Olivier Asmaker (born 13 March 1973) is a French former

racing cyclist Cycle sport is Competition, competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing ...

. He was born in

Savigny-sur-Orge Savigny-sur-Orge (, literally ''Savigny on Orge'') is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 19.1 km (11.9 mi) from the center of Paris in the département of Essonne. During the 2005 civil unrest in France ...

near Paris, but spent his childhood in

Rodez Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the ...

Career

A brilliant amateur rider who won the 1997 Coupe de France Amateurs with his team of

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, an ...

, he began cycling as professional on 1 September 1997 in the Belgian team . Three seasons of training followed from there, during which he took part in many major races, such as the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

, Giro d'Italia and the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. His results during these years were rather modest: a fifth place in the

Grand Prix du Midi Libre The Grand Prix du Midi Libre (referred to as just Midi Libre) was a multiple-stage road cycling course in the south of France. The race, named after the newspaper that organized it, was first organized in 1949 and was an important preparation cou ...

's stage and a fourteenth place in the

Grand Prix de Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, ...

. At the end of his contract at the end of the 2000 season,

Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert (born 30 November 1968) is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Affectionately known as ''"Jaja"'' (slang for a glass of wine; when he continued drinking wine as a professional, the nickname stuck ...

held one hand to Olivier by helping him to join the new Danish team , which was his best season. He took part in a high number of races from the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (branded as the Santos Tour Down Under under a partnership arrangement) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and features all 19 UCI WorldTe ...

in Australia in January to

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m, ...

in October. On 18 May 2001, in the first stage of the

Tour de Picardie The Tour de Picardie was a professional multi-stage cycle road race that was held between 1936 and 2016 in Picardy, France. In its last twelve editions, it was organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a se ...

, Asmaker was in a breakaway with several other well known riders, such as

David Millar David Millar (born 4 January 1977) is a Scottish retired professional road racing cyclist. He rode for Cofidis from 1997 to 2004 and Garmin-Sharp from 2008 to 2014. He has won four stages of the Tour de France, five of the Vuelta a España an ...

Sylvain Chavanel Sylvain Chavanel''Procycling'', UK, November 2008 (born 30 June 1979) is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the , , and two spells with the / team. His brother Sébastien Chavanel ...

Robbie McEwen Robbie McEwen (born 24 June 1972) is an Australian former professional road cyclist. McEwen is a three-time winner of the Tour de France points classification and, at the peak of his career, was considered the world's fastest sprinter. He las ...

Baden Cooke Baden Cooke (born 12 October 1978) is an Australian retired professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2000 and 2013. Early life Born in Benalla, Victoria, Benalla, Victoria, Cooke began competitive cycling at 11. He comp ...

Iñigo Landaluze Iñigo Landaluze Intxaurraga (born May 9, 1977 in Getxo, Basque Country) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2009, entirely for the team. During the 2009 season, Landaluze tested posit ...

. Asmaker attacked in the last kilometre and won the stage. He took the leader's jersey and kept it until the end of the race, in spite of the unceasing attacks of

. CSC-Tiscali obtained an invitation for the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

thanks to his performance partly. But in a short descent of stage 1 of the

, he fell and broke his collarbone, so was unable to start the race. In 2002, he raced a lot with his friend

. On April, he finished third in the

. He was not selected to ride the

, after being replaced. He raced his last race as professional was in the

2002 Paris–Tours The 2002 Paris–Tours was the 96th edition of the Paris–Tours cycle race and was held on 6 October 2002. The race started in Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines and finished in Tours. The race was won by Jakob Piil of the CSC–Tiscali team. General cl ...

, where he was part of a 150 kilometer breakaway with his teammate

Jakob Piil Jakob Storm Piil (born 9 March 1973) is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer, where he later lived many years in Odense. He is an all-round rider, known for his aggressive style of riding, whose speciality is to pick the right breakaway ...

, who won the race ahead of

Jacky Durand Jacky Durand (born 10 February 1967 in Laval, Mayenne) is a French former professional road bicycle racer. Durand had an attacking style, winning the Tour of Flanders in 1992 after a breakaway, and three stages in the Tour de France. Durand tu ...

. At the end of the season, his contract wasn't renewed. He sought out another team, but was unable to find one. In 2003, he returned in the amateurs with the US Montauban team. On his first race, he won the GP de Montastruc ahead of the best riders of the Pyrenees region. The following year, he won the GP of Vougy solo and the first stage of the Tour des Deux-Sèvres. At the end of the 2005 season, he ended his career to devote himself to his future job as a policeman near

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Major results

;2001 : 1st Overall

::1st Stage 1 ;2002 : 2nd

Boucles de l'Aulne Boucles de l'Aulne is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in May or June around Châteaulin, in the region of Brittany, France. Since 2006, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It was previously known as Grand Pri ...

: 3rd Overall

Results on the Giro d'Italia

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

: DNF on stage 19

External links

Trap-Friis profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asmaker, Olivier 1973 births Living people French male cyclists People from Savigny-sur-Orge Sportspeople from Essonne Cyclists from Île-de-France People from Rodez Sportspeople from Aveyron Cyclists from Occitania (administrative region) 21st-century French people