László Bodrogi (born 11 December 1976 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian and French former professional road bicycle racer, specializing in the individual time trial.
Biography
László was born in 1976 in Budapest, Hungary. His father, László Bodrogi, managed his career from his childhood.
Early success in Hungary
In the nineties, Hungarian bicycle manufacturer Schwinn-Csepel (successor of Csepel) was his main sponsor. In turn, he was the main athlete of the company. Among other products, he tested and raced the Schwinn-Csepel magnesium alloy road frame. He competed in various Hungarian teams, including FTC (1991), BVSC-Intertraverz (1992), KSI (1993) and Stollwerck-FTC (1994).
Moving to France
In 1995, after his father got a job as a doctor in France, László settled down in France and started training in the AC Bisontine team. He quit his university studies to devote his life to his sports career. After a fruitful season in 1996, he was invited to VC Lyon (VC Vaux-en-Velin), the youth team of Festina. After Festina was shaken by the doping scandals of the Tour de France, Laszlo got little attention from the team. He moved on to CC Étupes in 1999.
Professional career
In 2000, he started his professional cycling career in and won the bronze in the world championship. In 2007, he scored the best result of the Hungarian cycling history by winning the silver medal in the same discipline after Fabian Cancellara.
He raced in the Tour de France in 2005 and finished in 119th place. At the time, he was the only Hungarian cyclist to have participated in the Tour.
After gaining French citizenship in 2008, he rides for France now. Consequently, he resigned from participating in the Hungarian championship. Between 1997 and 2008, he won the national road champion title three and the individual time trial champion title ten times.
He suffered a leg injury at the Tour of Germany in 2008, resulting in an 8-month recovery period. After Credit Agricole ceased sponsoring its cycling team, László joined the Katusha team. In 2010, he started preparing for the world championship, although the riders are not qualified yet.
He lives with his family in Ney. He is married to a French woman, Catherine, and has two children.
Career achievements Major results
1996 1st Road race, National Road Championships 1st Stage 4 Tour of Hungary 2nd Chrono des Nations Espoirs 1997 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 3rd Road race 2nd Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships 2nd Paris–Roubaix Espoirs 2nd Chrono des Nations Espoirs 4th Time trial, European Under-23 Road Championships 1998 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 2nd Road race 1st Chrono Champenois 3rd Time trial, European Under-23 Road Championships 5th Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships 1999 4th Chrono des Herbiers 2000 National Road Championships 1st Road race 1st Time trial 1st Duo Normand (with Daniele Nardello) 1st Prologue Tour de Slovénie 1st Stage 5 Tour de Normandie 1st Prologue Vuelta a Argentina 3rd Time trial, UCI Road World Championships 3rd Chrono des Herbiers 3rd Grand Prix des Nations 9th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge 2001 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 1st Overall Volta ao Alentejo 1st Stage 5 (ITT) 1st Overall Giro della Liguria 1st Stage 3 1st Stages 3 & 7 (ITT) Tour de l'Avenir 1st Stage 4 Tour of Sweden 2nd Chrono des Herbiers 2nd Grand Prix des Nations 5th Josef Voegeli Memorial 5th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships 2002 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 1st Eddy Merckx Grand Prix (with Fabian Cancellara) 1st Prologue Paris–Nice 2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen 2nd Grand Prix des Nations 2nd Memorial Fausto Coppi 3rd Overall Danmark Rundt 1st Stage 4b (ITT) 4th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships 4th Chrono des Herbiers 4th GP de Fourmies 6th Overall Driedaagse van De Panne 2003 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 2nd Paris–Brussels 2nd Eddy Merckx Grand Prix 4th Ronde van Midden-Zeeland 5th Grand Prix des Nations 6th Chrono des Herbiers 2004 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 1st Stage 3b Three Days of De Panne 9th Overall Ronde van Nederland 2005 1st Overall Tour de Luxembourg 2nd Tour de Vendée 2006 National Road Championships 1st Road race 1st Time trial 1st Stage 6 Tour of Austria 2007 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 2nd Road race 1st Chrono des Herbiers 2nd Time trial, UCI Road World Championships 7th Tour du Doubs 10th Polynormande 2008 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 2nd Overall Volta ao Distrito de Santarém 2010 3rd Time trial, French National Road Championships 2011 4th Duo Normand 5th Paris–Tours 5th Time trial, French National Road Championships 6th Chrono des Nations 8th Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe 2012 3rd Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes 4th Time trial, French National Road Championships 5th Chrono des Nations 7th Classic Loire Atlantique 10th Overall Paris–Corrèze
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Grand Tour 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Giro d'Italia—————84 Tour de France62108—119—— Vuelta a España——DNF—76DNF
+ LegendDSQ DisqualifiedDNF Did not finish
References
External links His former home page in archive.org Official profile – Katusha Team Profile – Katusha Team Blog Profile at Crédit Agricole official website Profile – Cyclingnews.com