Urs Freuler

Who is Urs Freuler?

Urs Freuler is a Swiss cyclist, who raced professionally between 1980 and 1997, during which he won 124 victories. He was named Swiss Sports Personality of the Year in 1982 and 1983.

He was born in Bilten. As an amateur, he was the champion of his country in several categories and also achieved fame in international competitions.

He was a racer of great speed, who participated both in road races as well as track cycling. In the latter, he was the world champion in the keirin twice and the points race eight times and victor in 21 six-day races. On the road, he was victorious in numerous stages and criteriums.

In 1981, Freuler was riding for a personal sponsor, when the TI-Raleigh cycling team had problems to form a team for the 1981 Tour de France. The rules allowed for the Raleigh team to hire cyclists who were not riding for a cycling team, and Freuler was added to the Tour squad. Because Freuler, as a still young professional and with contracts for a full winter season of Six Days coming up, his team leader Peter Post and Freuler agreed that Freuler, although capable of taking on mountain stages, had to leave the race before the Alps would be visited. Freuler, who acted as a replacement for sprinter Jan Raas, was able to win with TI-Raleigh the two team time trials and stage 7, and left the race in stage 15. After that he never started in the Tour again,. Freuler, for the chief part of his career riding for Italian teams, did win in another of the three Grand Tours, the Giro d'Italia, from 1982 to 1989 in total 15 stages and the points classification in 1984.