Chris Horner

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Chris Horner bigraphy, stories - Road bicycle racer

Chris Horner : biography

23 October 1971 –

Christopher Horner (born October 23, 1971) is an American professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . A native and current resident of Bend, Oregon, Horner dominated the American road racing scene by winning the points standings in the 2002, 2003 and 2004 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar.

Career

PAA-NutraFig (1995–1996)

Horner turned pro in 1995 with the PAA-NutraFig team. He captured his first major victory in a stage win of the Tour DuPont in 1996.

Française des Jeux (1997–1999)

He was then asked to ride in Europe with French team . From 1997 to 1999 he had three frustrating seasons with this team.

Mercury, Prime Alliance, Saturn, and Webcor (2000–2004)

In 2000 Horner returned to America to resume a record-setting domestic career, riding with Mercury in 2000, Prime Alliance in 2002, Saturn in 2003 and Webcor Builders in 2004. Horner has won almost every important race in the US racing calendar, with the notable exception of the USPRO National Championships.

Saunier-Duval (2004–2005)

Horner decided to move to after his top-ten finish in the 2004 UCI World Road Cycling Championship because he wanted to give the Tour de France a try. After being injured in the beginning of 2005, Horner showed strong performance in the USPRO Championships and won his first major European victory by taking the sixth stage of the 2005 Tour de Suisse. He then earned his place on the 2005 Tour de France team and nearly won the Miramas to Montpellier stage when he and Sylvain Chavanel refused to cooperate in the final kilometers and were caught by the peloton.

Davitamon and Predictor (2006–2007)

He made a move to the Belgian UCI ProTour squad for the 2006 season.

For 2007 Horner signed with Ed Krall Racing for the cyclo-cross season.

Astana (2008–2009)

In 2008 Horner moved to the . Horner earned the nickname "The smiler" for his unflappable expression of happiness, even during the most excruciating physical challenges, and "The Yahoo Kid" for his wild exclamations after winning a race. Teammates Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong call him "The Redneck".

In the 2008 Cascade Cycling Classic Horner carried racer Bill Demong with his broken bicycle (who was from another team) to the finish line.

RadioShack (2010–2011)

On October 4, 2009 it was confirmed that Horner would compete for in the next two seasons., Cyclingnews.com, 2009-09-04. Retrieved on 2009-10-02. In one of his strongest European campaigns, Horner garnered first overall at the Tour of the Basque Country (Tour of the Basque Country), including a stage win in the critical 6th stage ITT, defeating overall threat Alejandro Valverde. Horner also achieved several top 10 placings in the Spring classics of the Fleche Wallone, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Amstel Gold. He and his RadioShack teammates did well at the 2010 Tour of California, with Horner putting on a particularly strong performance in the last stage of the race as a member of a final breakaway at Thousand Oaks. Horner finished fourth overall, 1 min 4 sec behind winner Michael Rogers, and just 39 seconds behind teammate Levi Leipheimer in overall time. His good form also resulted in a 9th place overall at the Tour de France, as the first-placed US rider, in spite of dedicating himself in the first stages to supporting his captain Lance Armstrong.

In 2011 Horner continued his success at Pais Vasco with a second-place finish, as well as 4th in Catalunya.

Horner then accomplished the highest-profile result of his career by winning the May 2011 Tour de California stage race. He scored a major solo victory on the 4th stage, after making significant time gains on the day’s final mountain finish in San Jose. He maintained his hold on the yellow jersey until the tour’s queen stage, where he completed a two-man breakaway finish with teammate Levi Leipheimer to finalize the overall lead, and at age 39 became the oldest rider in history to win that tour.