A sprinter is a road bicycle racer or track racer who can finish a race very explosively by accelerating quickly to a high speed, often using the slipstream of another cyclist or group of cyclists tactically to conserve energy.
Rudi Altig was a German professional track and road racing cyclist who won the 1962 Vuelta a España and the world championship in 1966. After his retirement from sports he worked as a television commentator.
The first professional Italian National Cyclo-cross Championships were held in 1930. The winner was Armando Zucchini.
Lucien Aimar is a French cyclist, who won the Tour de France in 1966 and the national road championship in 1968. He is now a race organizer. He was born in Hyères, France.
Hennes "Hans" Junkermann is a retired German professional racing cyclist who won 35 road races in 18 seasons from 1956 to 1973. He won the German National Road Race in 1959, 1960 and 1961.
Gösta Artur Roland Pettersson is a retired Swedish cyclist. As an amateur, he competed in the individual and team road events at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won one silver and two bronze medals, in 1964 and 1968. In 1968 he also took part in two track events: individual and team 4000 m pursuit.
The 1969 Tour de France was the 56th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 28 June and 20 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of 4,117 km (2,558 mi). The participant teams were no longer national teams, but were once more commercially sponsored. The race was won by Eddy Merckx who absolutely dominated the rest of the field. As an example in 1967 nine riders finished within 20:00 of the winner, in 1968 nineteen riders were within 20:00 but in 1969 the 10th place rider was +52:56, the 20th place rider was +1:17:36 and only Roger Pingeon finished inside 20:00 of Merckx.
Marino Basso is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, considered one of the best sprinters of his generation. He won the World Cycling Championship in 1972.
Molteni was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team from 1958 until the end of 1976. It won 663 races, many of them earned by its most famous rider, Eddy Merckx. Other riders included Gianni Motta and Marino Basso, who contributed 48 and 34 wins respectively. The Molteni family continues in cycling with sponsorship of Salmilano.
The 1969 Giro d'Italia was the 52nd edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,851-kilometre (2,393 mi) race consisted of 23 stages, one of which was a split stage, starting in Garda on 16 May and finishing Milan on 8 June. There were two time trial stages and a single rest day. Felice Gimondi of the Salvarani team won the overall general classification, his second victory. Italians Claudio Michelotto placed second, 3 min and 35 s slower than Gimondi, and Italo Zilioli (Filotex) was third, over four minutes behind Gimondi.
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called intermediate sprints. The points classification is the top prize for many cycling sprinters and is often known as the sprint classification; however, in some stage races these classifications are based on different criteria.
Ole Ritter is a former Danish racing cyclist, mainly known for breaking the hour record in 1968.
Wladimiro Panizza was an Italian professional road bicycle racer. Panizza came from a Communist family and was named after Lenin. During his long career (1967–1985), he helped Felice Gimondi and Franco Bitossi. His best grand tour was the 1980 Giro d'Italia, where he placed second in the overall classification. He holds the record for participation in the Giro, completing the race 16 times out of 18 starts.
Paul Voß is a German former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2016 for the Team Heinz Von Heiden, Team 3C Gruppe–Lamonta, Team Milram, Endura Racing and Bora–Argon 18 squads. He now works as a directeur sportif for the LKT Team Brandenburg team.
Josef Fuchs is a retired Swiss racing cyclist. As an amateur he won two world championship medals in 1969 and 1971, both on the road and on track. He also won a few minor races and two stages of the Tour de l'Avenir and one of the Milk Race (1971).
Cesare Benedetti is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Bora–Hansgrohe.
Patrick Konrad is an Austrian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Bora–Hansgrohe.
Salvarani was an Italian professional cycling team that existed from 1963 to 1972. The team was sponsored by the Italian kitchen components maker Salvarani.
Roberto Ballini is an Italian former racing cyclist. He won stage 16 of the 1969 Giro d'Italia.
