Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006 and 2007 World Road Race Championships. He is nicknamed Il Grillo for his repeated sudden attacks and his sprinting style.
Hendrik "Erik" Dekker is a retired Dutch professional road racing cyclist active from 1992 until 2006. He was a member of the Rabobank cycling team from 1992 till 2006. From 2007 to 2015 he was one of Rabobank's team managers.
The UCI Road World Cup was a season-long road cycling competition held from 1989 until 2004 and comprising ten one-day events.
Michael Boogerd is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with teammate Erik Dekker and female cyclist Leontien van Moorsel.
Francesco Casagrande is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Casagrande was a professional cyclist between 1992 and 2005.
Claudio Chiappucci is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general classification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 1992.
Davide Rebellin was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1992 and 2022 for twelve different teams, taking more than sixty professional wins. He was considered one of the finest classics specialists of his generation with more than fifty top ten finishes in UCI Road World Cup and UCI ProTour classics.
Michele Bartoli is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. Bartoli was a professional cyclist from 1992 until 2004 and was one of the most successful single-day classics specialists of his generation, especially in the Italian and Belgian races. On his palmarès are three of the five monuments of cycling—five in total: the 1996 Tour of Flanders, the 1997 and 1998 Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the 2002 and 2003 Giro di Lombardia. He won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998. From 10 October 1998 until 6 June 1999, Bartoli was number one on the UCI Road World Rankings.
Hendrikus Andreas "Hennie" Kuiper is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career includes a gold medal in the Olympic road race at Munich in 1972, becoming world professional road race champion in 1975, as well as winning four of the five "Monument" classics. He rode the Tour de France 12 times, finishing second twice and winning the stage to Alpe d'Huez on two occasions. Kuiper, Ercole Baldini and Paolo Bettini are the only riders to have won both the Olympic road race and the world professional road race.
Steven Rooks is a former Dutch professional road racing cyclist known for his climbing ability. His professional career ran from 1982–1995.
Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for the Euskaltel–Euskadi and BMC Racing Team squads. He was the gold medal winner in the road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the following years Sánchez proved himself in hilly classics and stage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton. He was also known as one of the best descenders in the peloton. He finished in the top 6 of the Tour de France three times and in the top 10 of the Vuelta a España 6 times. Other notable achievements include winning the Vuelta a Burgos in 2010, the 2012 Tour of the Basque Country and five stages of the Vuelta a España.
Mirko Celestino is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, specializing in the classic cycle races. His biggest career achievements to date include winning the monumental classic—Giro di Lombardia, the classic HEW Cyclassics and two-time winner of the semi-classic Milano–Torino. Since retiring from road racing, Celestino has been active in mountain bike racing, achieving a silver medal at the 2010 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2011 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships.
The 2004 UCI Road World Cup was the sixteenth and last edition of the UCI Road World Cup. There was no change in the calendar from the 2003 edition, meaning the final seven editions had the same calendar.
Luc Roosen is a retired road racing cyclist from Belgium, who was a professional rider from 1986 to 1997.
The 2003 UCI Road World Cup was the fifteenth edition of the UCI Road World Cup. It had the same calendar of the 2000 edition.
The 2001 UCI Road World Cup was the thirteenth edition of the UCI Road World Cup.
The 85th running of Liège–Bastogne–Liège was held on 18 April 1999. It was the fourth leg of the 1999 UCI Road World Cup, held between Paris–Roubaix and Amstel Gold Race. Belgian Frank Vandenbroucke won the race after a solo attack on the Côte de Saint-Nicolas. Dutchmen Michael Boogerd and Maarten den Bakker completed the podium. 71 of 191 riders finished the race.
The 1998 UCI Road World Cup was the tenth edition of the UCI Road World Cup, cycling's season-long competition of the ten top-tier one-day classics. It was won by Italian classics specialist Michele Bartoli of the Asics–CGA team. Italian team Mapei–Bricobi won the team competition and placed four riders in the individual top-ten.
The 2002 UCI Road World Cup was the fourteenth edition of the UCI Road World Cup. It had the same calendar of the 2001 edition.
The 2000 UCI Road World Cup was the twelfth edition of the UCI Road World Cup. It was won by Erik Zabel. Zabel led the classification after all the single races, the only time this feat happened in World Cup history.
Andrei Tchmil (BEL) (Lotto–Mobistar)
