Chris Boardman

Chris Boardman

Christopher Miles "Chris" Boardman, MBE, (born 26 August 1968 in Hoylake) is an English former 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. In 1992, he was awarded an MBE for services to British cycling.

He was educated in Wirral at Hilbre High School and rode in his first bike race at the age of 13. He was on the national cycling team by the age of 16.

Boardman's nickname is the Professor, for his meticulous attention to detail in preparation and training, and his technical know-how. He had an altitude tent built in his house to help him prepare for the Hour record attempt (see below), although in an interview he claimed that all it did was help him focus. Boardman focused on interval training. He was a keen user of power measuring devices.

For his winning ways in time trials and prologues of stage races, he was nicknamed Mr. Prologue. He has been criticized for being a time-trialist who can't climb for his lacklustre performance in the mountains of the Tour de France. He denied this in an interview with CycleSport, citing examples in the 1995 edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stage race where he performed well in the mountains. He explained that his disappointing performances in the Tour de France were due to insufficient powers of recovery, which left him drained after a few days of racing.

Boardman is also famous for having used the carbon-fibre Lotus 108 time trial bicycle designed by Mike Burrows and made by the sports car manufacturer Lotus. Later he worked with the UK carbon fibre bike specialist Hotta, to produce other time-trial frame designs, which he raced in various events including world championships, and Olympic games. He is now involved in producing commercial and competition bikes with the Boardman Bikes and Boardman Elite ventures.