Thierry Claveyrolat
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Thierry Claveyrolat |
| Nickname | Clavette |
| Born |
March 31, 1959 La Tronche, France |
| Died | September 7, 1999 (aged 40) |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 1983 | U.C. Pélussin |
| 1984 | Système U |
| 1985 | La Redoute |
| 1986–1991 | R.M.O. |
| 1991–1992 | Z |
| 1993–1994 | Gan |
| Major wins | |
| King of the Mountains - 1990 Tour de France | |
Thierry Claveyrolat (La Tronche, Rhône-Alpes, France, 31 March 1959 – died Notre-Dame-de-Mésage, Isère, 7 September 1999) was a French road bicycle racer. He was King of the Mountains in the 1990 Tour de France.
Claveyrolat grew up in the shadow of the Alps in the Isère region near Grenoble. He showed early talent as an amateur cyclist, especially in the hills. He turned professional in 1983 for the St-Étienne-Pélussin team and came to notice that year when he came second on the sixth stage of the Dauphiné Libéré. It became a race in which he succeeded regularly, winning five stages and finishing highly placed. St-Étienne was a small team and Claveyrolat's pay was so low that he worked for a construction company at Alpe d'Huez to make up the difference. His showing in the Dauphiné Libéré brought him a move to Système U in 1984, after which he changed sponsors frequently. It was with RMO, sponsored by an employment agency, that he won his first race as a professional: a stage of the Dauphiné Libéré in 1987. He went on to win the Tour du Limousin in 1989, and the Tour du Haut-Var and the Coupe de France in 1993.
The peak of his career was the Tour de France in 1990, when he won the stage at St-Gervais in the shadow of Mont Blanc. He finished the race in the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification. He won a stage at nearby Morzine the following year.
Claveyrolat was a classic, lightly built climber. His slim build and short height brought him the nickname Clavette, a play on his name meaning "cotter pin" His weakness was time-trialling, when his lightness made it hard to ride at sustained speed.
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