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Michael Barry (cyclist)

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Michael Barry
Barry at the 2011 Tour de Romandie.
Personal information
Full nameMichael Barry
Born (1975-12-18) 18 December 1975 (age 49)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeAll-Rounder/Domestique
Professional teams
1999–2001Saturn
2002–2006U.S. Postal Service
2007–2009T-Mobile Team
2010–2012Team Sky
Major wins
Giro d'Italia, 1 Stage TTT

Michael Barry (born 18 December 1975) is a Canadian author and former professional road racing cyclist. Barry raced for numerous world-class teams with the role of 'domestique'. His greatest personal successes were placing eighth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics' road race, finishing second in the Canadian National Road Race Championships in 2001 and 2012, and winning a stage of the Tour of Missouri in 2008. He announced his retirement in September 2012, stating that the 2012 Tour of Beijing would be his last race.[1] He is also an author who has written three books.

Career

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He was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Michael (Mike) Barry Sr., was a racer himself in England in the 1950s, who until 2006 ran a specialty bike store and manufactured a line of hand-made bicycle frames under his own Mariposa[2] brand. As a result, the younger Barry grew up in a cycling-intense environment, and started racing at a very young age. He has been a professional since 1998. He has spent many years on the Canadian National Team during the early years of his career. His wife is 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Dede Demet Barry. They have 2 children.

Previous to riding for UCI ProTour team Team Sky Barry spent several years with the Discovery Channel team. He also raced with the Saturn Cycling Team for a number of years before going to US Postal Service/Discovery.

Barry has raced in 5 Vuelta a Españas and 5 Giro d'Italias but in 2007 had to abandon the Giro due to health issues, which put him out most of the season. He also had to pull out of the 2002 Vuelta a España after colliding with a motorcycle on the eight stage.[3]

In 2005 he wrote the book: Inside the Postal Bus, about his experiences at U.S. Postal Service and the 2004 season whilst riding in support of Lance Armstrong.[3] The work contains texts authored by some of his team mates, including George Hincapie. When the doping topic arises in the book, Barry vehemently denies having ever witnessed any drug intake in the team. He and his wife also wrote a training book. He also writes diary entries during his cycling season. His third book, Le Metier, detailing the life of a cycling domestique, was published in 2010 by Rouleur.

He is generally considered a support rider, or domestique, helping the team leaders win races, but he will often get the opportunity to go for personal results. He is usually the team leader for Canada for the World Championships. His strengths lie in the time-trial, and hilly road races. He can be counted on for grand tours, and other stage races as well.

For 2010, he left HTC–Highroad, and signed with Team Sky for 2 years. On 24 June 2010, Team Sky announced that Barry would be part of its 2010 Tour de France team. This would be Barry's first Tour de France appearance after thirteen seasons as a professional.

On 5 September 2012, Barry announced he would retire at the end of the season, after his last race, October's Tour of Beijing.[1]

Doping

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On 10 October 2012 it was announced by USADA that he would be suspended for six months for admissions of doping during his time with the US Postal Cycling Team.[4] Later that day a statement was released confirming his acceptance of a six-month ban from 1 September 2012 ending on 1 March 2013 along with a stripping of all race results between 13 May 2003 and 31 July 2006.[5] He confessed that the US Postal team and he were using an extensive amount of performance-enhancing drugs.[3]

Highlights

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Highlights include:

Major results

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1997
1st National Under-23 Road Race Championships
1999
2nd First Union Invitational
4th Overall Ringerike GP
8th Overall GP de Beauce
10th Overall Tour Trans-Canada
2000
5th Overall Ringerike GP
6th Overall Redlands Classic
2001
2nd National Road Race Championships
2nd BMC San Francisco GP
4th Overall Peace Race
4th Overall GP de Beauce
7th Samsung Classic
7th First Union Invitational
2002
1st Stage 1 TTT Volta a Catalunya
6th First Union Invitational
9th Road Race Commonwealth Games
2003
4th Overall Tour de Georgia
Voided results from 13 May 2003 to 31 July 2006.[5]
2003
7th World Championships Road Race
2004
1st Stage 1 TTT Vuelta a España
2005
6th Overall Tour of Austria
1st Stage 1
1st Points Classification
2006
2nd Eindhoven Team Time Trial
2007
3rd Overall Sachsen Tour
2008
5th Overall Tour of Ireland
8th Olympic Road Race
10th Overall Tour of Missouri
1st Stage 4
Most Aggressive Rider Award for Stage 4
2009
1st Stage 1 TTT Giro d'Italia
Most Aggressive Rider Award Tour of Missouri
2012
2nd National Road Race Championships

References

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  1. ^ a b "Barry retires". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  2. ^ Mariposa
  3. ^ a b c Neil Davidson (10 October 2010). "Canadian cyclist Barry admits to doping, says he gave in to pressure to succeed". Canadian Press. 2010–2012 Postmedia Network Inc. Retrieved 22 October 2012..
  4. ^ "Michael Barry Suspension". USADA. 10 October 2012.
  5. ^ a b http://d3epuodzu3wuis.cloudfront.net/2012-10-09+WB+to+Berke+re++Barry+Sanction.pdf%7CMichael Barry acceptance of Sanction

Further reading

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