Robbie McEwen (born June 24, 1972 in Brisbane
, Queensland
) is an Australian
professional road bicycle racer,
for the Katusha team on the UCI ProTour, specializing in sprint
finishes. As a triple winner of the
Tour de France's
sprinters' classification, at his peak , he was
considered one of the fastest
sprinters in the world.
A former junior Australian
BMX champion,
McEwen switched to
road racing
in 1990 at 18. He was first selected for the Australian national
road team in 1994.
McEwen lives in Brakel
, Belgium
with his
wife Angélique Pattyn, his son Ewan, and his daughter
Alana.
Career
McEwen started road cycling in 1992 at the Institute of Sport in
Canberra under head coach Heiko Salzwedel. The first signs of his
sprinting prowess on the international stage were stage wins in The
Peace Race riding for the Australian national team .He competed in
the road race at the
1996 Summer
Olympics (23rd) and the
2000
Summer Olympics (19th). Also included on the Australian team
for the 1994
UCI
Road Cycling World Championship in Italy, and the 2002
UCI Road Cycling World
Championship in Belgium where he won a silver medal. McEwen was
selected for Australia at the
2004
Summer Olympics as part of the road race team of
Michael Rogers,
Stuart O'Grady,
Baden
Cooke and
Matthew White. He
was named 2002 Australian Cyclist of the Year, 2002 Male Road
Cyclist of the Year and 1999 Australia Male Road Cyclist of the
Year.
Robbie McEwen in the 2006 Bay Cycling
Classic
Tour de France
McEwen has participated in the
Tour de
France 11 times, in 1997 (117th), 1998 (89th), 1999, 2000,
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. He has had 12 stage
wins. In 1999 on stage 20 he won the sprint in Paris on the
Champs-Elysées. In 2002 he won stage 3: Metz - Reims and stage 20:
Melun – Paris. In 2004 he won stages 3 and 9. In 2005, he was
relegated in stage 3 by referees after clashing with fellow
Australian
Stuart O’Grady. He
won stage 5 to Montargis, stage 7 to Karlsruhe in Germany and stage
13 to Montpellier.
He started the 2007 Tour with a victorious sprint on stage 1 to
Canterbury. The stage win was seen as remarkable as he had crashed
with 20km to go. He landed on his wrist and elbow but with the help
of his team he clawed his way back to the bunch to win the sprint
by over a bike length. The injuries he sustained from this crash
did not prevent him from continuing but eventually he was forced
out of the race when the Tour entered the Mountains and he failed
to finish stage eight within the time limit.
By 2006, McEwen had won the
sprinters'
green
jersey points competition three times in the Tour de France in
2002 and
2004 against rival Australians,
Baden Cooke and
Stuart
O'Grady, and again in
2006
against
Erik Zabel and
Thor Hushovd. He was the first Australian to
win the overall
Sprint Classification
of the
Tour de France.
In 2002 McEwen won the green jersey with O’Grady third and Cooke
fourth. In 2003
Baden Cooke won the
green jersey with McEwen second and O’Grady seventh.
In 2004 McEwen won the green jersey for a second time defeating
Thor Hushovd of Norway, and
Erik Zabel of Germany, with O'Grady 4th and Cooke
12th. He had fractured two vertebrae early in the Tour and had
ridden the race in pain. Three days after the Tour de France he
came second to
Lance Armstrong in a
criterium in the Netherlands.
Major victories
- 1996
- 1st Stage 4 Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia
- 1st Stage 3 part b Regio Tour International
- 1997
- 1st in Noosa International Criterium
- 1st Stage 2 Ronde van Nederland, Haarlem
- 1st Stage 3 part a Ronde van Nederland
- 1st Overall Geelong Bay
Classic Series
- :1st Stage 1
- :1st Stage 2
- :1st Stage 4
- 1st Stage 2 Quatre jours de Dunkerque
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de
Luxembourg
- 1998
- 1st Stage 3 part a Ronde van Nederland
- 1st Stage 5 Ronde van Nederland
- 1st Trofeo Alcudia
- 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a Andalucia
- 1st Stage 5 Geelong Bay
Classic Series
- 1999
- 1st Stage 20 Tour de France
- 1st Stage 2 Ronde van Nederland
- 1st Stage 2 Tour de
Luxembourg
- 1st Stage 1 part a Route du Sud
- 1st Overall Geelong Bay
Classic Series
- :1st Stage 1
- :1st Stage 4
- :1st Stage 5
- 2000
- 1st Stage 6 Tour Down Under
- 1st Trofeo Cala Millor
- 2001
- 1st Trofeo Palmanova-Palmanova
- 1st Circuit de Brabant Wallon
- 1st Stage 2 Ronde van
Nederland
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de la Region Wallonne
- 1st Stage 2 Tour
Méditerranéen
- 1st Stage 3 Herald Sun Tour
- 1st Stage 4 Herald Sun Tour
- 1st Stage 2 International Uniqa Classic
- 1st Stage 3 International Uniqa Classic
- 1st Stage 5 Challenge Mallorca
- 2002
- 1st
Australian National
Road Race Championships
- 1st
Sprint
Classification Tour de
France
- :1st Stage 3
- :1st Stage 20
- 1st Stage 4 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 10 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 2 Paris-Nice
- 1st Stage 7 Paris-Nice
- 1st Paris-Brussels
- 1st Stage 1 Tour Down Under
- 1st Stage 3 Tour Down Under
- 1st Stage 4 Tour Down Under
- 1st Stage 6 Tour Down Under
- :1st Sprint Classification
- 1st Overall Étoile de
Bessèges
- :1st Stage 1
- 1st Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
- :1st Stages 2
- :1st Stage 3
- 1st Grote Scheldeprijs
- 1st Delta Profronde
- 2003
- 1st Stage 4 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 11 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse
- 1st Stage 4 Étoile de
Bessèges
- 1st Dwars door Vlaanderen Waregem
- 1st Stage 3 Tour Down Under
- 2004
- 1st Sprint
Classification Tour de
France
- :1st Stage 2
- :1st Stage 9
- :Held Maillot Jaune
from Stages 2-3
- 1st Stage 5, Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse
- 1st Stage 1 Tour Down Under
- 1st Stage 4 Tour Down Under
- :1st Sprint Classification
- 1st Aalst Criterium
- 1st Memorial Samyn-Fayt-le-Franc
- 1st Wateringse Wielerdag
- 1st Spektakel van Steenwijk
- 1st Profronde van Ooostvoorne
- 1st Gouden Pijl
- 2005
- 1st Australian National
Road Race Championships
- 1st Paris-Brussels
- 1st Stage 5 Tour de
France
- 1st Stage 7 Tour de
France
- 1st Stage 13 Tour de
France
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de
Suisse
- 1st Stage 2 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 6 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 10 Giro
d'Italia
- :Held Maglia Rosa
from Stages 2-3
- 1st Stage 1 Tour Down Under
- 1st Stage 2 Tour Down Under
- 1st Stage 6 Tour Down Under
- 1st GP de Fourmies
- 1st Overall Bay Classic
- :1st Stage 1
- :1st Stage 4
- 2006
- 1st Sprint
Classification Tour de
France
- :1st Stage 2
- :1st Stage 4
- :1st Stage 6
- 1st Stage 2 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 4 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 6 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Paris-Brussels
- 1st Jacobs Creek Classic
- 1st Aalst Criterium BEL
- 2007
- 1st Stage 1 Tour de
France
- 1st Stage 5 Tour de
Suisse
- 1st Stage 2 Giro
d'Italia
- 1st Stage 1 Tour de
Romandie
- 1st Stage 1 Tirreno-Adriatico
- 1st Stage 5 Tour Down
Under
- 1st Stage 3 Jayco Bay
Classic
- 1st Stage 3 Eneco
Tour
- 1st Paris-Brussels
- 2008
- 1st Stage 2 Tour de
Romandie
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de
Suisse
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de
Suisse
- 1st Vattenfall
Cyclassics
- 1st Paris-Brussels
- 2009
- 1st Down Under Classic
- 1st Stage 2 Vuelta a
Mallorca
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de Picardie
References
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