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.
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".
Francesco Casagrande is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Casagrande was a professional cyclist between 1992 and 2005.
Rolf Sørensen is a former Danish professional road bicycle racer. He is currently working as a cycling commentator and agent. Born in Helsinge in Denmark, Sørensen moved to Italy at the age of 17, where he has lived since. He goes under the name Il Biondo due to his blonde hair.
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.
Michel Pollentier is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer.
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, Paolo Bettini and Remco Evenepoel are the only riders to have won both the Olympic road race and the world professional road race.
Maurizio Fondriest is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist.
Alfons ("Fons") De Wolf is a retired Belgian road race cyclist, a professional from 1979 to 1990. He represented his country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
Steven Rooks is a former Dutch professional road racing cyclist known for his climbing ability. His professional career ran from 1982–1995.
Philippe Gilbert is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011. Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour.
Claude Criquielion was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who raced between 1979 and 1990. In 1984, Criquielion became the world road race champion in Barcelona, Spain on a gruelling course. He had five top-ten finishes in the Tour de France.
Luc Roosen is a retired road racing cyclist from Belgium, who was a professional rider from 1986 to 1997.
Maarten Jan den Bakker is a retired road bicycle racer from the Netherlands, who was a professional rider from 1990 to 2008. He won the Dutch National Road Race Championships twice and he participated in nine Tours de France, completing each of them. In 2008, Den Bakker ended his career. He also competed in the team time trial at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Enrico Gasparotto is an Italian-born Swiss former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2020, for seven different teams. After retiring, he worked as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team EF Education–Nippo Development Team in 2021 before joining Bora–Hansgrohe in a similar role the following year.
Maximilian Sciandri is a retired British road racing cyclist of Italian descent. He competed as an Italian national up to February 1995, then took British citizenship. He won the bronze medal in the men's individual road race at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, USA. He was a professional rider from 1989 to 2004. Sciandri subsequently worked for the BMC Racing Team as a Directeur sportif from 2011 to 2018, having previously ridden for team manager Jim Ochowicz at the Motorola team in the 1990s. Prior to joining BMC he worked with British Cycling, helping to establish their base in Quarrata, and developing riders such as Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas. In October 2018 it emerged that Sciandri would join the Movistar Team as a directeur sportif from the 2019 season.
Adri van der Poel is a retired Dutch cyclist. Van der Poel was a professional from 1981 to 2000. His biggest wins included six classics, two stages of the Tour de France and the World Cyclo-Cross Championships in 1996. He also obtained the second place and silver medal in the World Road Championships in 1983 behind Greg LeMond and five second places in the World Cyclo-Cross championships. The Grand Prix Adrie van der Poel is named after him.
Roger Swerts is a Belgian former road bicycle racer. As an amateur he placed 18th in the individual road race at the 1964 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal at the 1965 UCI Road World Championships. He turned professional later in 1965.
Andrea Bagioli is an Italian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Lidl–Trek. He is the younger brother of Nicola Bagioli, who is also a cyclist. He rode in the 2020 Vuelta a España, and also in the 2021 Vuelta a Espana.
