Christophe Agnolutto

Christophe Agnolutto (born 6 December 1969, Soisy-sous-Montmorency, Val-d'Oise) is a professional road bicycle racer from France.

Agnolutto was a commercial artist when, as an amateur in 1995, he won Bordeaux-Saintes and the GP Nord-Pas de Calais and came third in the national championship. He rode successively for the CSM Puteaux, the US Créteil and the ASPPT Paris. He dedicated himself to cycling when he met his wife, Mélanie, when he was 23. He turned professional the following year for Petit Casino, sponsored by a supermarket chain. He stayed with the team and its directeur sportif, Vincent Lavenu, through changes of sponsors. He said: "I didn't exactly have a lot of other offers."

Then he left for Agritubel. He said:

Agnolutto won the 1997 Tour de Suisse after breaking clear on the second stage. The favourites didn't take up the chase and couldn't make up Agnolutto's lead afterwards. He said in 2001:

That win was stage seven of the 2000 Tour de France, taken in an early breakaway. It was France's first win in the Tour for two years, since Jacky Durand in 1998. He told his team-mates that morning what he planned to do and attacked three times at the start of the stage. On the third attempt he cleared the front of the race alone. He rode alone in the rain for 80 km of the 127 km from Tours to Limoges, getting up to 8m 20s lead.

Agnolutto rode the Tour five times and won nine races as a professional before retiring at the end of 2006.

Retirement

Tour de France

Major results