Kim Kirchen

Date of Birth	July 3, 1978
Hometown	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Residence	Gonderange, Luxembourg
Height	178 centimeters
Weight	67 kilograms
Pro Since	2000
With High Road/Team Columbia since	2006
Specialty	All around (classics, stage races, time trials)
Web site	KimKirchen.com

If success begets success, then Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen was certainly on the right path during the weeks leading up to the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. One month before the August 9 men’s Olympic Road Race, Kirchen was donning cycling’s most honored garment, the yellow leader’s jersey of the Tour de France.

Kirchen came out of the gates strong at the Tour, narrowly missing a stage win on the opening day and securing the green jersey of the points leader. He spent the next few days defending the green jersey and then, in the Stage 4 time trial, he rode a brand new prototype Giant time trial machine to a second place finish. That put Kirchen within striking distance of the GC lead, and two days later he realized every cyclist’s dream when he took over the yellow jersey after a dramatic Stage 6 finish in Super-Besse. Team Columbia defended the lead for three more stages before eventually relinquishing the yellow jersey.

Kirchen’s Tour de France breakthrough was just the latest accomplishment in what, so far, has been a dream season. In April, he scored a gritty win in the rain at Flèche Wallonne. He is the first Luxembourger to win that revered Belgian classic. In June Kirchen won a stage at the Tour of Switzerland and rode a wave of momentum into the Tour de France. Nothing would make Kirchen’s 2008 season more magical than an Olympic medal.

The 30-year-old knows what it’s going to take to reach the podium—he finished sixth at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and is considered a favorite to medal in Beijing. The Beijing course—a hilly 24-kilometer circuit race that passes by landmarks including the Temple of Heaven and Tiananmen Square, should suit him well. And Kirchen knows he’ll be carrying the hopes of Luxembourg, where he has been named Sportsman of the Year five times.