Julien Absalon

Julien Arnaud Absalon (born 16 August 1980) is a French former cross-country mountain biker, who competed as a professional from 2001 to 2018. He is considered to be one of the most successful cross-country cyclists of all time. Throughout his career, Absalon won gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, five World Championships, seven UCI World Cup overall titles and 33 World Cup rounds, which was an all-time record before being broken by Nino Schurter in 2023. He also won all fourteen French cross-country championships between 2003 and 2016, and five European Championships.