Paul Jesson

Paul Jesson (born 14 January 1955) is a retired New Zealand professional racing cyclist. Jesson became the first New Zealander to win a stage at a grand tour when he won Stage 10 of the 1980 Vuelta a España. Jesson's first professional race for Splendor was the 1979 Tour de France. This occurred because his team did not have enough riders to start. In the prologue of the 1980 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré Jesson hit a parked car resulting in a serious crash. He was admitted to hospital where he was unconscious for a week and had his leg amputated below the knee. Although the injury ended his professional racing career he did go on to win medals at the Paralympics Major results Sources: 1976 1st Overall Tour of Southland 1st Overall Ster Van Henegouwen 1st Stage 7 1977 2nd Overall Tour of Southland 1978 1st Overall Tour of Southland 2nd Overall Tour de Wallonie 2nd Overall Tour de Liège 1979 4th Omloop van de Vlaamse Scheldeboorden 1980 1st Stage 10 Vuelta a España 2nd 3rd Nokere Koerse 1998 1st 4000m Paralympic Pursuit World Championship 1st 18km Time trial Paralympic World Championship 2004 3rd Summer Paralympics Road race/Time trial