Roman Kreuziger (; born 6 May 1986) is a Czech former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2021 for six different teams. His father, Roman Kreuziger Sr., was also a bicycle racer who won the Tour of Austria in 1991 and the Cyclocross Junior World Championships in 1983.
Kreuziger competed as an all-rounder, with climbing and time trial abilities, becoming a contender for the General classification of stage races. He was also considered one of the biggest talents of the sport after winning the junior road race at the 2004 UCI Road World Championships and the 2008 Tour de Suisse at the age of 22. The next year, he won the 2009 Tour de Romandie and in 2013, he was the victor of the Amstel Gold Race.
Since his retirement, Kreuziger now works as a directeur sportif for UCI WorldTeam .
Career
Liquigas (2006–2010) He turned professional in 2006 with Liquigas 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 and the Tour de Romandie, where he also finished sixth overall. He took his first professional victory in the second stage of the Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda. In late 2007, he also completed his first Grand Tour after finishing 21st in the Vuelta a España.
In 2008, he finished second in the Tour de Romandie, 35 seconds behind Andreas Klöden, one of the world's leading riders. He avenged his loss by winning the Tour de Suisse by finishing 49 seconds ahead of Klöden and winning the mountain time trial to Klausen Pass. In his first Tour de France, 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 Tour de Romandie 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 Tour de France.
In 2010, he won the Giro di Sardegna, finished third in Paris–Nice. Kreuziger's 9th overall in the Tour de France 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. 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. He then aimed for the Giro d'Italia. Kreuziger did not 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 leading Team Astana with Paolo Tiralongo. He won the mountainous stage 19 after a solo breakaway but had a disappointing 15th overall finish.
Team Saxo–Tinkoff (2013–2016)
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 Amstel Gold Race. He broke free of the lead group with to go and resisted the peloton's surge on the Cauberg, taking a solo triumph. Kreuziger worked with doping doctor Michele Ferrari according to former teammate Leonardo Bertagnolli. 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 Tour de Romandie. 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, 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. 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 rejected an appeal by Kreuziger to allow him to start the 2014 Vuelta a España. On 22 September, it was announced that the Czech Olympic Committee had cleared him of any anti-doping violation and that he was free to compete again. The UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency 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, 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. In his first season, Kreuziger took his only victory with the team at the Pro Ötztaler 5500, a one-day race with of climbing. In 2018, he recorded top-ten finishes in the three Ardennes classics races, with a best finish of second place at the Amstel Gold Race, losing a two-up sprint to Michael Valgren. He also finished in sixth place in the road race at the UCI Road World Championships, leading home the first chase group.
Team Dimension Data and Gazprom–RusVelo (2019–2021) After two years with , Kreuziger joined to bolster its roster for classic cycle races. In his two seasons with the team, he did not record a single top-ten individual finish.
Kreuziger joined on a one-year contract, for the 2021 season. He failed to record any top-twenty individual finishes, and although he was offered a contract extension for 2022, Kreuziger elected to retire and became a directeur sportif with .
Major results Cyclo-cross 2004 2nd UCI World Junior Championships 2nd UEC European Junior Championships
Road Source:
2003 6th Time trial, UCI World Junior Championships 2004 UCI World Junior Championships 1st Road race 2nd Time trial National Junior Championships 1st Road race 1st Time trial 1st Overall Grand Prix Rüebliland 5th Overall Giro della Lunigiana 1st Stage 3b (ITT) 2005 2nd Overall Giro delle Regioni 1st Stage 3 8th Gran Premio Palio del Recioto 10th Overall Giro della Toscana 2006 9th Trofeo Città di Castelfidardo 9th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese 2007 1st Trofeo Città di Borgomanero 6th Overall Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda 1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 2 6th Overall Tour de Romandie 2008 1st Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 8 (ITT) 2nd Overall Tour de Romandie 7th Overall Tour of Missouri 1st Young rider classification 10th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 2009 1st Overall Tour de Romandie 1st Young rider classification 1st Stage 4 1st Clásica de San Sebastián 3rd Overall Tour de Suisse 7th UCI World Ranking 8th Overall Tour de France 10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 2010 1st Overall Giro di Sardegna 1st Stage 2 3rd Overall Paris–Nice 1st Young rider classification 5th Amstel Gold Race 7th Overall Tour de France 8th Overall Volta a Catalunya 2011 Giro del Trentino 1st Mountains classification 1st Stage 4 4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 5th Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Young rider classification 2012 1st Stage 19 Giro d'Italia 2nd Tour Bohemia 3rd Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 6th Overall Tour de Romandie 6th Overall Tour de Suisse 6th Overall Giro del Trentino 6th Strade Bianche 2013 1st Amstel Gold Race 3rd Overall Tour de Suisse 3rd Clásica de San Sebastián 5th Overall Tour de France 6th GP Miguel Induráin 2014 3rd Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 5th Strade Bianche 7th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 8th Overall Tour of Oman 8th Overall Tour de Suisse 8th La Flèche Wallonne 2015 1st Stage 6 USA Pro Cycling Challenge 5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 10th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 2016 1st Road race, National Championships 6th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 7th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 10th Overall Tour de France 10th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 2017 1st Pro Ötztaler 5500 4th Road race, National Championships 2018 2nd Amstel Gold Race 4th La Flèche Wallonne 6th Road race, UCI World Championships 8th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
General classification results timeline Grand Tour general classification results Grand Tour 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Giro d'Italia — — — —5 15 — — 28 — — 55 — — — Tour de France — 1287 112 —5 — 1710 24 — 16 109 — / Vuelta a España 21 — 61 28 — — DNF — — — — — — — — Major stage race general classification results Race 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Paris–Nice 19 DNF DNF3 17 — — — — — — 19 — 24 — / Tirreno–Adriatico — — — — —3 1331010 DNF — 27 — 77 Volta a Catalunya — — —8 — — — — — — — — —NH 78 Tour of the Basque Country — —10 — — — 18 17 — 30 33 — — — Tour de Romandie621 DNF 636 30 — — — 35 — — — Critérium du Dauphiné — — — — — — — — — 19 28 — — DNF — Tour de Suisse —13 16 —638 — — — DNF 22NH —
Classics results timeline Monument 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Milan–San Remo — — — 86 — — — DNF 29 56 — — 40 54 — Tour of FlandersDid not contest during his career Paris–Roubaix Liège–Bastogne–Liège — — 45 484 — 125757 278 79 DNF DNF Giro di Lombardia — — — — — — — 23 — DNF 32 43 DNF — — Classic 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Strade Bianche DNF — — — —6 —5 11 — DNF — 20 OTL — Amstel Gold Race 59 52 185 — —1 18 14 12 1262 18NH 81 La Flèche Wallonne 39 50 51 91 — — 178 11 11 724 DNF DNF 47 Clásica de San Sebastián — 201 DNF — —3 — 13 22 63 — 17NH —
+ Legend — Did not compete OTL Outside time limit DNF Did not finish NH Not held
References
External links
Palmares at Cycling Base (French)