Fifty-four-year-old veteran cyclist Jeannie Longo in a bid to win her 60th title this week. In 2012, Longo finished 5th in the time trial and 12th in the road race, eliminating her chances of competing at the Olympic Games. While her performance sparked talk of retirement, she chose to continue racing.
“I think that [retirement] would be wrong, that is why I relaunched myself this spring. As long as there is life, there is hope,” she told last June.
Longo and her husband, Patrice Ciprelli, have a checkered history with performance enhancing drugs. Ciprelli was investigated for buying EPO in 2007 from disgraced American cyclist Joe Papp. In a reasoned decision issued in 2011, Longo was cleared for missing three out-of-competition drug tests, which would normally lead to a two-year ban.