Evgeni Valentinovich Berzin (; born 3 June 1970 in Vyborg, Russia) is a Russian former road cyclist. Coming from track cycling, where he successfully represented the Soviet Union at World Championships, he moved to Italy in 1992 and turned professional with in 1993. His second season in 1994 was to be his best, with victories at the Giro d'Italia and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He finished second at the 1995 Giro d'Italia, but failed to live up to high expectations in the years after. A brief spell in the race leader's yellow jersey and a stage win at the 1996 Tour de France were his last big results. In 1997, he unsuccessfully attempted to break Chris Boardman's hour record. He retired from the sport in 2001. Career Early years Berzin began his career as a track rider in the youth system of the Soviet team, under Alexandre Kuznetsov, joining when he was 14 years old. He won the Men's Amateur Individual Pursuit and the Team Amateur Pursuit at the 1990 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and gained silver in the Team Amateur Pursuit a year later. In 1992, Berzin wanted to switch to road racing in order to compete in the road race at the 1992 Olympics, but Kuznetsov refused, instead aiming to focus on the track events. Berzin subsequently left Russia and went to Italy with his girlfriend, Stella. There, he teamed up with Emanuele Bombini, a recently retired rider in the process of building a cycling team around former world champion Moreno Argentin with Mecair, an engineering company, as the main sponsor. The team, , was formed for 1993 and Berzin became part of it, alongside his friend Vladislav Bobrik. Professional career 1993: The first season In his first season as a professional, Berzin rode as a domestique for team captain Piotr Ugrumov, who would finish second overall, at the Giro d'Italia. Berzin himself finished the Giro in 90th place. He also rode the 1993 Tour of Britain, where he finished second on stage 4. The end of the stage was notable for the on-road arguments between Berzin and the stage winner, Peter de Clercq, as Berzin had refused to assist with pace-making over the final of the stage. The same year, he was the runner-up in the Settimana Ciclistica, in Lombarda, Italy. He finished the season ranked 379th in the UCI Road World Rankings. 1994: Rise to stardom Electronics company