Urs Freuler

Urs Freuler (born 6 November 1958 in Bilten, Canton of Glarus) is a Swiss cyclist, who raced professionally between 1980 and 1997, during which he won 124 victories. He was named Swiss Sports Personality of the Year in 1982 and 1983.

He was born in Bilten. As an amateur, he was the champion of his country in several categories and also achieved fame in international competitions.

He was a racer of great speed, who participated both in road races as well as track cycling. In the latter, he was the world champion in the keirin twice and the points race eight times and victor in 21 six-day races. On the road, he was victorious in numerous stages and criteriums. He competed in the team pursuit event at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

In 1981, Freuler was riding for a personal sponsor, when the TI–Raleighcycling team had problems to form a team for the 1981 Tour de France. The rules allowed for the Raleigh team to hire cyclists who were not riding for a cycling team, and Freuler was added to the Tour squad. Because Freuler, as a still young professional and with contracts for a full winter season of Six Days coming up, his team leader Peter Post and Freuler agreed that Freuler, although capable of taking on mountain stages, had to leave the race before the Alps would be visited. Freuler, who acted as a replacement for sprinter Jan Raas, was able to win with TI–Raleighthe two team time trials and stage 7, and left the race in stage 15. After that he never started in the Tour again,.

Freuler, for the chief part of his career riding for Italian teams, did win in another of the three Grand Tours, the Giro d'Italia, from 1982 to 1989. In 1982 he won three stages, in 1984 he won four stages and in 1985 he once again claimed three stage victories. In total he won 15 stages in the Giro and also claimed the points classification in 1984.

Track

 * World champion of points race in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1989
 * World champion of Keirin in 1983 and 1985
 * European champion of sprint in 1981
 * 21 six-day races from 1981 to 1994, with Patrick Sercu, Robert Dill-Bundi, Hans Känel, René Pijnen, Daniel Gisiger, Horst Schütz, Dietrich Thurau, Roman Hermann, Danny Clark, Olaf Ludwig, Remig Stumpf and lastly Carsten Wolf in 1994.
 * Swiss champion in 1 km time trial in 1981, 1983, 1986, and 1987
 * Swiss champion of points race in 1981, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992
 * Swiss champion of individual pursuit in 1985

Road

 * 1981
 * 1st Stage 7 Tour de France
 * 1st Stage 7a Tour de Suisse
 * Tour de Romandie
 * 1st Prologue & Stage 1


 * 1982
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 3 Giro di Sardegna
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 4, 5 & 10
 * 3rd Nice–Alassio
 * 5th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton


 * 1983
 * 1st Stage 3 Giro del Trentino
 * Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stages 5a & 10
 * 2nd Overall Giro di Sardegna
 * 1st Stage 2


 * 1984
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st [[Image:Jersey violet.svg|20px]] Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2, 7, 8 & 11
 * 3rd Trofeo Baracchi
 * 7th Milano–Torino
 * 9th Grand Prix des Nations
 * 9th Critérium des As


 * 1985
 * 1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
 * 1st Stage 10b Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 3 Giro del Trentino
 * 1st Stage 4b Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 1, 13 & 21
 * 4th Milano–Torino
 * 6th Overall Giro di Puglia
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 8th Milan–San Remo


 * 1986
 * 1st Grand Prix Pino Cerami
 * 1st Prologue Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 4 Tirreno–Adriatico
 * 1st Stage 1 Tour de Suisse
 * 6th Giro di Campania


 * 1987
 * 1st Stage 9 Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 10 Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 3 Giro di Puglia


 * 1988
 * 1st Stage 21a Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 10 Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 1 Danmark Rundt
 * 1st Stage 2 Étoile de Bessèges


 * 1989
 * 1st Stage 10 Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 2 Tirreno–Adriatico
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 7 & 11
 * Tour de Romandie
 * 1st Stages 3a & 6
 * 2nd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
 * 2nd GP Lugano
 * 9th Paris–Roubaix


 * 1990
 * 1st Stage 3 Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
 * Tour de Romandie
 * 1st Stages 2a & 6