Kurt Asle Arvesen (born 9 February 1975) is a Norwegian former 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 competed as a professional between 1998 and 2011. Arvesen is from

Eresfjord Eresfjord is a village in Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Approximately 450 inhabitants reside in the village (2008). The village is located along the river Eira between the Eresfjorden and the lake Eikesdalsvatnet. The mo ...

, Nesset. He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships five times, as well as stages in each of the three Grand Tours. After retiring as a rider, Arvesen became a coach with . He currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI ProTeam .

Career

After winning the gold medal at the 1997 Under-23

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

as an amateur, Arvesen turned pro with Italian team Asics in 1998, where later Team CSC teammate Ivan Basso rode as a stagiare. The two riders moved on to Davide Boifava's team, Riso Scotti-Vinavil in 1999, which was renamed Amica Chips-Tacconi Sport in 2000, but Arvesen's three years in Italy did not get him the results his World Under-23 Championships win had foretold. In 2001 Arvesen and Basso split up, as Arvesen moved on to Danish

Team Fakta Team Fakta was a Danish professional road bicycle racing team, which was active in the seasons 1999 to 2003. The main sponsor FDB is a consumer owned grocery chain, whose discount outlets are called ''Fakta''. Nicki Sørensen was on the team f ...

, where he experienced his most successful years culminating in a stage win in the 2003 Giro d'Italia. In 2004, Team Fakta closed, and Arvesen and sports director Kim Andersen both moved on to . At Team CSC, Arvesen has been riding mostly as a domestique, but he won the stage race

Danmark Rundt Danmark Rundt is a Danish stage race for professional road bicycle racers organized as a part of the UCI Continental Circuits. It is currently sponsored by the Danish national postal agency, PostNord, and the race is therefore also known as PostN ...

as well as CSC Classic in 2004. For the

2004 Tour de France The 2004 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 3 to 25 July, and the 91st edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti ...

, Arvesen helped team captain Basso finish second overall, and he was named the toughest rider in the peloton when he finished the three-weeks long race after crashing severely on several stages. For the

2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong origin ...

he would once more ride in support of Basso. This time Arvesen had the strength to ride aggressively, and on the 17th stage of the race, he got in a breakaway with 16 other riders which lasted all the way to the finish line. As the leading group slowly disintegrated, he and Italian rider Paolo Savoldelli were the last riders for the sprint, but Savoldelli was too fast for Arvesen. In the

2006 UCI ProTour The 2006 UCI ProTour was the second year of the UCI ProTour system, in which the ProTour teams are guaranteed, and obliged to, participate in the series of ProTour races. The prelude to the 2006 ProTour was dominated by a dispute between the ma ...

spring season Arvesen got a handful of top 10 placings. When he crashed into a right-swinging car during a training ride in April, he got away with

road rash Road rash is a colloquial term for skin injury caused by abrasion with road surfaces, often as a consequence of cycling and motorcycling accidents. It may also result from running, inline skating, roller skating, skateboarding, and longboarding ...

and a bruised right knee and less than a week later he rode

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) * Ruud R ...

, though he did not ride the race to its end. He finally won Ster Elektrotoer, but that was not sufficient to secure a place 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 ...

roster. Arvesen became runner-up in

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m, ...

. In the

2007 Giro d'Italia The 2007 Giro d'Italia was the 90th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place from 12 May to 3 June 2007. The race began in Sardinia and finished in Milan, and featured five mountain top finishes, of which one wa ...

Arvesen won stage 8 after beating

Paolo Bettini Paolo Bettini (born 1 April 1974 in Cecina, Tuscany, Cecina, Province of Livorno, Livorno, Tuscany) is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classic cycle ra ...

in the finish. On July 16 he won stage 11 in the

2008 Tour de France The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regu ...

, his first ever stage win in the tour. After engaging in a successful breakaway, he finished winning two centimeters ahead of number two. Arversen's 2009 tour came to a disappointing end on Stage 10 just after passing Guéret. The Norwegian champion claimed his only stage victory in the Tour in Foix 12 months previously, however on Tuesday 14 July 2009 he crashed around the 88 km mark of the stage between Limoges and Issoudun. Curiously, before the start of the 10th Stage he joked on the floor pretending he had fallen. After a week of rumours, it was official on 10 September 2009 that Arvesen would be joining from the 2010-season, along with fellow Norwegians Edvald Boasson Hagen and Lars Petter Nordhaug. The start of the 2010 season with Team Sky was marred by injury for Arvesen. After winning the 1st stage of Tour of Qatar (TTT), Arvesen crashed on the following stage, breaking his collarbone. He returned to the bike in time to participate in Tirreno–Adriatico. He ended his racing career after the 2011 season, but remained at as a specialist coach. He became a Sports Director with the team in 2015. In October 2016 it was announced that he would leave Sky and become Sports Director for the Norwegian

UCI Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

squad . In March 2017 it was also announced that he had agreed a permanent contract with

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

to act as an analyst for the channel, having appeared as a guest commentator with the station for several years.

Major results

;1997 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Road race, UCI Road World Under–23 Championships : 1st MaillotNoruega

Road race, National Road Championships ;1998 : 1st MaillotNoruega

Road race, National Road Championships ;2000 : 7th Circuito de Getxo ;2001 : 1st MaillotNoruega

Time trial, National Road Championships : 1st Stage 9

Herald Sun Tour The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria, sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six-day event. It is now held annually ...

: 3rd Scheldeprijs ;2002 : 1st MaillotNoruega

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Tour of Sweden : 1st Schynberg Rundfahrt : 1st Jersey polkadot

Mountains classification

Paris–Corrèze Paris–Corrèze was a road bicycle race held annually in France, usually between a department near Paris and the department of Corrèze. It was created by Laurent Fignon and Max Mamers. It was first held in 2001 and since 2005 it has been organi ...

: 2nd Overall

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stage 3 : 4th

G.P. Costa degli Etruschi The Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi is a one-day professional cycling race between the towns of San Vincenzo and Donoratico on the Tuscany coast in Italy. The 193 kilometre long race takes place at the beginning of February and has now taken ove ...

: 7th

: 8th Overall

Ronde van Nederland The Tour of the Netherlands ''(Dutch: Ronde van Nederland)'' was a road bicycle racing stage-race in the Netherlands, founded in 1948. It's an annual race since 1975. Because of the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005, it was replaced by the Enec ...

;2003 : 1st Stage 10 Giro d'Italia : 4th

GP Lugano The Gran Premio di Lugano ( en, Grand Prix of Lugano) is a road bicycle race held annually in Lugano, Switzerland. Prior to 1981 it was held as an individual time trial but in recent years it has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe ...

: 4th

Cholet - Pays De Loire Grand Prix Cholet-Pays de la Loire is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in March in Cholet, France. Since 2005, the race is organized as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is often called ''Primavera of t ...

: 5th GP Ouest–France : 5th Arnhem-Veenendaal Classic : 7th Brabantse Pijl ;2004 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

: 1st CSC Classic : 3rd Overall

Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen Dwars door West-Vlaanderen is a road bicycle race through the Belgian province of West Flanders. History The race was originally created unter the name Omloop der Vlaamse Ardennen (''English'': Tour of the Flemish Ardennes) in 1945 as a one-day ...

: 9th Overall Ster Elektrotoer : 9th Road race,

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

;2005 : 2nd Overall

: 4th

Grand Prix de Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, ...

: 10th Overall Critérium International ;2006 : 1st MaillotNoruega

Time trial, National Road Championships : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Ster Elektrotoer : 1st Stage 1 (TTT)

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 ...

: 2nd

: 3rd 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 ...

: 4th Overall

: 7th Brabantse Pijl : 8th Dwars door Vlaanderen : 10th Overall Tirreno-Adriatico : 10th Gent–Wevelgem : 10th Giro del Piemonte ;2007 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st Stage 3 : 1st Stage 8 Giro d'Italia : 1st GP Herning : 2nd

: 3rd Overall Ster Elektrotoer ;2008 : 1st MaillotNoruega

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Stage 11

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 ...

: 1st

E3 Prijs Vlaanderen E3 Saxo Bank Classic, previously known as E3 BinckBank Classic, E3 Harelbeke, Harelbeke–Antwerp–Harelbeke and E3-Prijs Vlaanderen, is an annual road cycling race in Flanders, Belgium. The race starts and finishes in Harelbeke, covering 203 kil ...

: 1st Stenlille–Dianalund : 7th Tour of Flanders : 10th

Milan–San Remo Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...

;2009 : 1st MaillotNoruega

Road race, National Road Championships

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

*
Profile at Team CSC

1996 UCI Road World Under-23 Championships from Youtube

Palmares on Cycling Base (French)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arvesen, Kurt Asle 1975 births Living people Norwegian male cyclists Olympic cyclists of Norway Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Norwegian Giro d'Italia stage winners Norwegian Tour de France stage winners Danmark Rundt winners People from Molde Norwegian sports broadcasters Cycling announcers