Svein Tuft (born May 9, 1977) is a Canadian former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2019 for the , , , and teams. Tuft was the winner of the 2006–07 UCI America Tour, and was a thirteen-time champion at the Canadian road cycling championships: twice in the road race, and eleven times in the time trial.

Personal life He was born in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. His grandfather, Arne Tuft, was an Olympic cross-country skier from Norway.

Tuft dropped out of school at 15 to travel and camp with his dog named Bear. He spent the next several years mountain climbing and going on long bike trips, including a 4,000 mile trip to Alaska as a teenager.

While racing with , Tuft lived in a trailer behind team owner Kevin Cunningham's house near Langley. In the adjacent trailer was Tuft's teammate Christian Meier. The team referred to the two as the trailer park boys.

Tuft retired in 2019 and started working on a memoir, which was published in 2025 and titled "We Will Never Be Here Again."

Racing career Symmetrics (2005–2008) Tuft first raced in 1999, at the British Columbia Provincial Championships. Strong results landed him a place on the Broadmark Capital team, followed by short stints on the Mercury and Prime Alliance teams. Tuft's career flourished when he rode for the Canadian team – a prominent team in North American Cycling from 2005 to 2008. He first captured the Canadian national time trial title in 2004 from his former teammate and three-time Canadian Olympian Eric Wohlberg. Wohlberg held the title for eight consecutive years prior to Tuft. In 2007 Tuft conceded the Canadian National Time Trial title to Ryder Hesjedal.

He was selected to compete for Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing China in the Road Race and Time Trial. Svein Tuft was the best finisher for a long time in the time trial, before eventually finishing 7th.

His best result was second place in the 2008 UCI World Championships time trial in Varese Italy during which he overcame a flat tire in the last 5 km.

He featured prominently in a team Comic book written by Marvel Comics Dabel Brothers Productions Editor in chief Matthew Hansen, which is used as a press kit for the team. In the comic book, Tuft is very muscular. Upon seeing himself in the comic, Tuft remarked "We're all a bunch of sissies really."

SpiderTech–C10 (2011) In 2011 Svein Tuft was supposed to be a part of Team Pegasus Cycling. Unfortunately due to sponsorship issues, the team had to pull out at the last minute. Tuft was recruited as a member of the Canadian Professional Pro-Continental Team, , managed by Steve Bauer. Tuft won both the Canadian National Time Trial and Canadian National Road championships in Burlington, Ontario with SpiderTech in 2011. In August 2011, Tuft announced that he would leave SpiderTech for the Australian team in 2012.

GreenEDGE (2012–2018) 2012 season He was praised for his solo ride in front of the peloton during stage 2 of the 2012 Tirreno–Adriatico. During the race, he reportedly burnt 6500 calories. Mark Cavendish tweeted it as "Ride of the day.. No, make that ride of the millennium, goes to GreenEDGE's Svein Tuft. 200km ALONE controlling the peloton! Respect."

In August 2012, Tuft prevailed on stage 6 of the Eneco Tour, a Individual Time Trial. The victory put him in the overall classification leader's jersey. He lost the lead the next day on the seventh and last stage of the Tour, where he had to face the steep climbs of the Belgian "bergs." Tuft was announced as the third overall rider, but he was handed a 20 seconds penalty for taking a bottle of water from his team's car with less than to cover, which is against the rules. That punishment relegated him to seventh place, one minute behind winner Lars Boom of .

2013 season In 2013, Tuft opened his account and took the first victory of the season for , by winning the individual time trial in the Tour de San Luis. The course was swept by strong winds, according to Tuft. In July, he was the lanterne rouge – final-placed rider overall – of the 100th Tour de France.

2014 season In 2014, Tuft wore the maglia rosa as leader of the Giro d'Italia since won the opening team time trial and he crossed the line first. He stated afterward: "For a guy like me, to wear the maglia rosa is a once in a lifetime experience, and I'm really thankful to my team for that gift. It's a really special thing."

2015 season In 2015, Tuft crashed at the Tour de Romandie as he was carrying water bottles to give to his teammates. He was a non-starter for the third stage. It was later revealed after medical examination that he had suffered a minor wrist fracture and a sternum injury, and was therefore pulled out of 's Giro d'Italia's roster.

Major results

2001 1st Stage 7 Tour de Beauce 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships 2002 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships 2003 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships 2004 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 2nd Road race 2005 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 2nd Overall Tour de Beauce 2006 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 2nd Road race 1st Prologue Vuelta a El Salvador 4th Time trial, Pan American Road Championships 7th Time trial, Commonwealth Games 10th Overall Vuelta a Chihuahua 1st Prologue 2007 1st 2006–07 UCI America Tour 1st Overall Vuelta a Cuba 1st Stage 11a (ITT) 1st U.S. Open Cycling Championships 1st Stage 1 Redlands Bicycle Classic 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships 2nd Overall Tour de Beauce 5th Lancaster Classic 7th Overall Vuelta a El Salvador 2008 Pan American Road and Track Championships 1st Time trial 1st Individual pursuit 1st Madison (with Zachary Bell) 1st Points race 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 1st Overall Tour de Beauce 1st Stage 4a (ITT) 2nd Time trial, UCI Road World Championships 3rd Overall Tour of Missouri 7th Time trial, Olympic Games 2009 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 4th Overall Herald Sun Tour 2010 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 2nd Overall Danmark Rundt 1st Stage 5 (ITT) 5th Overall Eneco Tour 1st Prologue 10th Overall Delta Tour Zeeland 2011 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 1st Road race 1st Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem 3rd Overall Tour de Beauce 1st Stages 4 (ITT) & 6 2012 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 1st Duo Normand (with Luke Durbridge) 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tirreno–Adriatico 3rd Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships 4th Overall Three Days of De Panne 4th Overall Tour de Beauce 1st Stage 4 (ITT) 7th Overall Eneco Tour 1st Stages 2 (TTT) & 6 (ITT) 2013 1st Duo Normand (with Luke Durbridge) 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France 1st Stage 4 (ITT) Tour de San Luis 1st Stage 1 (ITT) Tour of Slovenia 2nd Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships 2014 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 1st Road race Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Held after Stage 1 2nd Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships 2nd Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes 4th Time trial, Commonwealth Games 2016 1st Duo Normand (with Luke Durbridge) 3rd Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships 2017 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 2018 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 10th Overall Tour de Beauce 2019 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships

Grand Tour general classification results timeline Grand Tour 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Giro d'Italia — 125 — 148 153 155 — 146 142 147 Tour de France — — — — 169 131 159 — — — Vuelta a España DNF — — — — — — 158 DNF —

+LegendDSQDisqualifiedDNFDid not finish

Notes

References

External links

Symmetrics Cycling BikingBros Blog (with teammate Christian Meier) Palmares at Cycling Base