]s, but it was a pivotal time." Armstrong went on to fourth in the
Vuelta a EspañaThe Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar.-History:...
, and within a year and a half won his first Tour de France. (Roll's tale of the ride is in "Bobke II"
http://www.missingsaddle.com/2006/05/26/what-about-bob/; Armstrong's is in "It's Not About the Bike.")
Roll is a
cyclingCycling is an activity most commonly performed on a bicycle - when it is it is also referred to as bicycling or simply biking. It is the use of the bicycle, unicycle , tricycles , quadracycles , and other similar wheeled human-powered vehicles for the purpose of transport, as a form of...
commentator for the
VersusVersus is a sports-oriented cable television network in the United States. It is owned by Comcast.It was previously known as OLN until a name change on September 25, 2006. Formerly, OLN stood for Outdoor Life Network, and the name was licensed from Outdoor Life magazine...
cable network's coverage of the
Tour de FranceThe Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers approximately throughout France and bordering countries. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totalled to...
.
Roll has appeared in
TrekTrek Bicycle Corporation is the United States' largest bicycle manufacturer, distributing bicycles and cycling products under the Trek, Gary Fisher, Bontrager, Klein and LeMond Racing Cycles brand names through a network of over 1,700 independent bicycle dealers across the U.S. and Canada...
commercials as himself with "Tour Mania".
Cycling achievements
- 3-time Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers approximately throughout France and bordering countries. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totalled to...
racer - 63rd (1986)http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1984_1993/tdf1986.php, DNF due to a crash (1987)http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1984_1993/tdf1987.php, 132nd (1990)http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1984_1993/tdf1990.php. In addition, Bob was supposed to start the 1988 Tour de France but dropped out the day before the race began due to illness.
- 3-time Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. It is one of the three Grand Tours, and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
racer, including 1988 when he was a domestiqueA domestique is a road bicycle racer who works for the benefit of his team and leader. The French domestique translates as "servant".
[In Italy and Spain, the term gregario A domestique is a road bicycle racer who works for the benefit of his team and leader. The French domestique...]
for winner Andrew HampstenAndrew Hampsten is an American cyclist who won the 1988 Giro d'Italia and the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 1992 Tour de France.-Career highlights:...
. During the stage through the snow-covered Gavia PassGavia Pass is a high mountain pass in the Italian Alps.The pass lies in the Lombardy region and divides the province of Sondrio to the north and the province of Brescia to the south...
, Hampsten took 2nd and the leader's Maglia rosaThe pink jersey is awarded to the leader of the General Classification at the Giro d'Italia. The leader of the GC is the rider who has the fastest time when all the stage results are added together, taking into account time bonuses for high finishes and intermediate sprints...
, and Roll had to ride up the hill to deliver Hampsten's warm clothes. He finished 61st http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdi/tdi1988.php. He finished 78th in 1985 http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdi/tdi1985.php and 114th in 1989 http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdi/tdi1989.php.
- 7-time Paris-Roubaix
Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France near the Belgian frontier. Since its beginning in 1896 until 1967 it started in Paris and ended in Roubaix ; since 1968 the start city is Compiègne , whilst the finish is still in Roubaix...
racer - 55th (1986) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_paris_roubaix/roubaix1986.php, 48th (1987) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_paris_roubaix/roubaix1987.php, 25th (1988) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_paris_roubaix/roubaix1988.php, 37th (1989) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_paris_roubaix/roubaix1989.php, 61st (1990) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_paris_roubaix/roubaix1990.php, and two DNFs
- 2-time Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Liège-Bastogne-Liège, often called La Doyenne , is one of the five 'Monuments' of the European professional road cycling calendar, and one of 24 races in which points can be gained towards the UCI World Ranking...
racer - 17th (1987) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_liege_bastogne/liege1987.php, and 54th (1990) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_liege_bastogne/liege1990.php
- 3-time Tour de Suisse
The Tour de Suisse is a UCI ProTour stage race held annually in June. The race debuted in 1933 and has evolved in timing, duration and sponsorship. With the Dauphiné Libéré, it is a proving ground for the Tour de France, and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
racer - 56th (1987) - as a domestique for overall winner Andrew Hampsten http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tds/tds1987.php, 48th (1990) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tds/tds1990.php
- 2-time Dauphiné Libéré
The Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré is an annual cycling road race, run over eight stages in the Dauphiné region in France during the first half of June. It is organised by the Dauphiné Libéré newspaper...
racer - 1990 http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_dauphine/dauphine1990.php, 97th (1991) - where in an odd twist he wore the number ending in 1 signifying he was Motorola's "team leader" for the event http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_dauphine/dauphine1991.php
- 2-time Amstel Gold Race
The Amstel Gold Race is a road bicycle race held in the southern part of the province of Limburg, The Netherlands. Since 1989 it has been among the races included in season long rankings tables, as part of the UCI Road World Cup , the UCI ProTour and the current UCI World Ranking...
participant - 64th (1988) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_amstel/amstel1988.php, 120th (1991) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/cla_amstel/amstel1991.php
- Tour of Luxembourg racer - 40th (1987) http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_luxembourg/luxembourg1987.php
- Won stage 3 of the 1988 Tour de Romandie
The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI ProTour. It runs in the old Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year celebration of the Swiss Cycling....
http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_romandie/romandie1988.php
- Won stage 11 (Vail criterium) of the 1985 Coors Classic
The Coors International Bicycle Classic was a stage race sponsored by the Coors Brewing Company. Over the years, the event became America's unofficial national tour, listed as the fourth largest race in the world after the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d'Italia.. Most race stages were...
- Won the 1997 & 1998 San Francisco Hill Climb
- Raced in eight World Championships (in both road racing
The UCI Road World Championships, often referred to as the World Cycling Championships, is the annual world championship for bicycle road racing organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale . The UCI Road World Championships include championships for elite men's road race and individual time trial...
and mountain bikingThe UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships are the world championship events for mountain bike racing events in cross country, downhill, four-cross and trials riding events. It is organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale , and winners are presented with a gold medal and are entitled...
)
External links