Bernhard Eisel (born 17 February 1981) is an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2019 for the , , , and teams. Following his retirement, he worked as an analyst and presenter for

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...

and the

Global Cycling Network Global Cycling Network (GCN) is a cycling-related YouTube channel which was launched in 2013. It is run by the multi-channel network Play Sports Network, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel is presented by Daniel Lloyd, Under-23 ...

(GCN), before joining as a ''

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is se ...

'' in 2022.

Career

Born in

Voitsberg Voitsberg () is a small city in the district of Voitsberg in Styria, Austria, with a population of c. 9,700 . It grew upon the St. Margaret church at the Tregistbach river and was first mentioned in 1220 as Civitas. Remains of the Greisenegg ...

, Eisel won his first race when he was 11 years old, since then he has won many races. When he was 17, he moved to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

to race for the team Rinascita Ormelle, based in

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

. After that he moved to Gli Amici Piave, the team of

Moreno Argentin Moreno Argentin (born 17 December 1960) is an Italian former professional cyclist (from 1981 to 1994) and race director. Born in San Donà di Piave (Veneto), he won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia, and the Tour de Suisse. Know ...

. In 2001 he joined the team and became a professional cyclist, from 2003 on he joined . In 2007, Eisel changed to . Eisel enjoyed a successful first season with his main victory coming on Stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve. Eisel established himself as the right-hand man of sprinter and teammate

Mark Cavendish Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a ...

, protecting him throughout the flats and mountain stages and forming part of the HTC lead out train that saw Cavendish take many notable victories in the Tour de France and other races. Eisel also had opportunities to ride for himself, mainly in the classics. He won

Paris–Bourges Paris–Bourges is a French road bicycle racing, road bicycle race. The race originally started in Paris and ran to the town of Bourges in the Centre (French region), Région Centre. However, in recent year with the length of races shortened it ha ...

in 2008 and

Gent–Wevelgem Gent–Wevelgem, officially Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields, is a road cycling race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic races part of the Flemish Cycling Week, run in late March on the last Sunday before the To ...

in 2010, and in 2011, Eisel recorded his best placing in a monument by finishing seventh in

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the ' Monuments' or classics of th ...

. Eisel was appointed as a member of the inaugural UCI Athletes' Commission in 2011. Following the announcement that would fold at the end of 2011, Eisel joined Mark Cavendish in moving to . After Cavendish announced he would cut his three-year deal with the team short to move to , Eisel announced he would stay with until the end of the 2015 season. On 28 September 2015, Sky announced that Eisel would be among the riders leaving the team at the end of the year, following four seasons with the team. The following day it was announced that he had joined Cavendish (and

Mark Renshaw Mark Renshaw (born 22 October 1982) is a retired Australian racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2019 for the , , , , and teams. His most notable wins are the general classification of the 2011 Tour of Qatar, and the one ...

, their former teammate at HTC) in signing for – to be renamed as . On 14 January 2020 he announced his retirement from professional racing. Shortly afterwards he took up a role as a presenter, reporter and commentator for

and

(GCN). In November 2021 announced that Eisel would join them as a ''directeur sportif'' from the 2022 season.

Major results

;1999 : 5th Road race, UCI Junior Road World Championships ;2002 : 1st Radclassic-Gleisdorf : 2nd Overall

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 ...

: 4th Overall GP Erik Breukink ;2003 : 1st Stage 4

Tour du Limousin Tour du Limousin is a 4-day road bicycle race held annually in Limousin, France. It was first held in 1968 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 bicycle raci ...

: 3rd Overall GP Erik Breukink ::1st Stage 2 : 7th Overall

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 ...

;2004 : 1st Stage 3 Criterium des Espoirs : 1st Bad Ischl : 5th

Scheldeprijs The Scheldeprijs is a cycling race in Flanders and the Netherlands which starts in Terneuzen, crosses the Scheldt River, and finishes in Schoten. Until 2018 it was held entirely in Belgium. The event, ranked as a 1.HC race on the UCI Europe Tour, ...

: 7th Overall

Tour de Picardie The Tour de Picardie was a professional multi-stage cycle road race that was held between 1936 and 2016 in Picardy, France. In its last twelve editions, it was organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a s ...

;2005 :

Volta ao Algarve The Volta ao Algarve (Portuguese; en, Tour of the Algarve) is a road bicycle racing stage race held annually in the Algarve, Portugal. Since 2017, it has been organised as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race became part of the new UCI ...

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 1 & 4 : 1st Stage 1

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 ...

: 2nd Overall

Grande Prémio Internacional Costa Azul Grande Prémio Internacional Costa Azul was a stage cycling race held annually in Portugal. 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 discipline of r ...

::1st Points classification ::1st Stage 4 ;2006 : 1st Stage 4

Tour of Qatar The Tour of Qatar was an annual professional cycling stage race held in Qatar. First organized in 2002, the event was part of the UCI Asia Tour until 2016. The 2017 edition was to have seen the event upgraded to the UCI World Tour for the firs ...

: 1st Stage 2

: 1st Grazer Altstadt Kriterium : 1st Mayrhofen Europa-Kriterium : 2nd Overall

Three Days of De Panne 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stage 2a : 2nd Overall

: 5th

: 7th

;2007 : 1st

Lancaster Classic The Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic was a professional road bicycle race held in late May or early June between 1992 and 2007 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. With the exception of the first race, which was , the Lancaster Classic covered about . D ...

: 1st Reading Classic : 1st Stage 2

: 1st Linz criterium : 3rd

Philadelphia International Championship The Philadelphia International Championship was an annual bicycle race held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was described as "America's top international cycling classic, and one of the richest and most prestigious one day races outside of Euro ...

: 4th Overall

: 8th Trofeo Palma ;2008 : 1st

: 1st Stage 5

: 3rd Reading Classic : 4th

: 6th

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 ki ...

: 9th

;2009 : 1st Stage 2

: 1st Welser Sparkassen Innenstadt-Kriterium : 2nd

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 ...

: 3rd Road race, National Road Championships : 9th

;2010 : 1st

: 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 ...

: 7th

: 8th

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, previously Omloop Het Volk, is a one-day road cycling race in Belgium, held annually in late February. It is the opening event of the Belgian cycling season, as well as the first race of the year in Northwestern Europe, and ...

: 9th Paris–Tours ;2011 : 7th

: 7th

: 8th Overall

;2012 : 3rd

E3 Harelbeke 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 ...

;2013 : 5th Overall

: 7th

: 10th Milan–San Remo ;2014 : 3rd Road race, National Road Championships ;2017 : 1st Jersey red

Mountains classification Arctic Race of Norway

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* *
Bernhard Eisel profile
at Team Sky {{DEFAULTSORT:Eisel, Bernhard 1981 births Living people Austrian male cyclists Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Austria Tour de Suisse stage winners People from Voitsberg Cycling announcers Directeur sportifs Sportspeople from Styria