Wouter Lambertus Martinus Henricus Poels (born 1 October 1987) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Bahrain Victorious.[4]
 Poels at the 2018 Tour of Britain | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Wouter Lambertus Martinus Henricus Poels |
| Nickname | Wout, DJ Breadsticks |
| Born | 1 October 1987 Venray, Limburg, the Netherlands |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 66 kg (146 lb; 10 st 6 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Team Bahrain Victorious |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber[1] Super-domestique[1] |
| Professional teams | |
| 2006–2008 | Fondas-P3Transfer Team |
| 2009–2013 | Vacansoleil |
| 2014 | Omega Pharma–Quick-Step |
| 2015–2019 | Team Sky[2] |
| 2020– | Bahrain–McLaren[3] |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Career
editPoels was born in Venray. He almost lost a kidney after a massive crash on the sixth stage of the 2012 Tour de France.[5]
After competing with the Vacansoleil–DCM[6] squad since 2009, Poels moved to the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step squad for the 2014 season.[7]
Team Sky (2015–19)
editIn September 2014, Team Sky announced that Poels would join them from 1 January 2015.[8] His first win for the team came in the 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, where he led the team following the withdrawal of Chris Froome. Poels won stage 4 into Castelraimondo with an attack on the final climb and a solo descent to the finish line. He moved into the lead of the race and went on to finish seventh in the overall standings.[9][10] He later finished second overall at the Tour of Britain, winning the toughest mountain stage with an uphill finish on Hartside Fell.
In 2016, Poels won his first one-day race after sprinting to victory from a four-man group in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. It was the first monument for Team Sky and for Poels himself.[11][12]
Bahrain–McLaren (2020–present)
editIn September 2019, Poels announced that he was joining the Bahrain–Merida team, later renamed as Bahrain–McLaren, for the 2020 season.[3] In his first season with the team, Poels finished sixth overall at the Vuelta a España.[13] The following year, he held the polka-dot jersey for four days at the 2021 Tour de France, and recorded his best finish at the race to that point – sixteenth overall. In 2022, Poels won the penultimate stage and the general classification at the Vuelta a Andalucía,[14][15] his first overall stage race win since 2016.[16] Poels then won his first Tour de France stage in 2023; having been part of a large breakaway on stage fifteen, Poels and three other riders went clear following the Col des Aravis, with Poels soloing away on the final climb towards Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and he ultimately won the stage by more than two minutes.[17][18]
Major results
edit
Source: [19]
- 2007
- 10th Overall Vuelta a Extremadura
- 1st Mountains classification
- 2008
- 1st
Overall Vuelta Ciclista a León - 3rd Overall Volta a Lleida
- 3rd Rund um Düren
- 9th Overall Circuit des Ardennes
- 2010 (2 pro wins)
- 1st Stage 4 Tour of Britain
- 2nd Overall Tour de l'Ain
- 1st Stage 4
- 8th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
- 9th Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop
- 2011 (1)
- 1st Stage 15 Vuelta a España
- 2nd Overall Tour de l'Ain
- 1st Stage 3
- 3rd Overall Tour Méditerranéen
- 1st
Young rider classification
- 1st
- 3rd Overall Vuelta a Murcia
- 4th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 2012 (1)
- 2nd Overall Tour de Luxembourg
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st Stage 3
- 1st
- 3rd Overall Vuelta a Murcia
- 8th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st
- 2013 (1)
- 7th Amstel Curaçao Race
- 8th Overall Tour de l'Ain
- 1st Stage 4
- 9th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 10th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
- 2014 (1)
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tirreno–Adriatico
- 9th Strade Bianche
- 10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1st Stage 4
- 2015 (2)
- 2nd Overall Tour of Britain
- 1st Stage 5
- 3rd Overall Abu Dhabi Tour
- 5th Milano–Torino
- 7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Stage 4
- 8th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
- 8th GP Ouest-France
- 2016 (6)
- 1st Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 1st
Points classification - 1st
Mountains classification - 1st Stages 1 (ITT) & 4
- 1st
- 1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- 1st Stage 5 Volta a Catalunya
- 1st Stage 6 Tour of Britain
- 4th La Flèche Wallonne
- 7th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 2017 (1)
- 3rd Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st Stage 7
- 4th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 4th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 6th Overall Vuelta a España
- 6th Milano–Torino
- 7th Overall Tour of Guangxi
- 2018 (3)
- 1st Stage 4 (ITT) Paris–Nice
- 2nd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stage 2
- 1st
- 2nd Overall Tour of Britain
- 1st Stage 6
- 2019 (1)
- 3rd Overall Tour Down Under
- 3rd Overall Volta ao Algarve
- 4th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
- 1st Stage 7
- 7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
- 10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- 2020
- 6th Overall Vuelta a España
- 6th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
Combativity award Stage 5 Tour de France- 2021
- 4th Overall Tour de la Provence
- Tour de France
- Held
after Stages 8 & 15–17 - Combativity award Stage 8
- Held
- 2022 (2)
- 1st Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 1st Stage 4
- 2023 (2)
- 1st Stage 15 Tour de France
- 1st Stage 20 Vuelta a España
- 6th Overall UAE Tour
- 9th Overall Tour of Slovenia
- 2024 (1)
- 3rd Overall Tour de Hongrie
- 1st Stage 5
- 6th Overall Tour of the Alps
General classification results timeline
edit
| Grand Tour general classification results | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
|
— | — | — | 21 | — | — | — | 12 | — | — | — | 34 | — | — |
| Tour de France
|
DNF | DNF | 28 | — | 44 | 28 | — | 58 | 26 | 110 | 16 | — | 27 | 43 |
 Vuelta a España
|
17 | — | DNF | 38 | — | — | 6 | — | 34 | 6 | 23 | DNF | 15 | |
| Major stage race general classification results | ||||||||||||||
| Stage races | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| Paris–Nice
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | 15 | 27 | — |
 Tirreno–Adriatico
|
18 | 8 | 10 | 38 | 7 | 14 | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — | 11 |
 Volta a Catalunya
|
— | — | — | — | 24 | 34 | — | — | — | NH | 79 | DNF | 29 | 11 |
| Tour of the Basque Country
|
39 | 17 | 9 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Tour de Romandie
|
— | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
 Critérium du Dauphiné
|
— | — | 57 | — | 39 | 25 | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de Suisse
|
25 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | NH | 31 | — | — | 16 |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| NH | Not held |
| IP | In progress |
References
edit- ^ a b "Super-domestiques: Five unsung heroes of the Tour de France". 21 July 2016.
- ^ "Team Sky". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
- ^ a b Farrand, Stephen (18 September 2019). "Wout Poels leaves Team Ineos for leadership role at Bahrain-Merida". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc.
- ^ "Bahrain Victorious". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ "Poels optimistic about return to racing in 2013". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 29 November 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ Atkins, Ben (3 January 2012). "Vacansoleil-DCM presented with twelve new riders for 2012". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC.
- ^ "OPQS Signs Wout Poels and Janier Acevedo". Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. Decolef. 1 September 2013.
- ^ "Team Sky sign Leopold König, Nicolas Roche, Wout Poels, Andy Fenn, Lars Petter Nordhaug". skysports.com. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
- ^ O'Shea, Sadhbh (15 March 2015). "Tirreno-Adriatico: Poels wins in Castelraimondo". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
- ^ "Tirreno-Adriatico: Quintana wins overall". Cyclingnews.com. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
- ^ "Poels wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege". Cyclingnews.com. 24 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ^ "Wout Poels (Wins)". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ^ Puddicombe, Stephen (9 November 2020). "Vuelta a España 2020 ratings: how did each team perform?". Cycling Weekly. Future plc. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
After losing time on both the opening two stages in the Basque Country, Wout Poels slowly but surely climbed up the rankings, eventually reaching sixth by the end of the second week and remaining there until Madrid.
- ^ Goddard, Ben (19 February 2022). "Wout Poels wins stage 4 of Ruta del Sol". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
- ^ Goddard, Ben (20 February 2022). "Kämna wins final stage of Ruta del Sol". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
- ^ "Poels ends drought by winning Tour of Andalusia". SuperSport. Agence France-Presse. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
- ^ Ostanek, Daniel (16 July 2023). "Tour de France: Wout Poels blasts to blockbuster stage 15 solo victory". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
- ^ "Poels, better late than never". Tour de France. Amaury Sport Organisation. 16 July 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
- ^ "Wout Poels". FirstCycling.com. FirstCycling AS. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
External links
edit
- Official website
- Wout Poels at UCI
- Team Bahrain Victorious profile
- Wout Poels at ProCyclingStats
- Wout Poels at Olympedia (archive)
- Wout Poels at Olympics.com
- Wout Poels at TeamNL (archive) (in Dutch)