The Most Famous

CYCLISTS from Ukraine

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This page contains a list of the greatest Ukrainian Cyclists. The pantheon dataset contains 1,613 Cyclists, 18 of which were born in Ukraine. This makes Ukraine the birth place of the 20th most number of Cyclists behind Austria, and South Africa.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Ukrainian Cyclists of all time. This list of famous Ukrainian 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 Ukrainian Cyclists.

Photo of Franciszek Szymczyk

1. Franciszek Szymczyk (1892 - 1976)

With an HPI of 53.18, Franciszek Szymczyk is the most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages on wikipedia.

Franciszek Ksawery Szymczyk (21 February 1892 – 5 November 1976) was a Polish track cyclist who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He was born in Lemberg and died in Warsaw. In 1924 he won the silver as member of the Polish team in the team pursuit. He also competed in the sprint event but was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Photo of Serhiy Honchar

2. Serhiy Honchar (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 51.68, Serhiy Honchar is the 2nd most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Serhiy Gonchar (Ukrainian: Сергій Гончар; born 3 July 1970) is a Ukrainian former professional road racing cyclist. He won the World Time Trial Championship in 2000. Due to a temporary spelling error in his passport, he is often incorrectly called Honchar.

Photo of Yaroslav Popovych

3. Yaroslav Popovych (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 49.60, Yaroslav Popovych is the 3rd most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Yaroslav Popovych (Ukrainian: Ярослав Попович; born 4 January 1980) is a Ukrainian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016. The winner of the under-23 road race at the 2001 UCI Road World Championships, Popovych turned professional in 2002 with Landbouwkrediet–Colnago, where he performed particularly strongly in the Giro d'Italia, finishing third in 2003. Upon joining Discovery Channel in 2005, his focus switched to the Tour de France, where he won the young riders' classification in 2005 and won stage 12 in 2006. When Discovery Channel folded at the end of 2007, Popovych moved to Silence–Lotto in 2008 and on to Astana in 2009. Popovych also raced for Team RadioShack in 2010 and 2011. From 2012 until 2016 he rode with the UCI ProTour team Trek–Segafredo.

Photo of Aleksandr Kirichenko

4. Aleksandr Kirichenko (b. 1967)

With an HPI of 46.77, Aleksandr Kirichenko is the 4th most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Kyrychenko (born 13 August 1967) is a Ukrainian track cyclist. He won the gold medal in the 1 km time trial at the 1988 Summer Olympics, competing for the Soviet Union. The first coach for Olympics was Oleksandr Kulyk, which fell in battle in 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Photo of Volodymir Gustov

5. Volodymir Gustov (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 44.78, Volodymir Gustov is the 5th most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Volodymir Gustov (Ukrainian: Володимир Густов, sometimes transliterated as Volodymyr Hustov or other permutations; born 15 February 1977 in Kyiv) is a Ukrainian professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTeam Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank. He began his career in 2000 with Italian team Fassa Bortolo. Before the 2002 Tour de Romandie, Gustov was tested with a hematocrit level above fifty percent. This indicates either health problems or doping usage so he was suspended for fifteen days, but in the middle of May, Fassa Bortolo announced that he could ride again. After laboratory tests accredited by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of cycling, it was stated that his high hematocrit and hemoglobin values were physiologically determined. As his contract ended prior to the 2006 season, former team mate Ivan Basso arranged for him to ride alongside him at Danish Team CSC. After being selected for the 2008 Tour de France team, he worked for the two Schleck brothers and Carlos Sastre as the race got into the French Alps and Pyrenees.

Photo of Olga Slyusareva

6. Olga Slyusareva (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 44.26, Olga Slyusareva is the 6th most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Olga Anatolyevna Slyusareva (Russian: Ольга Анатольевна Слюсарева) (born 28 April 1969 in Chervonyi Donets, Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian professional racing cyclist. She won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in the points race, bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in the points race, and at the 2004 Olympic Games in the road race. Since 2019, she is the Mayor of Tula, a city about 193 km (120 mi) South of Moscow.

Photo of Sergiy Matveyev

7. Sergiy Matveyev (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 43.93, Sergiy Matveyev is the 7th most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Serhiy Leonidovych Matvyeyev (Ukrainian: Сергій Леонідович Матвєєв, born 29 January 1975) is a Ukrainian former professional road bicycle racer.

Photo of Alexander Symonenko

8. Alexander Symonenko (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 43.77, Alexander Symonenko is the 8th most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Oleksandr Serhiyovych Symonenko (Ukrainian: Олександр Сергійович Симоненко; born 14 February 1974) is a Ukrainian former track cyclist. Symonenko was the world champion in individual pursuit in 2001, as well as the world champion in team pursuit as part of the Ukraine team in 1998 and 2001. In the 2000 Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal in the team pursuit as part of the Ukraine team. Symonenko was born in Kirovohrad (present day Kropyvnytskyi).

Photo of Ruslan Pidhornyy

9. Ruslan Pidhornyy (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 43.55, Ruslan Pidhornyy is the 9th most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Ruslan Pidhornyy (Ukrainian: Руслан Підгорний; born 25 July 1977) is a Ukrainian former professional road bicycle racer. He was born in Vinnytsia. In 2004, Pidhornyy, along with Juriy Ivanov, was released from LPR–Piacenza due to his involvement in an investigation of assaulting and robbing a prostitute. In 2008, he was the Ukrainian Road Race champion.

Photo of Yuriy Krivtsov

10. Yuriy Krivtsov (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 43.55, Yuriy Krivtsov is the 10th most famous Ukrainian Cyclist.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukrainian: Юрій Крівцов; born 7 February 1979) is a French professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for the Lampre–ISD team. Ukrainian by birth, he became a naturalized French citizen in May 2010, and was able to change his nationality per the UCI effective the 2011 season.

People

Pantheon has 18 people classified as Ukrainian cyclists born between 1892 and 1996. Of these 18, 17 (94.44%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Ukrainian cyclists include Serhiy Honchar, Yaroslav Popovych, and Aleksandr Kirichenko. The most famous deceased Ukrainian cyclists include Franciszek Szymczyk. As of April 2024, 18 new Ukrainian cyclists have been added to Pantheon including Franciszek Szymczyk, Serhiy Honchar, and Yaroslav Popovych.

Living Ukrainian Cyclists

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Deceased Ukrainian Cyclists

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Newly Added Ukrainian Cyclists (2024)

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