Jean-Christophe Péraud is a retired French cyclist who rode for and during his professional career. He was a member of the French team at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
Career
Competing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he won the silver medal in the cross-country race. In June 2009 he became the surprise winner of the French National Time Trial Championship. This led to him being signed by UCI ProTour team for the 2010 season, to increase its time-trialing presence in stage races. In 2011, Péraud achieved 6th place overall at the Critérium International and ninth place overall in the Tour de France. He crashed out in the final week of the 2013 Tour de France during the time trial, falling in a slippery late-apex corner, in the same spot his family had gathered to cheer him on, with less than two kilometers to go, riding with a non-displaced fractured collarbone sustained in a prior crash the very same morning. Péraud had again been placed ninth on the general classification before the incident. According to cyclingnews.com, Péraud responded in a composed manner concerning the incident: "I didn't feel that I was taking too many risks, I was descending as I know how but I was surprised by the corner. It's part of sport. I'm okay and it's only a broken collarbone. It will be a relief to get home, and we'll think about my next objective when my body recovers.” In 2014, Péraud won the Critérium International in March. He also recorded top-five finishes in the Tirreno–Adriatico, Volta ao Algarve, and Tour of the Basque Country. Péraud followed this up with a strong performance in the 2014 Tour de France, where he finished in second place in the final general classification, behind Vincenzo Nibali and ahead of Thibaut Pinot. He and Pinot became the first Frenchmen to finish in the top three overall in the Tour de France since Richard Virenque finished as runner-up overall in 1997. It was the first time in 30 years that two Frenchmen finished in the top three overall in the Tour de France - Laurent Fignon and Bernard Hinault finished in the top two overall in 1984. In 2015, Péraud repeated his victory on the 2.HC Critérium International by winning the last stage finishing atop the Col de l'Ospedale. He won the general classification with a gap of ten seconds to fellow Frenchman Thibaut Pinot. “At the start, I thought that I would help Alexis Vuillermoz. But I attacked and I found myself alone,” said Péraud. “This victory is important after hard times and two surgeries this winter.”
