Brian Bulgaç (born 7 April 1988) is a Dutch professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

, who rode most recently for .

Career

Duathlon

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, Bulgaç started his sports career as a duathlete. He took part in several Junior European and World Championships, finishing three times in the top 20. The highlight of his duathlon career came in 2008 when he became third of Europe at the Under-23

European Duathlon Championships European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

in Serres. He had a bright future ahead in the sport but due to an

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

injury he was told by his physio therapist to just train on a bicycle for a while. His interest in cycling grew and by the time he was allowed to walk again he decided to focus on cycling.

Rabobank Continental Team (2010)

With a second place in stage two and a third place overall of the

Tour de Liège The Tour de la province de Liège (English: Tour of the Province of Liège) is a cycling race held annually in the Liège province of Belgium. Although it isn't part of UCI Europe Tour, it has been won by many famous cyclists since its creation in ...

in 2009 Bulgaç earned a spot in the for the 2010 season. His performances for Rabobank were not convincing enough to keep him in the team for 2011 with a fifth place in the

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

of the

Jadranska Magistrala The Adriatic Highway ( hr, Jadranska magistrala) is a road that stretches along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is part of the European route E65. The road passes through Croatia, with smaller stretches through Bosnia and Herzegovin ...

and a ninth place in the

Ronde van Midden-Nederland The Ronde van Midden-Nederland is a road bicycle race held annually in Netherlands. It was organized as a 1.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 200 ...

as his best results.

Omega Pharma-Lotto development team (2011)

The team offered him a chance to perform in some smaller races with its development team. He took a second place in the third stage of the Triptyque Ardennaise and won the general classification of a race that has been previously won by riders like Ivan Basso, Paolo Tiralongo and

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three ...

. Later that year he also won the general classification of the Tour de Liège. With help from former professional cyclist Kurt Van De Wouwer he managed to get a professional contract with .

Lotto-Belisol (2012–2013)

He made his

grand tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

debut during the

2012 Giro d'Italia The 2012 Giro d'Italia was the 95th edition of Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Danish city of Herning, and ended in Milan. The complete route of the 2012 Giro d'Italia was announced in mid October. For the fir ...

in which he twice rode in a long break away but failed to reach the finish before the peloton. He reached the finish line in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in his first grand tour as the 102nd rider overall.

2014

For the 2014 season, Bulgaç initially joined the Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team. However, in April it was announced that he would move to Giant-Shimano after being invited to a week-long training camp held by the team.

Team LottoNL-Jumbo (2015)

Bulgaç did not get a contract renewal from Giant-Shimano for the 2015 season. Instead, he joined Team LottoNL-Jumbo.

Major results

;2009 :3rd Overall

;2010 :9th

;2011 :1st Overall Triptyque Ardennaise :1st Overall

;2012 :102nd Overall Giro d'Italia ;2014 :5th Overall

Tour de Taiwan The Tour de Taiwan is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Taiwan since 1978, and has been part of the UCI Asia Tour since 2005. It has been classed a 2.1 category race for the first time in 2012. History The Tour de Taiw ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulgac, Brian 1988 births Living people Dutch male cyclists Cyclists from Amsterdam Dutch sportspeople of Turkish descent 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch people