Bob Roll

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Image:Bob Roll DC 2003.jpg

Bob Roll was born July 7 1960, in Oakland, California. He is a longtime resident of Durango, Colorado. He is a former American professional cyclist. He was a member of the original 7-Eleven Cycling Team until 1990, and competed for the Motorola Cycling Team in 1991. In 1992 Roll moved to Greg LeMond’s Z team and added mountain biking to his resume. He continued racing mountain bikes through 1998. He has written four books: Bobke: A Ride on the Wild Side of Cycling, Bobke II, and two Tour de France Companions. His nickname is "Bobke," which is actually Flemish for "Bobby" (pronounced BOOB-ka in Flemish, or BAHB-kee by Al Trautwig, or BOOB-kee by Lance Armstrong in a 2005 interview).

As a professional cyclist, his achievements included:

3-time Tour de France racer - 63rd (1986)[1], DNF due to a crash (1987)[2], 132nd (1990)[3]. In addition, Bob was supposed to start the 1988 Tour de France but dropped out the day before the race began due to illness.
3-time Giro d'Italia racer, including 1988 when he was a domestique for race winner Andrew Hampsten. During the famous stage through the snow covered Gavia Pass, Hampsten took 2nd place and the overall leader's Maglia rosa, and Roll was the one who had to ride up the hill to deliver Hampsten's warm clothes to him from the team car. He finished 61st overall that year [4]. He finished 78th in 1985 [5] and 114th in 1989 [6].
7-time Paris-Roubaix racer - 55th (1986) [7], 48th (1987) [8], 25th (1988) [9], 37th (1989) [10], 61st (1990) [11], and two DNFs
2-time Liège-Bastogne-Liège racer - 17th (1987) [12], and 54th (1990) [13]
3-time Tour de Suisse racer - 56th (1987) - as a domestique for overall winner Andrew Hampsten [14], 48th (1990) [15]
2-time Dauphiné Libéré racer - 1990 [16], 97th (1991) - where in an odd twist he wore the number ending in 1 signifying he was Motorola's "team leader" for the event [17]
2-time Amstel Gold Race participant - 64th (1988) [18], 120th (1991) [19]
Tour of Luxembourg racer - 40th (1987) [20]
Won stage 3 of the 1988 Tour de Romandie [21]
Won stage 11 of the 1985 Coors Classic
Won the 1997 & 1998 San Francisco Hill Climb
Raced in eight World Championships (in both road racing and mountain biking)

Bob's best known ride on a bike didn't take place at an event, as part of a team, or individually, nor were there any fans lining the streets to watch. In 1998, Lance Armstrong was recovering from cancer and had just dropped out of the Paris-Nice race. Bob got a call from Armstrong's coach, Chris Carmichael, and was asked to go to Boone, North Carolina to ride with Lance for a few days.<ref>"Coach Remembers When Armstrong Almost Quit", Associated Press, 2005-07-25.</ref> Lance's career was at a crossroads, as he was discouraged from what had happened in Europe, and was on the verge of retiring. Carmichael wanted him to do one more training session, with Roll. According to Roll, "Lance had probably never met a bike racer like me...a person who could still find some happiness in such misery. We had eight hours a day for eight days of riding in the pouring rain - rain in Biblical proportions! I think Lance would’ve turned things around even without that time in the Appalachia’s, but it was a pivotal time." Lance was invigorated by the training ride. He went on to place fourth in the Vuelta a España, and within a year and a half of his ride with Bob, he had won his first Tour de France. Bob's tale of the ride can be found in his book, "Bobke II" [22], while Lance's version of events can be found in his book, "It's Not About the Bike." [23]

Roll is currently a cycling commentator for the Outdoor Life Network, where he is famous for his exaggerated hand movements and general comic relief. He intentionally mis-pronounces the phrase "Tour de France" as "Tour Day Frants" as retaliation for criticism by French wait staff of his (and his 7-Eleven teammates') ability to speak the French language and has been criticized for his xenophobia, for example in his defense of Floyd Landis.[24]

Roll has starred in several Trek bicycle commercials as himself with "Tour Mania".