Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the 1973 Tour de France and the 1970 Vuelta a España. During the 1971 Tour de France he launched an amazing solo breakaway that put him into the Yellow Jersey and stunned the rest of the main field, including back to back Tour champion Eddy Merckx, but abandoned in the fourteenth stage after a crash on the descent of the Col de Menté. Ocaña would abandon as many Tours as he entered, but he finished every Vuelta a España he entered except for his first, and finished in the top 5 seven times in a row.
Raymond Poulidor, nicknamed "Pou-Pou", was a French professional racing cyclist, who rode for Mercier his entire career.
Stephen Roche is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist. In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming the second of only two cyclists to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia general classification, plus the World road race championship, the first was Eddy Merckx. Roche's rise coincided with that of fellow Irishman Sean Kelly.
Joaquim Fernandes Agostinho, OIH was a Portuguese professional bicycle racer. He was champion of Portugal in six successive years. He rode the Tour de France 13 times and finished all but once, winning on Alpe d'Huez in 1979, and finishing third twice. All total he finished in the top 10 of a Grand Tour eleven times, made three podiums and won a total of seven stages between the Vuelta and Tour.
Christophe Moreau is a French former professional road racing cyclist. For many years Moreau was the primary French contender for the general classification in the Tour de France: he finished in the top 12 in the GC five times and finished the race as best Frenchman in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005. He also enjoyed success in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, winning the race overall in 2001 and 2007.
Jacky Durand is a French former professional road bicycle racer. Durand had an attacking style, winning the Tour of Flanders in 1992 after a 217 kilometres (135 mi) breakaway, and three stages in the Tour de France.
Luc Leblanc is a retired French professional road cyclist. He was World Road Champion in 1994.
Laurent Brochard is a retired professional road racing cyclist from France. In 1997 he won a stage of the Tour de France and became world road champion in San Sebastián, Spain.
Laurent Dufaux is a former professional road cyclist from 1991 to 2004. He was the Swiss National Road Race champion in 1991.
Roger Pingeon was a professional road bicycle racer from France.
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.
Éric Caritoux is a French former professional road racing cyclist who raced between 1983 and 1994. He had 22 victories in his career, the highlights of which were winning the Vuelta a España in 1984 and taking the French road race championships in 1988 and 1989. He rode the Tour de France on 11 occasions, his best finish being 12th in 1989.
Benoît Salmon (born 9 May 1974 is a French former professional road racing cyclist. In 1999, Salmon won the young rider classification in the Tour de France and the overall title of the Grand Prix du Midi Libre.
Charly Mottet is a French former professional cyclist. He was one of the best French road cyclists of his era.
Udo Bölts is a retired German racing cyclist, the brother of Hartmut Bölts. Bölts confessed publicly in 2007 to having used EPO and growth hormones in 1996 and 1997.
Thierry Marie is a French former cyclist. Marie often performed well in prologue stages: he won the Tour de France prologue three times in his career, and because of that he wore the yellow jersey in those three years, for seven days in total. He also competed in the team time trial event at the 1984 Summer Olympics. On stage six of the 1991 Tour de France Marie rode alone for six hours and 234 km to win the stage and set the record for the longest post-war successful breakaway.
François Simon is a French former professional road bicycle racer. He was professional from 1991 to 2002. He is the brother of Régis, Pascal and Jérôme, all professional cyclists. In the 2001 Tour de France, Simon wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification for three days and finished as best French finisher in that Tour. Other career highlights include a stage win in the 1992 Giro d'Italia, two stage wins in the Tour de l'Avenir, stage wins in Circuit de la Sarthe, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and Paris–Nice as well as being road race champion of France in 1999.
Jean-Cyril Robin is a French former professional road racing cyclist.
Henk Lubberding is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1977 to 1992.
Damien Nazon is a former French racing cyclist. He finished in last place in the 1998 Tour de France. Nazon took a total of 33 victories during his career, including stage wins in the Dauphiné Libéré, the Grand Prix du Midi Libre, the Critérium International and the Tour of Belgium. Nazon rode for the Castorama team as a stagiaire in the autumn of 1995, before turning professional with Banesto in 1996. He then rode for Française des Jeux for three years, Bonjour for four and ended his professional career in 2005 after two years with Crédit Agricole.
