A successful amateur, Sylvain Chavanel, soon came to the attention of directeur sportif Jean-René Bernardeau signing his first professional contract with the Bonjour squad in 2000.
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Early victories came in 2002, with success at the Four Days of Dunkirk and the Trophée des Grimpeurs.
Taking several wins throughout the early stages of his career, Chavanel was soon lauded as the next great French hope to replace the legacy left by the likes of Bernard Hinault and Laurent Fignon. Feeling the weight of expectation upon his young shoulders, his anxiety was oft reflected in his style of racing; his trademark style of attacking in the final kilometres of a race, where the peloton is at full gas, earned him plaudits and criticism alike.
With the expectation, however, came an enormous pay packet as Chavanel moved the larger French team, Cofidis, for the 2005 season.
For several years Chavanel was France’s main contender in the Tour de France, although it took several years of frustrating events in the race discover that his talents were to lie elsewhere.
After drawing criticism from non other than Bernard Hinault, Chavanel restructured his training programme over the winter of 2007-2008 and returned a revitalised rider. Focusing on one-day races and shorter stage races, the Frenchman took the Dwars door Vlaanderen, Brabantse Pijl, the French national time trial title and stages in the Tour de France, Paris-Nice and the Tour of Catalonia.
Chavanel signed for Quick Step in 2009 and had a strong spring campaign, finishing third in Paris-Nice, fifth in E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, eighth at the Paris–Roubaix and ninth at February's Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne.
The Frenchman won two Tour de France stages in 2010, and wore the maillot jaune for two days.
In 2014, Chavanel signed for the Swiss IAM Cycling team.
Sylvain Chavanel results
2014
Four Days of Dunkirk; stage three
Tour du Poitou Charentes; stage four (ITT)
Tour du Poitou Charentes overall
National road race champion
GP Plouay
2013
Paris-Nice; stage six
Paris-Nice; points classification
Three Days of De Panne; stage 3b ITT
Three Days of De Panne; overall
French national time trial champion
Eneco Tour; stage five ITT
2012
Three Days of De Panne; stage 3b ITT
Three Days of De Panne; overall
French national time trial champion
2011
French national road race champion
2010
Tour de France; stage two
Tour de France; stage seven
2009
Paris-Nice; stage three
Paris-Nice; points classification
ENECO Tour; prologue
Ronde d'Aix
2008
Tour de France; stage 19
Tour de France; super combativity award
Paris-Nice; stage seven
Tour of Catalonia; stage four
Tour of the Mediterranean; stage five
Dwars door Vlaanderen
Brabantse Pijl
French national time trial champion
2006
Tour du Poitou-Charentes et de la Vienne; overall
French national time trial champion
2005
Circuit de la Sarthe; overall
Circuit de la Sarthe; stage five
Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne; overall
Duo Normand (with Thierry Marichal)
French national time trial champion
2004
Tour of Belgium; overall
Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne; overall
Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne; stage three
Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne; stage four
Polynormande
2003
Circuit de la Sarthe; stage four
Tour du Haut Var
2002
Four Days of Dunkirk; overall
Trophée des Grimpeurs
Sylvain Chavanel photos
Click on the thumbnails of Sylvain Chavanel below to open a larger image in a new window.
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