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.
Sydney Patterson was a world champion amateur and professional track cyclist from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. While a teenager, Patterson won every Victorian and Australian title between 1,000 metres and ten miles (16.1 km). He represented Australia in cycling at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
Reginald Hargreaves Harris OBE was a British track racing cyclist in the 1940s and 1950s. He won the world amateur sprint title in 1947, two Olympic silver medals in 1948, and the professional title in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1954. His ferocious will to win made him a household name in the 1950s, but he also surprised many with a comeback more than 20 years later, winning a British title in 1974 at the age of 54.
Brian Holm Sørensen is a retired Danish professional rider in road bicycle racing from 1986 to 1998, who rode for Team Telekom from 1993 to 1997 and was part of the team that brought his fellow Dane Bjarne Riis to victory in the 1996 Tour de France.
Jesper Skibby is a retired professional road racing cyclist. He won at least one stage at each of the major tours. He was one of the most popular in Denmark, not only because of his talent, but also because of his wit and his constant banter. He rode for the Dutch TVM from 1989 to 1997, but switched to the Danish team Team home - Jack & Jones in 1998, where he ended his active career in 2000.
Daniel Morelon is a retired French racing cyclist who was active between 1963 and 1980. He is a triple Olympic champion, eight times world champion, and a knight of the Legion d'Honneur. Morelon was a police officer before becoming a cycling coach.
André Darrigade is a retired French professional road bicycle racer between 1951 and 1966. Darrigade, a road sprinter won the 1959 World Championship and 22 stages of the Tour de France. Five of those Tour victories were on opening days, a record tied by Fabian Cancellara in 2012.
Lionel Malvyne Cox OAM was an Australian Olympic track cyclist.
Karel Kaers was a Belgian professional cyclist with 30 wins.
Dave Bedwell was one of Great Britain's most accomplished racing cyclists in the 1950s, known as the "Iron Man" of cycling. He won four stages in the first Tour of Britain, rode for Britain in the world professional road championship in 1953 and 1956 and rode for Britain in the Tour de France.
Antonio Maspes was an Italian world champion sprinter cyclist. Maspes was born and died in Milan. Maspes won seven professional world championship sprint titles between 1955 and 1964. He competed in the men's tandem event at the 1952 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal. Maspes also had a record five consecutive titles in the Grand Prix de Paris (1960-1964).
Joseph "Jef" Scherens, better known as Poeske Scherens, was a Belgian professional track cyclist, specializing in sprint where he won seven World Championships.
Nikolaus Anton "Toni" Merkens was a racing cyclist from Germany and Olympic champion. He represented his native country at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where he won the gold medal in the men's 1000 meter match sprint event.
Thorvald is from the Old Norse name Þórvaldr, which means "Thor's ruler". Despite this pagan origin, the name survived the conversion of Scandinavians to Christianity and remains popular up to the present.
Daniel "Dan" McLay is a British racing cyclist, competing in road, track and cyclo-cross, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Arkéa–B&B Hotels. His first season as a professional was 2015, racing for French pro-continental and 2014 Tour de France wildcard outfit Bretagne–Séché Environnement. Primarily a sprinter, McLay is also competent in the Flemish racing scene and has a particular affinity to the Northern Classics. He was named in the start list for the 2016 Tour de France.
Dorotheus Magdalenus "Dorus" Nijland was a Dutch track and road racing cyclist. Nijland was a sprinter. He was an amateur cyclist and later Nijland became a professional cyclist (1913–1915) and continued cycling as a master. His total career was between 1905 and 1935. He won over a hundred prizes, and competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Mads Pedersen is a Danish professional racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Lidl–Trek. He is a sprinter who has won stages in all three Grand Tours — the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España. He won the men's road race at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, England, becoming the first Danish cyclist to win the men's World Championship road race title.
Cyril Bardsley (1931–2020) was an English male track cyclist.
Pietro Bixio was an Italian track cyclist.
