Julien Absalon

Julien Absalon

Absalon at the Albstadt round of the 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Julien Absalon
Born	(1980-08-16) 16 August 1980 (age 36) Remiremont, France
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb)
Team information
Discipline	Mountain bike racing
Role	Rider
Rider type	Cross-country
Medal record Men's mountain bike racing Representing  France Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 0 0 World Championships 5 2 2 World Cup 7 2 3 European Championships 5 4 0 European Games 0 0 0 Total 19 8 5 Olympic Games 2004 Athens Cross-country 2008 Beijing Cross-country World Championships 2004 Les Gets Cross-country 2005 Livigno Cross-country 2006 Rotorua Cross-country 2007 Fort William Cross-country 2014 Hafjell Cross-country 2009 Canberra Cross-country 2015 Vallnord Cross-country 2011 Champéry Cross-country 2016 Nové Město Cross-country World Cup 2003 Overall Cross-country 2006 Overall Cross-country 2007 Overall Cross-country 2008 Overall Cross-country 2009 Overall Cross-country 2014 Overall Cross-country 2016 Overall Cross-country 2010 Overall Cross-country 2015 Overall Cross-country 2005 Overall Cross-country 2011 Overall Cross-country 2013 Overall Cross-country European Championships 2006 Lamosano Cross-country 2013 Bern Cross-country 2014 St. Wendel Cross-country 2015 Alpago Cross-country 2016 Huskvarna Cross-country 2003 Graz Cross-country 2005 Kluisbergen Cross-country 2007 Göreme Cross-country 2011 Dohňany Cross-country

Julien Absalon (born 16 August 1980) is a French cross-country mountain biker, widely regarded as the greatest of all time in this discipline.

2003: Absalon won his first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.

2004: Gold at World Champions and the Athens Olympic Games.

2005 Absalon again won the World Championships.

2006: Winner at the World Championships, European Championships, French Championships and the overall World Cup.

2007: World Champion and World Cup Champion

2008: Won 2nd Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympic Games, World Cup Champion

2009: Number 1 World Ranking for all but 5 days of the year. Winner of UCI MTB World Cup for the 5th time, silver at the World Championships

2010: 2nd Overall at World Championships

2011: 3rd at the World Championships and World Cup

2012: At the 2012 Summer Olympics cross-country race, he suffered a tyre puncture in the opening lap. After changing tyre and noticing that he was trailing the leader by 55 seconds, he decided to abandon the race, seeing that his chances of winning a medal had disappeared.

2013: Won European Championships

2014: Wins 5th World Championship title, French and European Championships. His season was cut short when, that November, he suffered a broken collarbone during a cyclocross race.

2015: Absalon wins the European Championships, French Championships, and finished second overall in the World Championships. Completed the season ranked world number 1.

2016: Finishes the Rio Olympic Games in 8th place.

He has been overall winner of the World Cup mountain bike cross-country series seven times (2003, 2006–2009, 2014, 2016) and has won a record 33 World Cup cross-country races as of September 4, 2016. He won five cross-country Mountain Bike World Championships (2004–2007, 2014). He has also won all fourteen French cross-country championships between 2003 and 2016, and five European Championships (2006, 2013–2016). He currently rides for the BMC Racing Team. He previously rode for Bianchi (2001–2006) and Orbea (2007–2012).