Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1988 until 2004. Nicknamed The Lion of Flanders, he was particularly successful in the cobbled classics of Flanders and Northern France and was considered one of the best classic races specialists of the 1990s.
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.
The UCI Road World Cup was a season-long road cycling competition held from 1989 until 2004 and comprising ten one-day events.
Steven Todd Bauer, MSM is a retired professional road bicycle racer from Canada. He won the first Olympic medal in road cycling for Canada and until 2022 he was the only Canadian to win an individual stage of the Tour de France.
Romāns Vainšteins is a former professional road bicycle racer from Latvia. He won the road race at the 2000 World Cycling Championship in Plouay, France. At the end of the 268.8 km (167.0 mi) race, he won the sprint for the line ahead of Zbigniew Spruch and defending champion Óscar Freire.
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.
Filippo "Pippo" Pozzato is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the Mapei–Quick-Step, Fassa Bortolo, Quick-Step–Innergetic, Liquigas, Team Katusha, Lampre–Merida, and two spells with the Farnese Vini–Selle Italia/Wilier Triestina–Selle Italia teams.
Franco Ballerini was an Italian road racing cyclist.
Heinrich 'Heiri' Suter was a Swiss road racing cyclist. Excelling mainly in the classics, Suter was the first non-Belgian winner of the Tour of Flanders in 1923. Two weeks after his win in the Tour of Flanders, he won Paris–Roubaix, becoming the first cyclist to win both classics in the same year. He also holds a record six victories in Züri-Metzgete, Switzerland's most important one-day race.
Alessandro Ballan is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI World Tour team BMC Racing Team. He is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships, in 2008. Although he possessed a frame that was usually more associated with climbing, Ballan established himself as a leading spring classics contender. His nickname, Bontempino, is a diminutive reference to Guido Bontempi, to whom he bears a resemblance.
Walter Godefroot is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif of Team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile Team.
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.
Johan Lammerts is a retired road bicycle racer from the Netherlands, who was a professional rider from 1982 to 1992. His biggest success came in 1984, when he won the Tour of Flanders and the Ronde van Nederland. Lammerts also won the 20th stage of the 1985 Tour de France.
Fabio Baldato is an Italian former racing cyclist. In 2008, he was the oldest rider in a ProTour team. His cycling career ended when he crashed heavily in the Eneco Tour. He also competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The 2001 UCI Road World Cup was the thirteenth edition of the UCI Road World Cup.
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.
The 1999 UCI Road World Cup was the eleventh edition of the UCI Road World Cup. It was won by Belgian classics specialist Andrei Tchmil.