[1] Abdoujaparov was born in Tashkent to a Crimean Tatar family which was forcibly deported to Uzbekistan during Soviet rule.

[4] Abdoujaparov had numerous tussles with Laurent Jalabert in the Tour de France's green sprinters jersey competition in the early 1990s.

In 1991 Abdoujaparov won the competition despite a spectacular crash during the final stage on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where he collided with the barriers 100 m before the finish and somersaulted into the air.

Members of his team picked him up, put him back on the bike, and he rode slowly over the last few meters, medical staff walking alongside him.

By this stage, though, results were not as good, and after failing seven separate anti-doping tests during the 1997 season, including twice at the 1997 Tour de France, he retired from cycling.