Wikipedia:WikiProject Cycling/Standard cyclist biography

WP:CYCLING/BIO

Wikipedia has a lot of cyclist biographies. Some are well-written with a good lay-out, others not. There is no standard for cyclist biographies so far, although a lot of them share several aspects. Below is a first effort to generate a standard for a cyclist biography. It is not (primarily) intended to change old biographies, but more to use when a new biography is generated.

Infobox

{{Infobox Cyclist}} is designed to be used in any cycling biography. See Template:Infobox Cyclist for usage instructions.

Medal table

The medal table is designed to list the medals a cyclist has achieved in major competitions, including the Olympic Games, World Championships (including Junior World Championships) and major multisport events, such as the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Pan American Games. The extent to what games and what level of competition is still under debate. See the medal templates documentation for further instructions, although note that there is not yet clear consensus on usage. A medal table can be placed either directly under the infobox or in the palmares section.

Example usage

{{MedalTableTop}}
{{MedalCountry | {{flagcountry| countryname | flagvariant (if applicable) }} }}
{{MedalSport | [[Sport name as Wikipedia article]] }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Competition name]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[Event page|Year City]] | [[Specific page|Event]] }}
{{MedalSilver | [[Event page|Year City]] | [[Specific page|Event]] }}
{{MedalBronze | [[Event page|Year City]] |  [[Specific page|Event]] }}
{{MedalBottom}}

Sometimes the order should be rearranged, in cases where multiple countries have been represented or multiples sports undertaken. In these cases, discretion should be used.

Abstract

The article should of course discuss the cyclist's career. Sometimes, when the article is still a stub, the career only is a few lines. For other cyclists, see for example Lance Armstrong or Eddy Merckx, it is rather long. In these cases, it is useful to put an abstract first. In a few lines, tell something short about the cyclist; why it is noteworthy for an encyclopedia, assert the notability of a subject. For example:

Laurent Jalabert (born 30 November 1968) is a French former professional racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Affectionately known as "Jaja" (the word is slang for a glass of wine; when he continued drinking wine as a professional, the nickname stuck because of the similarity to his name), he rode to victory in many one-day and stage races and was ranked number 1 in the 1990s. Although he never won the Tour de France, where he said he suffered too much from altitude sickness, he won the Vuelta a España in 1995; as well as the leader's jersey, he also won the sprinter's jersey and climber's jersey all in the same race - only the second rider to have done this in a Grand Tour. Moreover, along with Eddy Merckx and Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, he is one of only three riders to win the points classification in all three grand tours.

Biography

After the infobox (and the abstract), the main biography comes. If the cyclist's career is not large enough for an abstract, it is now time to introduce the cyclist. Don't put lists of victories here, but tell the story of the cyclist. Youth years, first years as professional, first major breakthrough, major victories, end of career, life after cycling, years as manager, death, races named after the cyclist, et cetera.

Major results

After the text describing the cycling career of the cyclist, it is time for some bare facts. For this you can use the {{div col}}-format, see {{div col}}. The major results of cyclists are usually put in a list. Sometimes the list is sorted by race, sometimes by year, chronologically as per WP:LOW. Most often this list is sorted in order of years then within each year by best to worst result.

Don't put every result in the list. It is not interesting to read that someone finished 67th place in the Midi Libre. A victory in a minor race can be important for a cyclist, but if the cyclists has won more than 300 races, not every race should be included. Types to include are;

Stage wins

Top 10 in one-day races

Top 10 in Stage races

Classification wins e.g. Mountains classification

Top 5 in National Championships

Top 10 in World & Continental championships i.e African champs

Anything not on this list such as top three in a stage would need to be added to the career section as prose not in the major results section.

If a cyclist has won more things in one race (stages, overall competition, group them together. Example:

2007

1st Overall Tour de Internet

1st King of Mountain competition

1st Stages 3, 14 & 17

1st Wikipedia race

In some races, the winners can wear a cycling jersey. For example, the yellow jersey for the winner of the general classification in the Tour de France. For important races, the jerseys can be included in the Major results list, for clarification. For this you can use the {{cjersey}}-format, see {{cjersey}} to insert a mini jersey into the results.

Using {{div col}} and {{div col end}}, you can specify how wide the columns should be used. Normally, 30em columns is advised. For cyclists with less than 10 lines in their results, 1 column should be used. (for example Dalmacio Langarica). For cyclists with a long list of victories, 22em should be used. (for example Alberto Contador). For cyclists with more results a separate page should be created such as List of career achievements by Peter Sagan where 25em is used for the page.

Links/references/external links

First put See also, with internal links, see WP:ALSO.
Then References, using {{reflist}}, WP:FOOTNOTES.
Then External links, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Cycling/Templates#External links and WP:EXT.

Succession boxes

Use succession boxes. More information on Template:S-start. Be sure to use {{s-sports}} or {{s-ach | aw}} when applicable. Succession boxes to be used:

Tour de France winner
Winner of the green jersey in the Tour de France
Tour de France maillot blanc winner
UCI Road World Cup Champion
etc.

Navigational boxes

After the succession boxes, put navigational boxes, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Cycling/Templates.

Team navigation box

If a cyclist is still active, they probably will be in a team. For most teams, a team navigation footer has been prepared, see Category:Cycling team templates. Put them in the article, for example for an Argos-Shimano-cyclist, use {{Argos-Shimano riders}}, which gives

Stub?

If an article is still a Wikipedia:stub, put the stub-tag in it. This is {{Belgium-cycling-bio-stub}} for Belgian cyclists, {{Italy-cycling-bio-stub}}for Italian cyclists, {{Spain-cycling-bio-stub}} for Spanish cyclists, {{US-cycling-bio-stub}} for US cyclists, {{France-cycling-bio-stub}} for French cyclists and {{cycling-bio-stub}} for other cyclists.

Other languages

Finally, link to the Wikipedia pages in other languages. An easy way to search for these is to simply type "Rider Name" wiki into Google.

Talk page

On the talk page, add, for living cyclists

{{WPBiography|living=yes|class=|importance=|sports-work-group=yes|listas=Last name, First name}}

or for dead cyclists,

{{WPBiography|living=no|class=|importance=|sports-work-group=yes|listas=Last name, First name}}

There are also project banners for various nationalities which may be applicable. These include {{WikiProject Spain}}, {{WikiProject France}} and {{WikiProject Belgium}}. For a full list, see WikiProject Council/Directory/Geographical

Of course you may want to consider the templates more and give more information.

A fictional example can be seen on Wikipedia:WikiProject Cycling/Standard cyclist biography example.