Stuart O'Grady
Encyclopedia
Stuart O'Grady OAM
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

 (born 6 August 1973 in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

), nicknamed Stuey, is an Australian professional road bicycle racer on UCI ProTeam , who started as a track cyclist. He and Graeme Brown
Graeme Brown
Graeme Allen Brown OAM is a professional cyclist and dual Olympic gold medallist from Australia.-Cycling career - road and track:...

 won a gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in Men's Madison
Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Madison Men
The men's Madison in cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics was contested by 18 cyclists. The Madison race consisted of 200 laps of the track, or 50 kilometres...

 at the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

. O'Grady also won Paris–Roubaix in 2007.

O'Grady has ridden the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

 since 1998 and contended for the points classification in the Tour de France
Points classification in the Tour de France
The points classification in the Tour de France is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in a points classification. It is considered a sprinters' competition...

, finishing second in the 1998
1998 Tour de France
The 1998 Tour de France, also called the Tour du Dopage , was marred by doping scandals throughout known as the Festina affair, starting with the arrest of Willy Voet, a soigneur in the French Festina team. Voet was traveling into France when he was arrested and found with large quantities of...

, 1999
1999 Tour de France
The 1999 Tour de France was the 86th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 1999. It was won by Lance Armstrong, his first of 7 consecutive wins, the most in Tour history. There were no French stage winners for the first time since the 1926 Tour de France.The 1999 edition of Tour de...

, 2001
2001 Tour de France
The 2001 Tour de France was particularly difficult, having contained a 67-km long team time trial, two individual time trials and five mountain-top finishes on consecutive days, the second of which being the Chamrousse special category climb time trial. Thus, all the high-mountain stages were...

 and 2005
2005 Tour de France
The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd Tour de France, taking place from July 2 to July 24, 2005. It comprised 21 stages over 3592.5 km, the winner's average speed was 41.654 km/h. The first stages were held in the département of the Vendée, for the third time in 12 years. The 2005 Tour was...

 races. He wore the yellow jersey of general classification leader in 1998 and 2001.

Biography

Stuart O'Grady grew up as a part of a cycling family. His father represented South Australia in road and track cycling, and his uncle competed for Australia at the 1964 Summer Olympics
1964 Summer Olympics
The 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan's...

 in Tokyo. He started in track cycling and won a silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 in the 4000m team pursuit at the 1992 Summer Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...

 in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. In the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....

 in Atlanta he won bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

s in both the points race and team pursuit.

He joined the professional team, which included English time trial
Time trial
In many racing sports an athlete will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial  can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of...

 specialist Chris Boardman
Chris Boardman
Christopher "Chris" Boardman MBE is a former English racing cyclist who won an individual pursuit gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and broke the world hour record three times, as well as winning three stages and wearing the yellow jersey on three separate occasions at the Tour de France...

. This team was later known as Crédit Agricole.

In the 1998 Tour de France he wore the yellow jersey for three days. He also won his first stage. In 2001 he wore the yellow jersey for five days. He was Australian Cyclist of the Year and Australian Male Road Cyclist of the Year in 1998 and 2001. In 1998 he finished second in the green jersey classification. On 6 July 2000, he pulled out of the Tour de France after breaking his collarbone in three places with 85 kilometres to the finish, he still finished the stage. In 2001, O'Grady had been in contention for the green jersey with Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel is a former German professional road bicycle racer who last raced with Milram. With over 200 professional wins he is considered by some one of the greatest German cyclists and best cycling sprinters of history...

 but he was defeated on the final day.

In 2001 he had a narrowing in the iliac artery
Artery
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This blood is normally oxygenated, exceptions made for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries....

. Tests showed his right leg produced more power than his left. After surgery in April 2002, he was again in contention in the 2002 Tour de France
2002 Tour de France
The 2002 Tour de France started in Luxembourg on July 6, 2002, and ended in Paris on July 28. France was visited counter-clockwise, so the Pyrenees were there before the Alps...

. In 2003
2003 Tour de France
The 2003 Tour de France started and ended in Paris. Lasting from July 5 to July 27 the race covered 3,427.5 km , proceeding clockwise in twenty stages around France, including six major mountain stages...

 and 2004 he was overshadowed in the green jersey competition by fellow Australian sprinters Baden Cooke
Baden Cooke
Baden Cooke is an Australian professional racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team .Cooke began competitive cycling at 11. He completed secondary school at Galen College in Wangaratta, Victoria....

 (2003) and Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, for on the UCI ProTour, specializing in sprint finishes...

 (2004). O'Grady still managed to win his second Tour de France stage, in 2004.
O'Grady moved to in 2004 to concentrate on races such as Paris–Roubaix and the Ronde van Vlaanderen. After a start fraught with injuries and doping
Doping (sport)
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is commonly referred to by the term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance...

 allegations in his team, he won two stages and the points classification in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. He won a stage in the 2004 Tour de France
2004 Tour de France
The 2004 Tour de France was the 91st, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 2004. It consisted of 20 stages over 3391 km.Lance Armstrong became the first to win six Tours de France. Armstrong had been favored to win, his competitors seen as being German Jan Ullrich, Spaniards Roberto Heras and...

 and spent a few days in the green jersey. He won the UCI Road World Cup race, HEW Cyclassics. He topped his victories by winning an Olympic gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in the madison cycling
Madison (cycling)
The madison is a team event in track cycling, named after the first Madison Square Garden in New York, and known as the "American race" in French and in Italian and Spanish as Americana.-History:...

 with Graeme Brown
Graeme Brown
Graeme Allen Brown OAM is a professional cyclist and dual Olympic gold medallist from Australia.-Cycling career - road and track:...

.

In the 2005 Tour de France, O'Grady came second in the green jersey classification to Thor Hushovd
Thor Hushovd
Thor Hushovd is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer riding . He has signed for from 2012 onwards. He is known for sprinting and time trialing and is the 2010 Norwegian and world road champion. He is the first Norwegian to lead the Tour de France, and first Scandinavian to win the road...

 of Norway, followed by Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, for on the UCI ProTour, specializing in sprint finishes...

. Late in 2005, he signed a one-year contract with Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...

 to ride on , now known as Saxo Bank, for 2006. He broke several ribs in an early season race in Italy and a vertebra in the Tour de France. O'Grady continued riding the Tour despite the pain, coming third in the final stage.

Early in 2007 O'Grady became the first Australian to win a major classic when he crossed the line first in Paris–Roubaix. He had a puncture midway but recovered to rejoin the field before arriving alone in the Roubaix velodrome.

On 15 July 2007, O'Grady abandoned on stage 8 of the 2007 Tour de France
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...

, from Le-Grand-Bornand to Tignes, after crashing on a descent, fracturing eight ribs, his right shoulder blade, right collar bone and three vertebrae, and puncturing his right lung.

O'Grady crashed 30 km into the 2009 Milan – San Remo when another rider came down in front of him, he punctured his lung and suffered a broken right collar bone once again as well as a broken rib.

O'Grady set up and financially supports an Australian junior cycling development team, CSC Team O'Grady, which was established in 2005.

Stuart O'Grady is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport
Peace and Sport
Peace and Sport, "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport” is a neutral and apolitical international initiative based in the Principality of Monaco and placed under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco....

, a Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

-based international organization.

On the 8th August 2011, O'Grady announced he was signing for new Australian team GreenEDGE for 2012.

Palmarès

1992
2nd 4000m Team Pursuit
Cycling at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Final results for the Cycling competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics. There were two categories of events – road cycling and track cycling...

, Summer Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...


1993
1st Team Pursuit, World Championships
UCI Track Cycling World Championships
The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling and are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale...


1994
1st Team Pursuit Commonwealth Games
1994 Commonwealth Games
The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...

1st 10 Miles Scratch Commonwealth Games
1994 Commonwealth Games
The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...

2nd Points Race Commonwealth Games
1994 Commonwealth Games
The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...

3rd Individual Pursuit Commonwealth Games
1994 Commonwealth Games
The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...


1995
1st Team Pursuit, World Championships
UCI Track Cycling World Championships
The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling and are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale...


1996
1st Stage 3 Vuelta a Murcia
Vuelta a Murcia
The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The race consists of a men's competition over five stages and is part of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs....

3rd 4000m Team Pursuit
Cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Final results for the Cycling competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics. There were three categories of events – road cycling, track cycling and mountain biking...

3rd Points Race
Cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Final results for the Cycling competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics. There were three categories of events – road cycling, track cycling and mountain biking...


1997
1st Points competition, Setmana Catalana
1st Stage 1, Herald Sun Tour
Herald Sun Tour
The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale . The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six day event and it is held annually in October. It is named after the Herald Sun, Melbourne's...

1st Stage 6, Herald Sun Tour
Herald Sun Tour
The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale . The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six day event and it is held annually in October. It is named after the Herald Sun, Melbourne's...

1st Stage 8, Herald Sun Tour
Herald Sun Tour
The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale . The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six day event and it is held annually in October. It is named after the Herald Sun, Melbourne's...

1st Stage 5, Bayern-Rundfahrt
Bayern-Rundfahrt
The International Bayern Rundfahrt is a stage race cycling race held each year in Bavaria, Germany. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour.The race was held as an amateur race between 1980 and 1988.- Winners :...

7th Gent–Wevelgem

1998
1st Stage 14 Tour De France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

Held maillot jaune for 3 days from Stages 4-6
1st Overall PruTour Tour of Britain
Tour of Britain
The Tour of Britain is a cycle race, conducted over several stages, in which participants race from place to place across parts of Great Britain....

1st Stage 2
1st Stage 7
1st Stage 2, Tour de Luxembourg
Tour de Luxembourg
Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.HC, the highest rating below the ProTour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale , the sport's governing body. In 2006, the Tour was part of the UCI Europe...

1st Stage 5, Tour du Poitou-Charentes
Tour du Poitou-Charentes
Tour du Poitou-Charentes is a road bicycle race held annually in the region of Poitou-Charentes, France. It was first held in 1987 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour.-Winners:...

2nd GP Haribo
2nd Individual Time Trial Commonwealth Games
1998 Commonwealth Games
The 1998 XVI Commonwealth Games were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 11 September to 21 September 1998 making it the first Asian country to act as host and the last Commonwealth Games for the 20th century. A record 70 nations supplied 3638 athletes...


1999
1st Overall Tour Down Under
Tour Down Under
The Tour Down Under is a cycling race in Adelaide, South Australia and surrounding area. The race starts on the third Tuesday of January each year and attracts riders from across Australia and the world. In 2005, the Tour Down Under was promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale to the...

1st Stage 3
1st Stage 5
1st Haribo Classic
1st Stage 5 Prutour

2000
1st Stage 3 GP du Midi-Libre

2001
1st Overall Tour Down Under
Tour Down Under
The Tour Down Under is a cycling race in Adelaide, South Australia and surrounding area. The race starts on the third Tuesday of January each year and attracts riders from across Australia and the world. In 2005, the Tour Down Under was promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale to the...

1st Gouden Pijl Emmen
1st Stage 4 Team time trial 2001 Tour de France
2001 Tour de France
The 2001 Tour de France was particularly difficult, having contained a 67-km long team time trial, two individual time trials and five mountain-top finishes on consecutive days, the second of which being the Chamrousse special category climb time trial. Thus, all the high-mountain stages were...

Held maillot jaune from Stages 3-6 & 8-9

2002
1st Road Race, Commonwealth Games
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The XVII Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing London's 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and athletes participating.After the 1996 Manchester...

1st Team Pursuit Commonwealth Games
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The XVII Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing London's 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and athletes participating.After the 1996 Manchester...


2003
1st Australian National Road Race Championships
Australian National Road Race Championships
The Australian National Road Race Championships, are held annually with an event for each category of rider: Men, Women & under 23 riders. The event also includes the Australian National Time Trial Championships since 2002...

1st Stage 6 Tour de Langkawi
1st Stage 8 Tour de Langkawi
1st Overall Centenaire Classification 2003 Tour de France
2003 Tour de France
The 2003 Tour de France started and ended in Paris. Lasting from July 5 to July 27 the race covered 3,427.5 km , proceeding clockwise in twenty stages around France, including six major mountain stages...

3rd Overall Post Danmark Rundt
2005 Danmark Rundt
The 2005 Danmark Rundt was ridden from 3 August to 7 August 2005. This edition is remembered for the complete dominance of Ivan Basso, who won 4 of the 6 stages, and the overall classification...

3rd Ronde van Vlaanderen
3rd Paris–Tours

2004
1st Madison Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics had 18 events in three disciplines:*Road cycling, held at the Athens historic centre and in Vouliagmeni Olympic Centre ....

1st Stage 5 2004 Tour de France
2004 Tour de France
The 2004 Tour de France was the 91st, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 2004. It consisted of 20 stages over 3391 km.Lance Armstrong became the first to win six Tours de France. Armstrong had been favored to win, his competitors seen as being German Jan Ullrich, Spaniards Roberto Heras and...

1st HEW Cyclassics
1st GP de Villers-Cotterets
1st Stage 5 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
1st Stage 7 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
1st Stage 1 Post Danmark Rundt
1st Wiener Radfest
3rd Milan – San Remo

2006
1st Stage 1 TTT Vuelta a España
2nd Overall Tour of Denmark
2006 Danmark Rundt
The 2006 Danmark Rundt was a men's road bicycle race held from 2 to 6 August 2006. Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara of Team CSC captured the overall title...

1st Points Classification
2nd Züri-Metzgete
3rd Paris–Tours

2007
1st Paris–Roubaix
3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen
Dwars door Vlaanderen
Dwars door Vlaanderen is a Flanders Classics road bicycle race. Traditionally, it is the start of the Flemish cycling week, with Gent–Wevelgem , the Three Days of De Panne and the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Dwars door Vlaanderen has always been contested on a Wednesday, a week and a half before the...

4th Milano–Torino
5th Milan – San Remo
5th Overall, Tour of California
5th Omloop Het Volk
9th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
The E3 Harelbeke is an annual cycling race in the Flanders area of Belgium. The race starts and finishes in Harelbeke over 210 kilometres. The event is organised by the Hand in Hand Cycling Club of Harelbeke and is ranked 1.HC on the UCI Continental calendar....

10th Tour of Flanders
Tour of Flanders
The Tour of Flanders is a Flanders Classics road cycling race held in Belgium every spring, a week before the Paris–Roubaix road race. It is part of the UCI World Tour and one of the so-called monuments of the European professional calendar. It is the most important cycling race in Flanders...


2008
1st Overall Herald Sun Tour
Herald Sun Tour
The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale . The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six day event and it is held annually in October. It is named after the Herald Sun, Melbourne's...

1st Stage 2
1st Stage 5
5th Paris–Roubaix
8th Gent–Wevelgem

2009
2nd Overall Tour Down Under
Tour Down Under
The Tour Down Under is a cycling race in Adelaide, South Australia and surrounding area. The race starts on the third Tuesday of January each year and attracts riders from across Australia and the world. In 2005, the Tour Down Under was promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale to the...

3rd Stage 2 Tour of Ireland
2009 Tour of Ireland
The 2009 Tour of Ireland was the 35th running of the Tour of Ireland stage race. The event was held from 21–23 August. It consisted of three stages, and was rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour.-Participating teams:...


2011
9th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke
10th Milan – San Remo
2011 Milan – San Remo
The 2011 Milan – San Remo was the 102nd running of the Milan – San Remo single-day cycling race. It was held on 19 March over a distance of and was the fourth race of the 2011 UCI World Tour season....

8th Paris-Tours
Paris-Tours
Paris–Tours is a French single-day classic cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours It is a fairly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200m, at Le Gault-du-Perche. It is known as the “Sprinters' Classic” because...



External links

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