Karsten Kroon (born 29 January 1976) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for , a

UCI ProTeam UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

. He retired at the end of the 2014 season.

Career

Born in Dalen, Kroon showed his talent as an amateur by winning the professional Ronde van Drenthe in 1996. He joined the youth squad in 1997 and won a number of amateur races in two years. In 1999, he moved to the senior squad. His few wins included stage 8, on

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the (; "French National Celebration"); legally it is known as (; "t ...

, of the

2002 Tour de France The 2002 Tour de France was a multiple-stage bicycle race held from 6 to 28 July, and the 89th edition of the Tour de France. The event started in Luxembourg and ended in Paris. The Tour circled France counter-clockwise, visiting the Pyrenees b ...

. Kroon and his teammate, Erik Dekker, finished in a seven-man group, and Kroon won a stage in his first Tour de France with the help of the more experienced Dekker. Kroon led the

mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...

in each of the three

Grand Tours In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...

, though his lead did not last to the end. On 10 August 2005 he said that, until 2007, he was to ride for Saxo Bank. He wanted more freedom. "I've never said that I want to be leader," he told

Cyclingnews.com Cyclingnews.com is a website providing cycling news and race result owned by Future. History In 1995 Australian Bill Mitchell, a keen cyclist and professor of economics at the University of Newcastle, created the website titled "Bill’s Cycli ...

, "I only want to get chances". In March and April 2006, he was joint team captain in ProTour races. He finished in the top ten of

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of the season, it is considered to be an important prep ...

and the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

. He helped

Fränk Schleck Fränk René Schleck (born 15 April 1980) is a Luxembourgish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2016, for and . Schleck is the older brother of Andy, winner of the 2010 Tour de France. Their father, ...

win the

Amstel Gold Race The Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic road cycling race held in the province of Limburg, Netherlands. It traditionally marks the turning point of the spring classics, with the climbers and stage racers replacing the cobbled classics r ...

by disrupting the chase when Schleck attacked; Kroon finished fourth. Kroon finally finished on the podium, in

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week betw ...

, third in front of Schleck. He also came second in the

2009 Amstel Gold Race The 2009 Amstel Gold Race was the 44th edition of the Amstel Gold Race classic cycle race and took place on April 19, 2009. It was held on a course from Maastricht to Cauberg, the Netherlands, as the fifth event of the 2009 UCI ProTour, and the n ...

, just behind

Serguei Ivanov Sergei Valeryevich Ivanov () (born 5 March 1975 in Chuvashia, Soviet Union) is a former professional road bicycle racer, who competed between 1996 and 2011. Ivanov had been a member of six different teams, competing for CSKA Lada–Samara, T ...

. In 2010, Kroon joined , but returned to for the 2012 season.

Doping

On 24 April 2018, it was reported that Kroon had confessed to doping for "a short period during my career". He added: "I was a professional cyclist in a very difficult time and I have a lot of respect for my colleagues who resisted the temptation to use doping."

Major results

;1996 : 1st Ronde van Drenthe ;1997 : 1st

Vlaamse Pijl De Vlaamse Pijl ( en, Flemish Arrow) is a Belgian road bicycle race held annually since 1968. The race starts and ends in Harelbeke. From 2005 until 2012, it was rated as a 1.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour, however in 2013 the race was no longe ...

: 1st Stage 2

Circuit Franco-Belge Circuit may refer to: Science and technology Electrical engineering * Electrical circuit, a complete electrical network with a closed-loop giving a return path for current ** Analog circuit, uses continuous signal levels ** Balanced circu ...

;1998 : 1st Overall Ster der Beloften ::1st Stage 2 :

Vuelta a Navarra The Vuelta a Navarra is a road cycling stage race held annually since 1941 in the Autonomous community of Navarra, Spain. It was part of the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were ...

::1st Stages 2 & 3 : 1st Stage 6

Circuit des Mines The Circuit de Lorraine is a multi-stage road bicycle racing event held annually in Lorraine, France. Since 2005, it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing compet ...

: 1st Stage 2

Vuelta a León Vuelta, Spanish for "lap" or "roundtrip", is used in the name of a number of cycling races in Spanish speaking countries, as well as a few other contexts: Cycling races * Vuelta a Andalucía * Vuelta a Aragón, Spain * Vuelta a Asturias, Spain * V ...

;1999 : 10th

Clásica de Almería The Clásica de Almería ( en, Classic of Almería) is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in February or March in Almería, Spain, starting and finishing in Almería itself. Established in 1986, the race was run as an amateur event in i ...

;2000 : 4th DAB Classic : 7th

Dwars door Gendringen Dwars door Gendringen was a cycling race held annually in Gendringen, Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherla ...

: Held

Mountain jersey for 13 days Giro d'Italia ;2001 : 1st

Grand Prix of Aargau Canton Grand Prix of Aargau Canton (german: Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau) is a semi classic European bicycle race held in Aargau canton, one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. The race consists of fifteen laps around the Swiss town o ...

: 3rd

Sparkassen Giro Bochum The Sparkassen Giro Bochum is a road bicycle race which is annually held for both men's and women's around an urban circuit in the German city of Bochum, Germany. Since 2005 the men's race is part of the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Cir ...

: 9th

Brabantse Pijl The Brabantse Pijl ( en, Brabant Arrow, french: italic=yes, Flèche Brabançonne or ''Flèche Branconne'') is a Flanders Classics road bicycle race held annually in Flemish Brabant and in Walloon Brabant, Belgium. Since 2005, the race has been or ...

: Held

King of the Mountains jersey,

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...

;2002 : 1st Stage 8

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

;2003 : 1st Stage 5

Tour du Poitou-Charentes Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine is a road bicycle race held annually in the former region of Poitou-Charentes (now Nouvelle-Aquitaine) France. It was first held in 1987 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI E ...

;2004 : 1st

Rund um den Henninger Turm Rund is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Cathleen Rund (born 1977), German swimmer * Hanno Rund (1925–1993), German mathematician * Thorsten Rund (born 1976), German road and track cyclist See also * Rand (surname) Rand ...

;2005 : 5th

: 9th Omloop Het Volk : Held Jersey polkadot

King of the Mountains Jersey for Stage 6,

;2006 : 3-Länder-Tour ::1st Stages 2 & 5 : 3rd

: 4th

: 8th

;2007 : 4th

;2008 : 1st Stage 2

Vuelta a Castilla y León The Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León is a professional road bicycle stage race held in Castile and León, Spain. Since 2005, Vuelta a Castilla y León has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bi ...

: 1st Stage 5

Sachsen-Tour The Sachsen Tour is a multi-stage road bicycle race held in the region of Saxony, Germany. It was first held in 1985 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicy ...

: 1st

: 5th

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia ( en, Tour of Lombardy), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cy ...

: 9th

;2009 : 2nd

: 2nd

: 4th

Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne is an annual single-day road cycling race in Belgium. It is held one day after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, on the last Sunday of February or the first of March, and completes the opening weekend of the Belgian cycling season ...

: 5th

;2010 : 1st

RaboRonde Heerlen RaboRonde Heerlen or Profronde van Heerlen ( en, Proftour Heerlen) is an elite men's and women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in Heerlen, Netherlands. It's one of the largest post-Tour de France criteriums with about 50,000 ...

: 9th

;2012 : 5th Overall Tour de l'Eurometropole

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Notes

External links

KarstenKroon.com
(fansite)
Team CSC profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kroon, Karsten 1976 births Living people Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Dutch male cyclists Dutch Tour de France stage winners Olympic cyclists of the Netherlands People from Coevorden UCI Road World Championships cyclists for the Netherlands Cyclists from Drenthe