Stuart O'Grady

Stuart O'Grady (born 6 August 1973) is a retired Australian professional road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 1995 and 2013. A former track cyclist, O'Grady and Graeme Brown won a gold medal in the Men's Madison at the 2004 Summer Olympics. O'Grady also won Paris–Roubaix in 2007. O'Grady competed in the Tour de France from 1997 and contended for the points classification in the Tour de France known as the green jersey, finishing second in the 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2005 races. He wore the yellow jersey of general classification leader in 1998 and 2001.

With his participation in the 2013 Tour de France, he tied George Hincapie's record of 17 participations in the Tour de France. However, Hincapie was removed from three of his 17 starts for his part in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, and O'Grady himself admitted having been assisted by illicit erythropoietin (EPO) use at least on the 1998 Tour de France (the Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk holds the absolute records of completed Tours de France, with 16 from 1970 to 1986).

He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2005 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games." O'Grady is the current Race Director of the Tour Down Under.

Early life and amateur career
Stuart O'Grady was born in Adelaide and grew up as a part of a cycling family. His father represented South Australia in road and track cycling, and his uncle, Robert Baird, is a former Australian cyclist who competed in the men's team pursuit at the 1964 Summer Olympics.

As a student, he attended St Paul's College. At this time, he started in track cycling and won a silver medal in the 4000m team pursuit at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona at age 18. In the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, he won bronze medals in both the points race and team pursuit. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.

Professional career
He joined the professional team, which included English time trial specialist Chris Boardman. This team became known as Crédit Agricole from 1999.

In the 1998 Tour de France, a race for which he confirmed to doping himself with illicit and proscribed erythropoietin, he wore the yellow jersey for three days. He also won his first stage. In 2001 he wore the yellow jersey for six 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 km to the finish, he still finished the stage. In 2001, O'Grady had been in contention for the green jersey with Erik Zabel but he was defeated on the final day.

In 2001, he had a narrowing in the iliac artery. 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. In 2003 and 2004 he was overshadowed in the green jersey competition by fellow Australian sprinters Baden Cooke (2003) and Robbie McEwen (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 Tour of Flanders. After a start fraught with injuries and doping 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 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 in the madison cycling with Graeme Brown.

In the 2005 Tour de France, O'Grady came second in the green jersey classification to Thor Hushovd of Norway, followed by Robbie McEwen. Late in 2005, he signed a one-year contract with Bjarne Riis 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 was forced to abandon on stage 8 of the 2007 Tour de France, 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.

On 8 August 2011, O'Grady announced that he had joined the new Australian team for 2012. He announced his retirement from professional cycling as a competitive rider on 23 July 2013, following the conclusion of the 2013 Tour de France.

Doping
On 24 July 2013, O'Grady was named in the French Senate report detailing EPO use in the 1998 Tour de France as having returned a sample suspicious for EPO use. He confirmed the same day in an interview with an Australian newspaper that he had taken EPO prior to the 1998 Tour de France, but stated that the arrests around that Tour scared him off doping in the rest of his career.

This announcement has created some controversy amongst cycling fans, as O'Grady had been a vocal critic of the doping culture that existed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As a result of his doping admission, the Australian Institute of Sport indefinitely suspended O'Grady from its 'Best of the Best'. O'Grady had been inducted in 2006.

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

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, a Monaco-based international organisation.

O'Grady supports the Port Adelaide Power in the Australian Football League.

The Stuart O'Grady Bikeway adjacent to the Northern Expressway in the northern suburbs of Adelaide is named after O'Grady.

Major results

 * 1992
 * 2nd Silver medal olympic.svg Team pursuit, Olympic Games


 * 1993
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Team pursuit, UCI Track World Championships


 * 1994
 * Commonwealth Games
 * 1st Gold medal blank.svg Team pursuit
 * 1st Gold medal blank.svg Scratch race
 * 2nd Silver medal blank.svg Points race
 * 3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Individual pursuit


 * 1995
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Team pursuit, UCI Track World Championships


 * 1996
 * 1st Stage 3 Vuelta a Murcia
 * Olympic Games
 * 3rd Bronze medal olympic.svg Team pursuit
 * 3rd Bronze medal olympic.svg Points race


 * 1997
 * Herald Sun Tour
 * 1st Stages 1, 6 & 8
 * 1st Stage 5 Bayern Rundfahrt
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
 * 7th Gent–Wevelgem


 * 1998
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall PruTour
 * 1st Stages 2 & 7
 * Tour de FranceAssisted by illicit erythropoeitin use
 * 1st Stage 14
 * Held Jersey yellow.svg after Stages 4–6
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de Luxembourg
 * 1st Stage 5 Tour du Poitou-Charentes
 * 2nd Silver medal blank.svg Time trial, Commonwealth Games
 * 2nd GP Haribo


 * 1999
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour Down Under
 * 1st Stages 3 & 5
 * 1st Haribo Classic
 * 1st Stage 5 PruTour


 * 2000
 * 1st Stage 3 GP du Midi-Libre


 * 2001
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour Down Under
 * 1st Gouden Pijl Emmen
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stage 5 (TTT)
 * Held Jersey yellow.svg after Stages 3–6 & 8–9


 * 2002
 * Commonwealth Games
 * 1st Gold medal blank.svg Road race


 * 2003
 * 1st MaillotAustralia.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * Tour de Langkawi
 * 1st Stages 6 & 8
 * 1st Centenaire classification Tour de France
 * 3rd Tour of Flanders
 * 3rd Paris–Tours


 * 2004
 * 1st Gold medal olympic.svg Madison, Olympic Games
 * Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 1st Stages 5 & 7
 * 1st HEW Cyclassics
 * 1st Grand Prix de Villers-Cotterêts
 * 1st Stage 5 Tour de France
 * 3rd Overall Danmark Rundt
 * 1st Jersey violet.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 1
 * 1st Wiener Radfest
 * 3rd Milan–San Remo


 * 2005
 * 2nd Overall Volta ao Algarve
 * 3rd Overall Tour Down Under
 * 4th Milan–San Remo
 * 6th Rund um Köln
 * 10th Gent–Wevelgem


 * 2006
 * 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Vuelta a España
 * 2nd Overall Tour of Denmark
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 2nd Züri-Metzgete
 * 3rd Paris–Tours


 * 2007
 * 1st Paris–Roubaix
 * 3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen
 * 4th Milano–Torino
 * 5th Milan–San Remo
 * 5th Overall Tour of California
 * 5th Omloop Het Volk
 * 9th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
 * 10th Tour of Flanders


 * 2008
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Herald Sun Tour
 * 1st Stages 2 & 5
 * 5th Paris–Roubaix
 * 8th Gent–Wevelgem


 * 2009
 * 2nd Overall Tour Down Under


 * 2010
 * 7th Mumbai Cyclothon
 * 10th Overall Tour of Qatar


 * 2011
 * 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Vuelta a España
 * 8th Paris–Tours
 * 9th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
 * 10th Milan–San Remo


 * 2012
 * 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tirreno–Adriatico
 * 6th Road race, Olympic Games


 * 2013
 * 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France