Denis Menchov

Denis Menchov

Menchov at the 2011 Tour de Romandie
Personal information
Full name	Denis Nikolayevich Menchov
Nickname	The Silent Assassin The Pope Denny[1]
Born	(1978-01-25) 25 January 1978 (age 46) Oryol, Soviet Union
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	65 kg (143 lb; 10 st 3 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Professional teams
2000–2004	Banesto
2005–2010	Rabobank
2011	Geox–TMC
2012–2013	Team Katusha[2]
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France Young rider classification (2003) 1 individual stage Giro d'Italia General classification (2009) Points classification (2009) 3 individual stages Vuelta a España General classification (2007) Mountains classification (2007) Combination classification (2005, 2007) 5 individual stages Stage races Tour of the Basque Country (2004) One-day races and Classics National Time Trial Championships (2012)

Denis Nikolayevich Menshov (often mistakenly romanized as Menchov, Денис Николаевич Меньшов; born 25 January 1978) is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general classification rider, a climber and an accomplished time trialist. In 2005 he finished second in the Vuelta a España and in 2007 he finished as the champion. He also won the centenary Giro d'Italia in 2009 and finished second in the Tour de France in 2010 becoming the first Russian to do so. He was later disqualified from that Tour de France, as well as the 2009 and 2012 editions, owing to adverse biological passport findings.