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.
Roger De Vlaeminck is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist. He was described by Rik Van Looy as "The most talented and the only real classics rider of his generation". Nicknamed "The Gypsy" because he was born into a family of traveling clothiers, he is known for exploits in the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix race, but his performances in other "Monument" races gave him a record that few can match. His record in Paris–Roubaix earned him another nickname, "Monsieur Paris–Roubaix".
Cyrille Guimard is a French former professional road racing cyclist who became a directeur sportif and television commentator. Three of his riders, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Lucien Van Impe, won the Tour de France. Another of his protégés, Greg LeMond, described him as "the best (coach) in the world" and "the best coach I ever had". He has been described by cycling journalist William Fotheringham as the greatest directeur sportif in the history of the Tour.
Team Jumbo–Visma is a Dutch professional bicycle racing team, successor of the former Rabobank. The team consists of four sections: ProTeam, Women's Team, Development Team, and Cyclo-cross.
Hennes "Hans" Junkermann was a 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.
The 1978 Tour de France was the 65th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 29 June and 23 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of 3,908 km (2,428 mi).
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.
John Gadret is a French former professional racing cyclist in cyclo-cross and road racing, currently racing for the USO Bruay-la-Buissière amateur team. He became a stagiaire for Cofidis in 2003 before turning professional with the Vlaanderen–T Interim team in 2004.
Dietrich "Didi" Thurau is a retired German professional road bicycle racer. His biggest career achievements include winning the one-day classic, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, his home country's Deutschland Tour and surprising the field at the 1977 Tour de France by capturing four stages and holding the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification from the prologue for 15 days. Thurau did win the young rider classification although he lost the overall lead to eventual winner Bernard Thévenet.
Rolf Wolfshohl is a former professional road bicycle racing and cyclo-cross racing cyclist from Germany. Wolfshohl is best known in cyclo-cross for winning the world championship three times, and in road racing for winning the 1965 Vuelta a España. He won the German National Road Race in 1968.
Gregor Braun is a retired track cyclist and road bicycle racer from Germany, who was a professional rider from 1977 to 1989 and who became a multiple Olympic Gold medaillist and track world champion. his profession was a locksmith.
Günter Haritz is a retired road and track cyclist from West Germany, who won the gold medal in the Men's 4.000 Team Pursuit at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, alongside Günther Schumacher, Jürgen Colombo, and Udo Hempel. In 1973, together with Peter Vonhof, Hans Lutz and Günther Schumacher, Haritz won the amateur world title in the team pursuit.
Peugeot team was a French professional cycling team that promoted and rode Peugeot racing bikes.
Henk Lubberding is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1977 to 1992.
Renault was a French professional cycling team that existed from 1978 to 1985. The team cycled on and promoted Gitane racing bikes.
Gitane–Campagnolo was a French professional cycling team that existed from 1969 to 1977. Its main sponsor was the French bicycle manufacturer Gitane.
TI–Raleigh was a Dutch professional track cycling and road bicycle racing team between 1972 and 1983. In that decade the team won over 900 races. The team was created and led by Peter Post. In his own cycling career, his nickname was the Six Days Emperor, being a track champion. He also won the 1964 fast edition of Paris–Roubaix. Post was pretty harsh on himself. He had no time to celebrate and was always looking ahead at the next race. That attitude might have been the key to the team's success.
Charles Pélissier was a French racing cyclist, between 1922 and 1939, winning 16 stages in the Tour de France. The number of eight stages won in the 1930 Tour de France is still a record, shared with Eddy Merckx and Freddy Maertens (1976). In addition to his 8-stage wins that year, Pélissier also finished second place 7 times. In the 1931 Tour de France after stage 5, he shared the lead for one day with Rafaele di Paco. Pélissier was the younger brother of racing cyclists Francis Pélissier and Henri Pélissier. Pélissier was born and died in Paris.
Arsène Mersch was a Luxembourgian professional road bicycle racer and cyclo-cross racer, who became national champion in both categories twice. He also won one Tour de France stage, and wore the yellow jersey for one day.
Paul Watson is a former professional English road racing cyclist from Milton Keynes. He was national road race champion, raced in the Tour de France and made headlines finishing 6th in the Belgium classic La Flèche Wallonne.
