Evgeni Berzin

Evgeni Valentinovich Berzin (; born 3 June 1970) is a Russian former road cyclist.

After winning both the amateur individual pursuit and team pursuit titles for the Soviet Union at the 1990 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, Berzin turned professional with Mecair–Ballan in 1993. In 1994, his second professional season, he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Giro d'Italia, becoming the first Russian cyclist to win a Grand Tour. He finished second in the 1995 Giro d'Italia.

Career Early years Berzin began his career as a track rider in the youth system of the Soviet team, under Alexandre Kuznetsov, joining when he was 14 years old. He won the Men's Amateur Individual Pursuit and the Team Amateur Pursuit at the 1990 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and gained silver in the Team Amateur Pursuit a year later. In 1992, Berzin wanted to switch to road racing in order to compete in the road race at the 1992 Olympics, but Kuznetsov refused, instead aiming to focus on the track events. Berzin subsequently left Russia and went to Italy with his girlfriend, Stella. There, he teamed up with Emanuele Bombini, a recently retired rider in the process of building a cycling team around former world champion Moreno Argentin with Mecair, an engineering company, as the main sponsor. The team, , was formed for 1993 and Berzin became part of it, alongside his friend Vladislav Bobrik.

Professional career 1993: The first season In his first season as a professional, Berzin rode as a domestique for team captain Piotr Ugrumov, who would finish second overall at the Giro d'Italia. Berzin himself finished the Giro in 90th place. The same year, he was the runner-up in the Settimana Ciclistica, in Lombardia, Italy. He finished the season ranked 379th in the UCI Road World Rankings. but a strained relationship between himself and teammate Ugrumov, third overall, prevented them from seriously challenging Rominger. During stage 14, Ugrumov even actively rode with Rominger to distance Berzin, who managed to get back with some difficulty. Berzin's best moment of the race came on the penultimate day, when he won the stage to Salita di Montegrino Valtravaglia, coming in 25 seconds ahead of Rominger and Ugrumov, thereby securing second place.

Just a few days after the Giro ended, Berzin took victory at the Euskal Bizikleta. He was also part of the team that won the team time trial at the 1995 Tour de France on stage 3. He eventually retired from the race on stage 10, having lost 15 minutes to Induráin the day before and, according to Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, being "physically demolished and mentally broken".

By 1996, his performances began to fade, leading the press to question his abilities and focus on his personal life, which included him and his wife Stella separating. Berzin returned for the 1996 Giro d'Italia, where he won the time trial on stage 19, putting him into provisional third place overall, just 14 seconds behind leader Pavel Tonkov. He would however lose significant time the next day, and eventually finished in 10th place overall. At the Tour de Suisse, he won the prologue, two seconds ahead of Bjarne Riis. He won the time trial on stage 8 as well, this time ahead of Gianni Faresin and Armstrong. In the overall classification, he was eventually fourth.

At the 1996 Tour de France, he took the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification on stage 7 to Les Arcs, the day that saw Induráin falter at the Tour for the first time in six years. He was the first Russian rider to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour. Berzin then won the time trial to Val-d'Isère the next day. Stage 9 to Sestriere was shortened due to snow. Riis attacked almost from the beginning of the now -long stage. Riis would win the stage and take the yellow jersey from Berzin en route to eventual overall victory. Berzin finished in Paris in 20th place.

Later career In 1997, Berzin followed Bombini, who set up a new team, Batik–Del Monte, which included many riders from the former Gewiss squad. At the 1997 Giro d'Italia, Berzin placed second to Tonkov at the difficult stage-three time trial to San Marino. He faded later in the race and finished 20th overall, 49 minutes behind the winner, Ivan Gotti. He rode the Tour de France again, finishing third in the prologue time trial in Rouen, but he later abandoned the race, due to a broken clavicle.

His contract with the Batik–Del Monte team stipulated that Berzin had to try to break the hour record in 1997. The plan to attempt the effort right after the Tour de France was foiled by his injuries sustained during the race. He eventually attempted to beat the record set by Chris Boardman in Bordeaux on 19 October. Prevented from using the same aerodynamic handlebars Boardman had used due to a change in regulations and further hindered by riding at sea level, Berzin abandoned his run after just 17 minutes, with an average speed slower than Boardman's.

Trying to rebuild his career, Berzin joined the team for 1998, but failed to deliver. He launched unsuccessful breakaways at Liège–Bastogne–Liège and at the Four Days of Dunkirk. He left the team at the end of the year, with team manager Marc Madiot stating that "his good days were behind him, no matter what". Since his team was not invited, Berzin missed the Giro d'Italia, but rode the Tour de France, finishing in 25th position, almost 43 minutes behind winner Marco Pantani.

By 1999, his performances had deteriorated considerably. He rode his final Giro d'Italia, this time for Amica Chips–Costa de Almería, but he finished in 52nd place, over 2 hours down on the winner, Gotti.

Berzin was prevented from starting the 2000 Giro d'Italia, as he received a two-week ban, due to an elevated hematocrit level, indicating the use of erythropoietin (EPO), a product used for the purposes of doping. His contract with the team was subsequently terminated. Berzin retired in 2001.

After Cycling Berzin owns a car showroom in Oltrepò Pavese, where he lives, and a Fiat dealership near Milan.

1988 1st Team pursuit, National Junior Track Championships 1st Team pursuit, UCI Amateur Track World Championships 1989 1st Team pursuit, National Amateur Track Championships 1990 1st Team pursuit, National Amateur Track Championships UCI Amateur Track World Championships 1st Individual pursuit 1st Team pursuit 3rd Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic 1st Stage 1 1991 1st Team pursuit, UCI Amateur Track World Championships 1st Stage 1 Redlands Bicycle Classic 1992 1st Overall Course Cycliste de Solidarnosc et des Champions Olympiques 1st Overall Ruban Granitier Breton 1st Stage 2 7th Overall Tour de l'Avenir 1993 7th Firenze–Pistoia 1994 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 1st Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Young rider classification 1st Stages 4, 8 & 18 1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège 1st Giro dell'Appennino 2nd Overall Tour of the Basque Country 2nd Overall Euskal Bizikleta 1st Stages 3 & 5 2nd Overall Giro del Trentino 2nd Overall Tour Méditerranéen 3rd La Flèche Wallonne 3rd Overall Critérium International 1st Stage 3 3rd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 3rd Trofeo Laigueglia 5th Trofeo Pantalica 1995 1st Overall Euskal Bizikleta 1st Stage 2 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 21 3rd Overall Critérium International 3rd La Flèche Wallonne 4th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 4th Giro dell'Appennino 10th Overall Giro del Trentino 1996 Tour de France 1st Stage 8 Held after Stages 7–8 1st Stage 5b Tirreno–Adriatico 3rd Boucles de l'Aulne 4th Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Prologue & Stage 8 5th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 5th Klasika Primavera 6th Overall Tour de Romandie 10th Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 19 1997 1st Overall Grande Prémio Jornal de Notícias 5th Overall Volta ao Alentejo 1998 3rd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 9th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish DNS Did not start