Chris Boardman is a former English racing cyclist who won an individual pursuit gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and broke the world hour record three times as well as wearing the yellow jersey on three separate occasions at the Tour de France. He is known as a specialist in the individual time trial.
Chris's nickname is the Professor because of his meticulous attention to detail in preparation and training, and his technical know-how. He had an altitude tent built in his house to help him prepare for the Hour record attempt (see below), although in an interview he claimed that all it did was help him focus.
For his winning ways in time trials and prologues of stage races, he was nicknamed Mr. Prologue. He has been criticised for being a time-trialist who can't climb for his lacklustre performance in the mountains of the Tour de France. He denied this in an interview with CycleSport, citing examples in the 1995 edition of the Dauphiné Libéré stage race where he performed well in the mountains. He explained that his disappointing performances in the Tour de France were due to insufficient powers of recovery, which left him drained after a few days of racing.
Chris was also famous for using the carbon-fibre Lotus 108 time trial bicycle designed by Mike Burrows and made by Lotus, the sports car manufacturer.
Post cycling Chris went on to establish a name in journalism writing for various publications, including Diver magazine and Pro Cycling. He worked as a commentator for ITV and the BBC covering major cycling events, sat on the National Cycling Strategy Board as well as co-founding Boardman Bikes, the most respected and fastest growing British Bike Brand in decades.
Although bikes and cycling still plays a large part in Chris's life, his other pursuits include writing, running, archery and cave diving.