Roman Kreuziger (; born 6 May 1986) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

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 last rode for

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 ...

. His father, Roman Kreuziger Sr., was also a bicycle racer who won the

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 ...

in 1991 and the Cyclocross Junior World Championships in 1983. Kreuziger was an all-rounder, with

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...

and

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

abilities, becoming a contender for the

General classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulat ...

of stage races. He is also considered one of the biggest talents of the sport after winning the 2004 Junior Road World Championships and the 2008 Tour de Suisse at the age of 22. Next year, he won the

2009 Tour de Romandie The 2009 Tour de Romandie (63rd Edition) cycling road race started on 28 April and finished on 3 May in Switzerland. It was the 6th event in the 2009 UCI ProTour, and the 12th event in the World Calendar. In addition to the 18 ProTour teams, gu ...

and in 2013, he was the victor of 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 ...

Career

Liquigas (2006–2010)

He turned professional in 2006 with

Liquigas Cannondale Pro Cycling Team (), previously known as Liquigas, was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour. History The team was formed at the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005. the team was co-title sponsored by Ital ...

after a successful amateur career which saw him win the Junior Road World Championships in 2004 and a stage of the Giro delle Regioni in 2005. In 2007 he showed great improvements in his abilities by placing second in the prologues of

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 Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. I ...

, where he also finished sixth overall. He took his first professional victory in the second stage of the

Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda The Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda ( en, Lombardic Cycling Week) is an Italian cycle road race. In 2007, the race was organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions w ...

. In late 2007, he also completed his first

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 ...

after finishing 21st in the

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 ...

. In 2008 he finished second in the

, 35 seconds behind

Andreas Klöden Andreas Klöden (born 22 June 1975) is a German former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 1998 and 2013. His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and finishing second in the ge ...

, one of the world's leading riders. He avenged his loss by winning the

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...

by finishing 49 seconds ahead of Klöden and winning the mountain time trial to

Klausen Pass Klausen Pass (German: ''Klausenpass''; elevation: ) is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting Altdorf in the canton of Uri with Linthal in the canton of Glarus. Somewhat unusually, the boundary between the two cantons does not lie ...

. In his first

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 ...

, he proved himself as an excellent climber among the world's greats, eventually finishing second in the youth competition, and 12th overall. After the Tour, Kreuziger was known to be one of the future riders to potentially win grand tours. In 2009 he got back to the

and finally succeeded in his attempt to win the race, getting also one stage victory. He added to this success by finishing in ninth place in the

. In 2010 he won the

Giro di Sardegna Giro di Sardegna (Tour of Sardinia) was a stage road bicycle race held on the island of Sardinia, an Italian region. It was rated 2.1 on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing i ...

, finished third in Paris-Nice. Kreuziger's 9th overall in the

was a disappointment because it was not much of an improvement from his 9th-place finish in the 2009 Tour (though he would move into 8th after the Alberto Contador's stripped title). He then made the move from to after five seasons with the Italian team.

Astana (2011–2012)

In 2011 Kreuziger won the mountains classification and a stage in the

Giro del Trentino The Tour of the Alps is an annual professional cycling stage race in Italy and Austria. First held in 1962, it was named Giro del Trentino ( en, Tour of Trentino) until 2016, and run over four stages in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region o ...

. He achieved a 4th-place finish in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège by winning the sprint of the chasing group, almost half-a-minute behind winner

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 ...

. He then aimed for the Giro d'Italia. Kreuziger didn't quite have the uphill strength that Contador, Nibali, and Scarponi had, causing him to miss out on the podium. He ended up finishing 5th overall and he also won the young rider's classification. In 2012 he finished third in the Tirreno-Adriatico. He entered 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 ...

leading Team Astana with

Paolo Tiralongo Paolo Tiralongo (born 8 July 1977) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2017 for the , , and teams. Career In 2009, while riding for , Tiralongo registered his best final result on a ...

. He won the mountainous stage 19 after a solo breakaway but had a disappointing 15th overall finish.

Team Saxo–Tinkoff (2013–2016)

Tour de France 2013, kreuziger (14683110170)

Kreuziger left at the end of the 2012 season, and joined on a three-year contract from the 2013 season onwards. In April 2013 he won the

. He broke free of the lead group with to go and resisted the peloton's surge on the

Cauberg The Cauberg is a hill in Valkenburg aan de Geul, a town in the South Limburg region of the Netherlands. The hill played an important role in the early development of tourism in Valkenburg. Today, several major tourist attractions are situated on or ...

, taking a solo triumph. Kreuziger worked with doping doctor

Michele Ferrari Michele Ferrari (born 26 March 1953) is an Italian physician, cycling coach and author, who is mostly known for his role in supplying bicycle racers with performance-enhancing drugs, notably EPO. His most famous client was Lance Armstrong. Biog ...

according to former teammate

Leonardo Bertagnolli Leonardo Bertagnolli (born 8 January 1978 in Trento) is a retired Italian professional road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2002 and 2012. He signed for , a new team in the 2009 season, though he rode for in the 2009 Giro d'I ...

. When asked about the allegations after the Amstel Gold Race, Kreuziger refused to comment on the ties, saying he would address the topic after the

. He did and he admitted working with Ferrari from the autumn of 2006 through 2007 but that he did not use banned drugs. After the Amstel Gold Race, Kreuziger finished 3rd in the Tour de Suisse after aiming to win it. Despite riding the 2013 Tour to support

Alberto Contador Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice ( 2007, 2009), the Giro d'Italia twice (2008, 2015), and the Vue ...

, Kreuziger left the Pyrenees 5th overall. After putting a solid time trial on stage 17, Kreuziger moved into the top three, moving ahead of Laurens ten Dam and Bauke Mollema. Despite moving into a high finish with Alberto Contador, Kreuziger slipped down to 5th overall after losing ground to Nairo Quintana and Joaquim Rodríguez in the alps. In 2014, Kreuziger started his season finishing 8th in the Tour of Oman. He rode the Tirreno Adriatico in support of Alberto Contador though he finished 3rd overall with Contador winning the race. After, he rode through the Ardennes classics finishing in the top ten in the Fleche Wallonne and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He then finished 8th the Tour de Suisse. In June 2014 Tinkoff-Saxo announced that Kreuziger was being temporarily suspended from racing after the UCI questioned abnormalities in his

biological passport An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by n ...

. The UCI had originally highlighted the problems in his biological data for the 2011 and 2012 seasons through a letter in June 2013, which Kreuziger had responded to in October 2013, even though the values did not get out of the biological passport range which determines what values the gained cyclist samples ought to have. The UCI subsequently followed this up in May 2014. This prevented Kreuziger from riding the Tour de France and Tour de Pologne. In August 2014 the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

rejected an appeal by Kreuziger to allow him to start the

2014 Vuelta a España The 2014 Vuelta a España took place between 23 August and 14 September 2014 and was the 69th edition of the race. It featured eight mountain stages, five hill stages, five flat stages, and three time trials (one team and two individual), two of ...

. On 22 September, it was announced that the

Czech Olympic Committee The Czech Olympic Committee ( cs, Český olympijský výbor) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) representing the Czech Republic. History The Czech Olympic Committee is one of the oldest NOCs in the world, having been founded in 1899 as Bo ...

had cleared him of any anti-doping violation and that he was free to compete again. The UCI and the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

appealed against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in October 2014. The case was dropped by both agencies on 5 June 2015. Kreuziger took part in the

2015 Tour de France The 2015 Tour de France was the 102nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 4 July in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and concluding on 26 July with the Champs-Élysées stage ...

, finishing in 17th place.

Orica–Scott (2017–2018)

In August 2016, announced the 'game-changing signing' of Kreuziger on a 2-year contract, ending at the end of the 2018 season.

Major results

Road

;2003 : 6th Time trial, UCI World Junior Championships ;2004 : UCI World Junior Championships ::1st Jersey rainbow

Road race ::2nd Silver medal blank

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

: National Junior Championships ::1st MaillotRepúblicaCheca

Road race ::1st MaillotRepúblicaCheca

Time trial : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

Grand Prix Rüebliland The Grand Prix Rüebliland is a junior (ages 17-18) multi-day cycling race held annually in the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland. It was part of the UCI Junior World Cup UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public univ ...

: 5th Overall

Giro della Lunigiana Giro della Lunigiana is a four-day road bicycle race for junior men (age 17 and 18) in the historical territory Lunigiana (currently the provinces of La Spezia and Massa Carrara), Italy. The race, class 2.1 MJ on the UCI calendar, counts as a big ...

::1st Stage 3b ( ITT) ;2005 : 2nd Overall

Giro delle Regioni The Giro delle Regioni was a multi-day cycling race held annually in Italy. It is part of UCI Europe Tour in category 2.ncup, meaning it was part of the UCI Under 23 Nations' Cup The UCI Under 23 Nations' Cup is an annual, season-long competitio ...

::1st Stage 3 : 8th

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 ...

: 10th Overall

Giro della Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...

;2006 : 9th Trofeo Città di Castelfidardo : 9th

Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese The Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in Carnago, Italy. From 2005 to 2012, the race was organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a se ...

;2007 : 1st Trofeo Città di Borgomanero : 6th Overall

::1st Stages 1 ( TTT) & 2 : 6th Overall

;2008 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st Stage 8 ( ITT) : 2nd Overall

: 7th Overall

Tour of Missouri The Tour of Missouri was a professional road bicycle racing stage race in Missouri that started on September 11, 2007 with six days of racing. The organizers, who also run the Tour de Georgia and the Amgen Tour of California, billed it as the thi ...

::1st

Mountains classification : 10th Overall

Tour de Luxembourg The Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.Pro race, the highest rating below the World Tour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the ...

;2009 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st

Young rider classification ::1st Stage 4 : 1st

Clásica de San Sebastián The Donostia-Donostia Klasikoa — Clásica San Sebastián-San Sebastián (San Sebastián Classic) is a one-day professional men's bicycle road race in northern Spain that has been held every summer since 1981 in San Sebastián. It is the mo ...

: 3rd Overall

: 7th

UCI World Ranking The UCI men's road racing world rankings are a point system which is used to rank men's road cycling riders. Points are accrued over a rolling 52 weeks in three categories (Individual, Nations and Teams). Also Year-End rankings exist, based on ...

: 8th Overall

: 10th Overall

Tour of the Basque Country The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: ''Itzulia Basque Country'', es, Vuelta al País Vasco, links=no, eu, Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race held in the Basque Country (autonomous community) ...

;2010 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Stage 2 : 3rd Overall

::1st

Young rider classification : 5th

: 7th Overall

: 8th Overall

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; en, Tour of Catalonia, es, Vuelta a Cataluña, link=no) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of th ...

;2011 :

::1st

Mountains classification ::1st Stage 4 : 4th

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège, also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Monuments'' of the European professional r ...

: 5th Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Jersey white

Young rider classification Young rider classification (french: classement général des jeunes) is a cycling jersey competition in multi-day stage race events, such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and many others, which awards the current leader by overall time for rid ...

;2012 : 1st Stage 19 Giro d'Italia : 2nd

Tour Bohemia The Tour Bohemia was a one-day cycling race held annually between 2012 and 2014 in the Czech Republic. It was part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discip ...

: 3rd Overall

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 ...

: 6th Overall

: 6th

Strade Bianche The Strade Bianche is a road bicycle race in Tuscany, Central Italy, starting and finishing in Siena. First held in 2007, it is raced annually on the first or second Saturday of March. The name ''Strade Bianche'' (Italian for ''White Roads'') st ...

;2013 : 1st

: 3rd Overall

: 3rd

: 5th Overall

: 6th

GP Miguel Induráin The Grand Prix Miguel Induráin ( es, Gran Premio Miguel Induráin), formerly the "Grand Prix Navarre" is a Spanish one-day road bicycle race. History The race was inaugurated in 1951, but was limited to local competition. It was rebranded after ...

;2014 : 3rd Overall

: 5th

: 7th

: 8th Overall

Tour of Oman The Tour of Oman is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Oman since 2010 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It was scheduled to become part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020, but both the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled d ...

: 8th Overall

: 8th

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 ...

;2015 : 1st Stage 6

USA Pro Cycling Challenge The USA Pro Cycling Challenge, also known as USA Pro Challenge, was an annual multi-day professional road bicycle racing stage race that first took place in Colorado in 2011. Originally announced on August 4, 2010 by Colorado Governor Bill Ritt ...

: 5th

: 10th Overall

;2016 : 1st MaillotRepúblicaCheca

Road race, National Championships : 6th Overall

Vuelta a Andalucía The Vuelta a Andalucía (Tour of Andalusia) or Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race first held in 1925. Since 2005, it has been a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour. The race became a part of the new UCI P ...

: 7th

: 10th Overall

;2017 : 1st Pro Ötztaler 5500 : 4th Road race, National Championships ;2018 : 2nd

: 4th

: 6th Road race,

UCI World Championships The UCI world championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winne ...

: 8th Overall

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (; en, Tour of the Valencian Community or Tour of Valencia) is a road cycling stage race held in the Valencian Community (''Comunitat Valenciana''), Spain. Its position in the cycling calendar means it is often ...

: 8th

General classification results timeline

Classics results timeline

Cyclo-cross

;2004 : 2nd Silver medal blank

UCI World Junior Championships : 2nd Silver medal europe

UEC European Junior Championships

References

External links

* *
Palmares at Cycling Base (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kreuziger, Roman Czech male cyclists 1986 births Living people Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of the Czech Republic Tour de Suisse stage winners People from Moravská Třebová Czech Giro d'Italia stage winners Sportspeople from the Pardubice Region