Sven-Åke Nilsson

Swedish cyclist Sven-Åke Nilsson had an impressive set of results both as an amateur and as a professional. In 1972 Nilsson won the national road race title to earn himself a place on the Olympic team. At the München Games he placed sixth in the team time trial, in addition to finishing 44th in the road race. Two years later the quartet of Nilsson, Lennart Fagerlund, Bernt Johansson, and Tord Filipsson won gold in the team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal. In 1975 Nilsson won silver in the amateur road race at the World Championships in Belgium, before winning the overall classification at the Tour de l’Avenir in France one year later. That same year he returned to the Olympics, again riding in the road race and the team time trial at the Montréal Games.

In 1977 Nilsson turned professional and soon set his sights on the Grand Tours. He made his début at the Tour de France in 1978, finishing 11th overall, before placing 12th a year later. Nilsson had his best results in the early 1980s, finishing seventh and eighth at the Tours in 1980 and 1981, respectively. In 1982 he rode at the Vuelta a España for the first time in his career. After winning the 10th stage of the race he went on to finish third overall, just over a minute behind the race winner. Nilsson also rode in the Giro d’Italia in 1983 and 1984 before retiring from cycling shortly afterwards.