David Moncoutié
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Moncoutié at the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | David Moncoutié |
| Nickname | Moncoucou |
| Born |
30 April 1975 Provins, France |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 1996 | VC Blagnac |
| 1997–2012 | Cofidis |
| Major wins | |
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David Moncoutié (born 30 April 1975) is a retired French professional road racing cyclist, who rode with the French team Cofidis, for his entire professional career. He was a climber, and won his first professional race in a mountain stage of Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. He won the Mountains Classification in Vuelta a España four times, one short of the record of five held by José Luis Laguía.
Moncoutié is the last French cyclist to win a stage of the Tour de France on Bastille Day, the national holiday of France, back in 2005.
David Moncoutié had no familial connection to cycling – he was raised in a football (soccer) loving family in which nobody had raced a bike. Moncoutié played football until he was 16 before being introduced to cycling by a friend. He gained his baccalauréat in biology. His father, mother and two sisters worked for the post office and wanted him to work there as well. Friends suggested he join them for a ride. He said: "They all had beautiful racing bikes, I had a sports bike that was nothing to talk about... and I dropped them right from the start. I said to myself,' Tiens, you're not going to be too bad!' and I joined the Entente Vélocipédique Bretenous-Bars, my village in the Lot. I won from my second race."
He continued playing football but abandoned it when cycling took over at 19. He had dreamed of winning a mountain stage in the Tour de France after watching the Colombian rider, Luis Herrera outride Europeans in the Tour in the 1980s. Moncoutié was a boy and thought anybody could turn up and ride the Tour. In 1995 he joined the club at Blagnac, the airport district of Toulouse where Airbus builds aircraft, and took his exams to join the rest of his family in the post office.
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