Lauri Aus

Lauri Aus

Aus' gravestone at Raadi cemetery in Tartu
Personal information
Full name	Lauri Aus
Born	(1970-11-04)4 November 1970 Tartu, Estonia
Died	20 July 2003(2003-07-20) (aged 32) Tartu County, Estonia
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Amateur teams
1992–1993	AC Boulogne-Billancourt
1994	US Créteil
Professional teams
1995–1996	Mutuelle de Seine-et-Marne
1997–2003	Casino
Major wins
Single-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (1992, 2000) National Time Trial Championships (1993, 1994, 1996, 2000)

Lauri Aus (4 November 1970 – 20 July 2003) was an Estonian professional cyclist who represented his native country at three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992.

Early life and career

Aus was born in Tartu and grew up in the village of Luua in Jõgeva County. His professional cycling career began in 1995 with the French cycling team Mutuelle de Seine-et-Marne. After four wins in 1996, he was signed to Casino the following year alongside countryman Jaan Kirsipuu. He remained with this team until his death, which was renamed the AG2R Citroën Team in 2000. Aus won a Tour du Limousin (1997), a Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine (1998), Classic Haribo (1998) and a Grand Prix d'Isbergues (1999). In 1999, he was fifth at Milan–San Remo. In 2000, he became Estonian road champion.

In 1992, 1996 and 2000, Aus represented his home country at the Summer Olympic Games. At the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, he finished fifth in the road race.

Death and legacy

On 20 July 2003, while cycling on the Aovere-Kallaste-Omedu road in Tartu County in preparation for a later race in Karksi-Nuia, he was struck from behind by an Opel Ascona. He died of his injuries en route to a hospital, aged thirty-two. He was buried at Raadi cemetery in Tartu. The driver of the vehicle was determined to have been drunk and later sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment.

Since 2004, the Lauri Aus GP memorial cycling race is held annually at the Pirita-Kloostrimetsa race circuit, next to the Pirita Velodrome, in Tallinn in honour of Aus.

In July 2019, a memorial bench commemorating Aus was opened to the public in Aus' hometown of Luua, by Aus' parents, children, widow, first coach Kalev Raudsepp, and politician Aivar Kokk.

Major results

1989

3rd Road race, National Road Championships

1990

3rd Road race, National Road Championships

1992

1st Road race, National Road Championships

5th Road Race, Summer Olympics

8th Overall Tour of Sweden

1993

1st Time trial, National Road Championships

1994

1st Time trial, National Road Championships

1995

9th Grand Prix de Denain

1996

1st Time trial, National Road Championships

1st Stages 3 & 6 Ruban Granitier Breton

1st Stages 2 & 6 Tour du Poitou-Charentes

1997

1st Overall Tour de Limousin

1st Stage 3

1st Stage 1 Tour de Pologne

2nd Cholet-Pays de Loire

3rd Grand Prix d'Isbergues

7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships

8th Overall Tour de Luxembourg

1998

1st Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes

1st Stage 1

1st Classic Haribo

National Road Championships

2nd Time trial

3rd Road race

2nd Overall Tour de l'Oise

1st Stage 1

3rd Boucles de Seine Saint-Denis

8th Brabantse Pijl

1999

1st Grand Prix d'Isbergues

3rd Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes

1st Points classification

3rd Overall Tour de Limousin

5th Milan–San Remo

7th Overall Tour de Wallonie

2000

National Road Championships

1st Road race

1st Time trial

2nd Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise

2001

3rd Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes

1st Stage 4

8th Overall Paris–Corrèze

2003

National Road Championships

2nd Road race

2nd Time trial

3rd Overall Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen

3rd E.O.S. Tallinn GP

External links

• Lauri Aus at Cycling Archives
• Lauri Aus at ProCyclingStats
• Lauri Aus at Olympedia
• (in Estonian) http://www.cfc.ee/lauri-ausi-fond/lauri-aus
• (in French) https://web.archive.org/web/20100612000928/http://memoire-du-cyclisme.net/palmares/aus_lauri.php