Evgeni Berzin

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

Coming from track cycling, where he successfully represented the Soviet Union at World Championships, he moved to Italy in 1992 and turned professional with Mecair–Ballan in 1993. His second season in 1994 was to be his best, with victories at the Giro d'Italia and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He finished second at the 1995 Giro d'Italia, but failed to live up to high expectations in the years after. A brief spell in the race leader's yellow jersey and a stage win at the 1996 Tour de France were his last big results. In 1997, he unsuccessfully attempted to break Chris Boardman's hour record. He retired from the sport in 2001.

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, Mecair–Ballan, was formed for 1993 and Berzin became part of it, alongside his friend Vladislav Bobrik.

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. He also rode the 1993 Tour of Britain, where he finished second on stage 4. The end of the stage was notable for the on-road arguments between Berzin and the stage winner, Peter de Clercq, as Berzin had refused to assist with pace-making over the final 10 km (6.2 mi) of the stage. 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.

Electronics company Gewiss took over lead sponsorship of Berzin's team for 1994 and the squad brought on sports physician Michele Ferrari from the University of Ferrara as the new team doctor. Berzin was competitive right from the outset of the new season. He was in the top three at the Tour Méditerranéen, Trofeo Laigueglia, and Settimana Siciliana. He then finished second overall to teammate Giorgio Furlan at Tirreno–Adriatico. He won the time trial at the Critérium International, and finished third overall, as Furlan again won the race. Berzin finished the Tour of the Basque Country in second place behind Tony Rominger and signed a contract extension with Gewiss–Ballan at higher wages until 1996.

A week after signing his new contract, Berzin lined up at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, one of the most important classic races in cycling. Late in the race, he was part of a six-man leading group, including reigning world champion Lance Armstrong and Rominger. He accelerated away from the group and won the race. Just three days later, at La Flèche Wallonne, Berzin and his Gewiss–Ballan teammates Argentin and Furlan broke away from the field at the first passage of the Mur de Huy, 65 km (40 mi) from the finish. The rest of the field was unable to counter what cycling journalist William Fotheringham called "the greatest show of strength in any Classic by any team". Argentin was allowed to win, in what was his last season as a professional, and Berzin finished third behind Furlan. Comments by Ferrari to the press afterwards, saying that "anything that doesn’t result in a positive test isn’t doping" cast doubts over the performance.

Following his strong performances in the classics, tensions between Berzin and his team grew. On stage 3 of the Giro del Trentino, Berzin was ordered back from an attack on his team leader, Argentin, eventually finishing the race in second place behind him. At the same time, Berzin demanded that his contract, valued at an estimated £17,000 per month, be renegotiated, which his team refused.

Berzin entered the 1994 Giro d'Italia as co-leader next to Ugrumov, but soon established himself as the leading rider, finishing the first-day time trial ahead of favourite Miguel Induráin, second just to Armand de las Cuevas. On stage 4 to Campitello Matese, he attacked, winning the stage and taking a minute from Induráin and three minutes from Ugrumov. The first long time trial of the race followed on stage 8 to Follonica. Berzin was again victorious, and he extended his advantage over Induráin to 3:39 minutes. On stage 15, Berzin attempted to follow an attack by Marco Pantani, but was dropped. Induráin then left Berzin behind as well, joining up with eventual stage winner Pantani. Berzin would lose four minutes to Pantani and thirty seconds to Induráin, but retained the race lead by 1:18 over the former. He then won the last time trial of the race on stage 18, ahead of Induráin. Over the two final mountain stages in the Alps, Berzin stayed with Pantani and Induráin, helped significantly by Argentin to cover the relentlessness of Pantani's attacks. He became the first Russian and first rider from a former Eastern bloc country to win a Grand Tour. His final winning margin over Pantani was 2:51 minutes. However, the tensions within the team increased during the Giro. Berzin still demanded higher pay and came into conflict with his teammates, who accused him of not showing enough respect.