Daily Cycling Facts 29.12.2013

Peter Bissell, 1986-2007

Today marks the anniversary of the death of Peter Bissell in 2007. Bissell was 2004 British Hill Climb Champion and, in 2006, became Under-23 Road Race Champion. He was born on the 11th of March 1986 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire and died after suffering a fit, aged 21.

Evelyn García, born in Santa Ana, El Salvador on this day in 1982, won the Vuelta Ciclista Femenina a El Salvador in 2004, then turned professional and won it again in 2007 - a feat no other rider has yet matched. In 2006 she became National Road Race Champion, then in 2007 World Elite B Pursuit Champion; in 2009 she won the Vuelta a Costa Rica, Vuelta a Guatemala and the National Road Race and Individual Time Trial Championships, successfully defending both National titles the following year. Having finished the Vuelta a El Salvador in third place overall in 2012, she competed at the Olympic Games and took 26th place in the Road Race.

Jeroen Johannes Hendrikus Blijlevens, born in Rijen, Netherlands on this day in 1971, rose to prominence as one of the most devastatingly effective sprinters of the 1990s, a skill that saw him win a total of four stages at the Tour de France (Stage 5, 1995; Stage 5, 1996; Stage 6, 1997; Stage 4, 1998), five at the Vuelta a Espana(Stage 10, 1995; Stage 5, 1996; Stages 2 and 5, 1998; Stage 21, 1999) and two at the Giro d'Italia (Stages 3 and 7, 1999). Today, he is best known as directeur sportif of the Rabobank women's team where he has worked with the world's top-rated rider Marianne Vos.

Happy birthday to German track rider Thomas Huschke, born in 1947, winner of silver and bronze at the 1972 and 1976 Games. Huschke comes from a cycling dynasty: he's the grandson of Adolf, German Road Champion in 1921 and son of Gerhard, 4th in the 1934 World Road Championships.

Christophe Rinero at the Tour de Romandie in 2007
(image credit: Ludovic Péron CC BY-SA 3.0)

French rider Christophe Rinero was born in Moissac on this day in 1973. Rinero didn't win many races over his 13 year career, but what he did was impressive: the overall General Classification and Stages 7 and 9 at the 1998 Tour de l'Avenir; 1st place King of the Mountains, 2nd place Youth and 4th place General Classification at the 1998 Tour de France; Stage 2 and the Mountains Classification at the 2002 Tour du Limousin.

Other cyclists born on this day: Marielle Guichard (France, 1963); Georgios Khimonetos (Greece, 1972); Joseph Kono (Cameroon, 1950); Juan Merhab (Puerto Rico, 1970); Edwin Torres (Puerto Rico, 1946); Besnik Musaj (Albania, 1973); Kyrylo Pospieiev (USSR, 1975); Walter Reiser (Switzerland, 1925); Philip Sawyer (Australia, 1951); Clayton Stevenson (Australia, 1967); Guillaume Van Tongerloo (Belgium, 1933); Roger Whitfield (Great Britain, 1943); Dennis McCoy (USA, 1966).