The Most Famous

CYCLISTS from Russia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Russian Cyclists. The pantheon dataset contains 1,613 Cyclists, 45 of which were born in Russia. This makes Russia the birth place of the 12th most number of Cyclists behind United States, and Switzerland.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Russian Cyclists of all time. This list of famous Russian Cyclists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Russian Cyclists.

Photo of Andrei Tchmil

1. Andrei Tchmil (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 57.08, Andrei Tchmil is the most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages on wikipedia.

Andrei Tchmil (born 22 January 1963) is a retired Soviet (until 1991), Moldovan (1992–1994), Ukrainian (1994–1998) and Belgian (since 1998) professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the men's individual road race at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Sergei Sukhoruchenkov

2. Sergei Sukhoruchenkov (b. 1956)

With an HPI of 56.70, Sergei Sukhoruchenkov is the 2nd most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Sergei Nikolaevich Sukhoruchenkov (Russian: Серге́й Николаевич Сухорученков, born 10 August 1956) is a former Soviet and Russian cyclist and Olympic Champion. He won the gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, in the road race. He won the Peace Race twice, in both 1979 and 1984. Sukhoruchenkov won the 1990 edition of the Vuelta Ciclista de Chile. His daughter Olga Zabelinskaya is also a cyclist and won two bronze medals in the 2012 Olympic Games, in both the road race and the individual time trial; as well as the silver medal in the individual time trial of the 2016 Olympic Games.

Photo of Viatcheslav Ekimov

3. Viatcheslav Ekimov (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 54.80, Viatcheslav Ekimov is the 3rd most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov (Russian Вячеслав Владимирович Екимов; born 4 February 1966) is a Russian former professional racing cyclist. A triple Olympic gold medalist, he was awarded the title of Russian Cyclist of the Century in 2001.

Photo of Denis Menchov

4. Denis Menchov (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 54.76, Denis Menchov is the 4th most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Denis Nikolayevich Menshov (often mistakenly romanized as Menchov, Денис Николаевич Меньшов; born 25 January 1978) is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general classification rider, a climber and an accomplished time trialist. In 2005 he finished second in the Vuelta a España and in 2007 he finished as the champion. He also won the centenary Giro d'Italia in 2009 and finished second in the Tour de France in 2010 becoming the first Russian to do so. He was later disqualified from that Tour de France, as well as the 2009 and 2012 editions, owing to adverse biological passport findings.

Photo of Pavel Tonkov

5. Pavel Tonkov (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 52.84, Pavel Tonkov is the 5th most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Pavel Sergeyevich Tonkov (Павел Сергеевич Тонков; born 9 February 1969) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Russia. His talents were first showcased when winning the world junior title as part of the Soviet Union team in 1987. This alerted the world to his talents, and he turned pro in 1992 with the RUSS-Baïkal team.

Photo of Evgeni Berzin

6. Evgeni Berzin (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 52.73, Evgeni Berzin is the 6th most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

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.

Photo of Dimitri Konyshev

7. Dimitri Konyshev (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 51.39, Dimitri Konyshev is the 7th most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Dimitri Borisovich Konyshev (Russian: Дмитрий Борисович Конышев; born 18 February 1966) is a Russian former professional road cyclist and current directeur sportif. Over a 17-year professional career he won stages at all three Grand Tours—four at the Tour de France, four at the Giro d'Italia, and one at the Vuelta a España—and claimed the Giro’s points classification in 2000 and the intergiro in 1997. He took silver in the men’s road race at the 1989 UCI Road World Championships and bronze in 1992, and was national road race champion for the Soviet Union (1990) and Russia (1993, 2001).

Photo of Anatoly Chukanov

8. Anatoly Chukanov (1954 - 2021)

With an HPI of 51.28, Anatoly Chukanov is the 8th most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Anatoly Alekseevich Chukanov (Russian: Анатолий Алексеевич Чуканов; 10 May 1954 – 12 June 2021) was a Soviet and Russian cyclist. He was part of the Soviet team that won the 100 km team time trial at the 1976 Summer Olympics and 1977 UCI Road World Championships. He was born in Russia, but later moved to Ukraine. After retirement he was teaching sport-related subjects at the East Ukraine Volodymyr Dahl National University. He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour.

Photo of Sergei Ivanov

9. Sergei Ivanov (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 50.41, Sergei Ivanov is the 9th most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Sergei Valeryevich Ivanov (Серге́й Валерьевич Иванов) (born 5 March 1975) is a former professional road bicycle racer, who competed between 1996 and 2011. Ivanov had been a member of six different teams, competing for CSKA Lada–Samara, TVM–Farm Frites, Fassa Bortolo, T-Mobile Team, Astana and Team Katusha. In this time he completed in five Grand Tours, and also won six national championship titles. He also won the Tour de Pologne 1998. He finished his sports career in 2009 He now lives in Bekkevoort, Belgium.

Photo of Alexandr Kolobnev

10. Alexandr Kolobnev (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 48.88, Alexandr Kolobnev is the 10th most famous Russian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Alexandr Vasilievich Kolobnev (Александр Васильевич Колобнев; born 4 May 1981) is a Russian former professional road bicycle racer. His major victories include winning the 2007 Monte Paschi Eroica, a stage of the 2007 Paris–Nice and he is a two-time winner of the Russian National Road Race Championships. In 2011, he was provisionally suspended after testing positive for a potential drug masking agent. He was cleared of intentional doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in February 2012, and returned to Team Katusha in March 2012.

People

Pantheon has 48 people classified as Russian cyclists born between 1954 and 2001. Of these 48, 45 (93.75%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Russian cyclists include Andrei Tchmil, Sergei Sukhoruchenkov, and Viatcheslav Ekimov. The most famous deceased Russian cyclists include Anatoly Chukanov, Viktor Manakov, and Dmitry Nelyubin. As of April 2024, 4 new Russian cyclists have been added to Pantheon including Egor Silin, Vyacheslav Kuznetsov, and Evgeniya Augustinas.

Living Russian Cyclists

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Deceased Russian Cyclists

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Newly Added Russian Cyclists (2025)

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