Yaroslav Popovych ( uk, Ярослав Попович; born 4 January 1980) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016. The winner of the under-23 road race at the

2001 UCI Road World Championships The 2001 UCI Road World Championships took place in Lisbon, Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern E ...

, Popovych turned professional in 2002 with , where he performed particularly strongly in the Giro d'Italia, finishing third in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. Upon joining in 2005, his focus switched to the Tour de France, where he won the young riders' classification in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and won stage 12 in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. When Discovery Channel folded at the end of 2007, Popovych moved to in 2008 and on to in 2009. Popovych also raced for in 2010 and 2011. From 2012 until 2016 he rode with the UCI ProTour team .

Career

Early years

Popovych was born in Drohobych, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. He was considered one of the most promising cyclists while riding in junior and under-23 races after catching 35 victories in 2000 and 2001. He won the Under-23 Men's road race in the

after finishing second the previous year. He also won the Paris–Roubaix edition for under-23 riders and palio del recioto. The Ukrainian turned pro in 2002 by joining the Belgian team and delivered some strong showings, most notably in the Giro d'Italia where he finished third in

and fifth in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, when he wore the pink jersey during three stages.

Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team (2005–07)

He joined the in 2005 and he was considered as a possible successor to Lance Armstrong as team leader. In this same year, Popovych took one of his best victories by winning the Volta a Catalunya, which is an important race before the Tour de France. Along with the rest of the Discovery team, he won stage four

team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ( ...

in the Tour de France and showed his potential by winning the young rider classification, while helping Armstrong win his seventh Tour de France at the time. In the

2006 Tour de France The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between the 1st and the 23rd of July. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of Floyd Landis. Due to the Unite ...

, Popovych was considered one of the Discovery Channel team's four leaders, along with José Azevedo, Paolo Savoldelli and George Hincapie. After failing to be among the best for the overall classification in the Pyrenees mountain stages, Popovych won stage 12 by repeatedly attacking his fellow break-away compatriots Alessandro Ballan, Óscar Freire and

Christophe Le Mével Christophe Le Mével (born 11 September 1980 in Lannion) is a French former road racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2002 and 2014 for the , , and teams. Le Mével left at the end of the 2012 season, and joined on a two-year ...

. During 2006 season he also won stages at the Vuelta a Castilla y León and

Tour de Georgia The Tour de Georgia was a U.S. professional road cycling stage race across the state of Georgia. The race began in 2003 and was contested six times until 2008. It was one of the three events in North America ranked as Hors Classe (2.HC) stage rac ...

, where he finished third. Popovych mainly worked as a '' domestique'' during 2007 season, aiding Alberto Contador to win

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlookin ...

and the Tour de France. Early in the season, he won the fifth stage in Paris–Nice after attacking from the finishing line. He was considered as the team leader for the Giro d'Italia, but he withdrew in the twelfth stage after suffering two crashes in the race. In the Tour de France, he finished eighth while working for Discovery Channel team-mates Contador and Levi Leipheimer.

Silence–Lotto (2008)

In 2008, Popovych moved to squad after announced that it would cease operations at the end of 2007. Popovych was recruited as a domestique member of the Tour de France team primarily to support lead rider Cadel Evans, but had a rather disappointing year, with only a 3rd place in

to show for. At the end of the year, it was announced he would team up with his former Discovery manager

Johan Bruyneel Johan Bruyneel (born 23 August 1964) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and a former directeur sportif for UCI ProTour team , and (later known as Discovery Channel), a US-based UCI ProTour cycling team. On 25 October 2018, the W ...

again in 2009, joining the new team.

Astana (2009)

Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) - Stage 3 - 2009 ToC

In 2009, Popovych and Armstrong joined the Kazakh-based cycling squad , where many other former Discovery Channel riders and staff were also under contract. Popovych acted as a domestique for Contador in

, finishing 23rd himself. On 15 October 2009 it was reported that Popovych would move to for the 2010 season.

Team RadioShack (2010)

In 2010 Popovych followed many former Astana riders to the newly created American based squad .

Doping allegations

In January 2011 Popovych was incriminated in the

Floyd Landis Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He finished first at the 2006 Tour de France, and would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after test ...

doping allegations against the cycling team, after '' Sports Illustrated'' magazine reported that in November 2010 his property in Tuscany had been searched by Federal Officials who discovered drug testing documents, medical supplies and performance-enhancing drugs as well as evidence of links to controversial Italian physician Michele Ferrari. Later that day Popovych denied the allegations.

Major results

;2000 : 1st Overall Tour de Nouvelle-Calédonie : 1st

Gran Premio di Poggiana The Gran Premio Sportivi di Poggiana is a professional one day cycling race held annually in Poggiana, Italy. It has been part of the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introd ...

: 2nd Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships : 2nd Giro del Belvedere : 3rd

Piccolo Giro di Lombardia The Piccolo Giro di Lombardia is a one-day cycling race held annually in Lombardy, Italy. It is part of UCI Europe Tour in category 1.2U, meaning it is reserved for under 23 riders. The race acts as the U23 counterpart to the Giro di Lombardia T ...

: 10th Trofeo Alcide Degasperi ;2001 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships : 1st

Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza The Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza (also known as Trofeo PIVA) is a professional cycling race held annually in the Province of Vicenza, Italy. It has been part of the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle rac ...

: 1st Giro del Belvedere : 1st

Gran Premio Palio del Recioto The Gran Premio Palio del Recioto is a professional one day cycling race held annually in Italy. It is part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Unio ...

: 1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs : 2nd Overall

Grand Prix Guillaume Tell The Grand Prix Guillaume Tell (, "William Tell Grand Prize") was a professional cycling race held annually in Switzerland. It was part of UCI Europe Tour in category 2.2U. In 2007, the race was part of the UCI Under 23 Nations' Cup The UCI Unde ...

: 2nd

Gran Premio della Liberazione Gran Premio della Liberazione is an Italian road bicycle race that has been held annually on 25 April since 1946. It marks the anniversary of the 1945 fall of Benito Mussolini's Italian Social Republic. It is a Single-day race that is rated 1.2 ...

: 2nd Trofeo Alcide Degasperi : 4th GP Open Campania : 9th GP Città di Napoli ;2002 : 1st Poreč Trophy II : 1st GP de Genève : 3rd Poreč Trophy III : 4th Overall

Brixia Tour The Brixia Tour was an Italian cycle road race held annually in the province of Brescia, Lombardy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing ...

: 4th Gran Premio Fred Mengoni : 5th Poreč Trophy I : 6th Overall

Tour de Wallonie The Tour de Wallonie is a stage race cycling race on the UCI Europe Tour. It runs in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium in the end of July. Between 1974 and 1995 it was reserved to amateurs. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a ...

: 9th Overall Tour de l'Avenir : 10th Tre Valli Varesine ;2003 : 3rd Overall Giro d'Italia : 3rd Overall

: 5th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali : 6th Coppa Ugo Agostoni : 7th Overall Tour de Romandie : 7th Giro della Provincia di Lucca : 9th Overall Giro della Liguria : 10th Giro dell'Emilia ;2004 : 1st Trofeo Androni Giocattoli : 5th Overall Giro d'Italia ::Held Jersey pink

Maglia Rosa for Stages 13–16 : 8th Overall

Regio-Tour The Regio-Tour is a multi-stage road bicycle race held between France, Switzerland and Germany. It was first held in 1985 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Famous riders like Laurent Brochard, Jan Ullrich ...

: 9th Overall

Tour of Austria The Tour of Austria (german: Internationale Österreich Rundfahrt) is a stage cycling race held in Austria. From 1949 to 1995 it was a race for amateur cyclists, turning into a professional event in 1996. In 2005 and 2006 it was organised as a 2 ...

: 10th

Firenze–Pistoia The Firenze–Pistoia was a single-day road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. It was an individual time trial between Prato and Quarrata, in the Province of Pistoia. After 2005, the race was organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe T ...

;2005 : 1st MaillotVolta

Overall Volta a Catalunya : 4th

LuK Challenge Chrono LuK Challenge Chrono was a road bicycle race held annually as a team time trial for pairs in Bühl, Germany. In 2005 and 2006, the race was organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle ...

(with Paolo Savoldelli) : Tour de France ::1st Jersey white

Young rider classification ::1st Stage 4 (TTT) ;2006 : 1st Stage 12 Tour de France : 1st Stage 2 (ITT) Vuelta a Castilla y León : 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 2 : 4th GP Ouest–France ;2007 : 1st Stage 5

: 8th Overall Tour de France ::Stage 9

Combativity award The combativity award is a prize given in road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional sport, professional form of ...

;2008 : 3rd Overall

;2009 : 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France ;2013 : 9th Gent–Wevelgem

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popovych, Yaroslav 1980 births Living people Ukrainian male cyclists Ukrainian Tour de France stage winners Olympic cyclists of Ukraine Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics People from Drohobych Sportspeople from Lviv Oblast 21st-century Ukrainian people