Shawanel, Sylvain

Sylvain Chavanel was born in France, but his ancestors are Spaniards . They lived in Aragon , and fled to France during the Civil War . Sylvain, however, does not speak censored Spanish . As a Spaniard, he has a double surname, but uses it only in official documents ^[2] . His younger brother, Sebastien , also became a professional cyclist. Sylvain lived in cycling since childhood; his idols were Greg Lemond , Miguel Induraine and Laurent Jalaber . He started cycling at age 8, then went to the football section, but returned at age 12. Initially, Sylvain could not boast of successes, but they came after he once went around in his cadet race his older brother Frederick, who was more talented in his childhood ^[1] . From the age of 13, Sylvain won 29 races in the school and junior categories.

In 1997, he won the pursuit race in the junior championship of France. Chavanel’s uncle, a former cyclist, recommended his nephew, Jean-René Bernado , the head of the Vendée U youth team. Until 2000, Chavanel continued to drive for AC Châtellerault, and then signed a contract with the Bernado team, by then already a professional Bonjour . In the same year, he won the 1st stage of the Franco-Belgian ring , and until the last day he kept the leader's jersey. The Chavanel also won the Tour de l'Avenir mountain range and traveled solitary in isolation to Paris-Tour for more than 200 kilometers. Subsequently, a strong individual move brought Shavanel numerous rewards. He is the three-time champion of France in the race with a separate start .

Like most powerful French cyclists, Chavanel regularly participates in the Tour de France . In 2008, he first celebrated success at a French super-day race , winning the stage and Prize for the most aggressive rider . The following season, Chavanel left Cofidis , and, despite invitations from other French teams, moved to the Belgian Quick Step with Jerome Pinault ^[3] . The 2010 Tour de France turned out to be even more successful for Chavanel than two years ago: in addition to the prize for the most aggressive driver, he twice received a yellow jersey after his stage victories. The Frenchman himself considers the best season for himself for 2009, when he won the stages and got to the podiums of the overall standings of the Tour Benelux , Volta Algarve and Paris - Nice ^[4] . At the 2011 Flanders Tour, Shavanel lost only Nick Nuyens in the group sprint . After a couple of months, he won the group race for the first time in the national championship, but on the Tour in the champion's shirt he did not manage to compete for victories, including due to the consequences of the fall in the first stages. Shawanel rode in Vuelta for 4 days in a leader’s shirt, after he left on a break in stage 3, and at the next he managed to rest in the mountains.

• Shawanel, Sylvain at FirstCycling
• Shawanel, Sylvain at CQ ranking
• Shawanel, Sylvain at ProCyclingStats
• Shawanel, Sylvain on Cycling Archives
• Shawanel, Sylvain on Twitter