Chris Horner life and biography

Christopher Horner, born October 23, 1971 in Bend, Oregon, U.S. is an American professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team Team RadioShack.

A native and current resident of Bend, Oregon, Horner dominated the American road racing scene by winning the points standings in the 2002, 2003 and 2004 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar. Turning pro in 1995, he captured his first major victory in a stage win of the Tour DuPont in 1996 riding for the NutraFig team. He was then asked to ride in Europe with French team Française des Jeux. After three frustrating seasons from 1997 to 1999, he returned to America to resume a record-setting domestic career, riding with Mercury in 2000, Prime Alliance in 2002, Saturn in 2003 and Webcor Builders in 2004.

Horner has won almost every important race in the US racing calendar, with the notable exception of the USPRO Championships and the Amgen Tour of California. He decided to move to Saunier Duval-Prodir after his top-ten finish in the 2004 UCI World Road Cycling Championship because he wanted to give the Tour de France a try. After being injured in the beginning of 2005, Horner showed strong performance in the USPRO Championships and won his first major European victory by taking the sixth stage of the 2005 Tour de Suisse. He then earned his place on the 2005 Tour de France team and nearly won the Miramas to Montpellier stage when he and Sylvain Chavanel refused to cooperate in the final kilometers and were caught by the peloton. He made a move to the Belgian UCI ProTour squad Davitamon-Lotto for the 2006 season and to the Astana Team for the 2008 season. Chris earned the nickname "The smiler" for his unflappable expression of happiness, even during the most excruciating physical challenges, and "The Yahoo Kid" for his wild exclamations after winning a race. Teammates Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong call him "The Redneck".

For 2007 Horner signed with Ed Krall Racing for the cyclo-cross season.

In the 2008 Cascade Cycling Classic Horner carried racer Bill Demong with his broken bicycle (who was from another team) to the finish line.

On October 4, 2009 it was confirmed that Horner would compete for Team RadioShack in the next two seasons. He and his RadioShack teammates put on a strong performance at the 2010 Amgen Tour of California, with Horner putting on a particularly strong performance in the last stage of the race, an 84 mile circuit race in the Thousand Oaks, California, area. With a strong time trial showing the day before in Los Angeles and as a member of a final breakaway at the Thousand Oaks stage, Horner finished fourth overall, 1 min 4 sec behind winner Michael Rogers, and just 39 seconds behind teammate Levi Leipheimer in overall time.

Major results

1996
1st Lancaster Classic
1st Stage Tour DuPont

1997
3rd GP Ouest-France

2000
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Le Tour de Langkawi
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Redlands Bicycle Classic

2001
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Solano Bicycle Classic
1st Stage 5 Redlands Bicycle Classic
1st Stage 3 Cascade Classic

2002
Champion USA Cycling National Racing Calendar
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Fitchburg Longsjo Classic
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Redlands Bicycle Classic
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 2
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Sea Otter Classic
1st Stage 3
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Solano Bicycle Classic
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 3 Nature Valley Grand Prix
1st Stage 3 Cascade Classic
2nd National Championship, Road, ITT, Elite

2003
Champion, USA Cycling National Racing Calendar
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour de Georgia
1st Mountains classification
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Redlands Bicycle Classic
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Solano Bicycle Classic
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 4
1st San Francisco Grand Prix (T-Mobile International)
1st McLane Pacific Cycling Classic Road Race
1st Stage 2 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic
1st Stage 3 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

2004
Champion, USA Cycling National Racing Calendar
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Sea Otter Classic
1st Stage 2
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Redlands Bicycle Classic
1st Prologue
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 2
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Pomona Valley Stage Race
1st Stage 2
1st Stage 3
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Temecula Stage Race
1st Pine Flat Road Race
3rd Overall Tour de Georgia
9th Road Race World Championchips

2005
5th Overall Tour de Suisse
1st Stage 6

2006
1st Stage 2 Tour de Romandie
10th Overall Paris-Nice

2007
5th Overall Tour de Romandie
15th Overall Tour de France

2008
1st Stage 3 Tour de White Rock
7th Giro di Lombardia

2009
2nd Overall, Tour de l'Ain
1st Points Jersey

2010
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
1st Stage 6 ITT
2nd Overall, Giro di Sardegna
4th Overall, Tour of California
7th La Flèche Wallonne
8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
10th Amstel Gold Race

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