 Van den Broeck at the2011 Critérium du Dauphiné. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Jurgen Van den Broeck |
| Nickname | VDBke, JVDB, VDB2 |
| Born | (1983-02-01)1 February 1983 (age 42) Herentals,Belgium |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] |
| Weight | 68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st)[1] |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | All-rounder |
| Amateur teams | |
| 1997–2000 | KVC Heist Sportief |
| 2001 | Kortrijk Groeninge Spurters |
| 2003 | Quick-Step–Davitamon–Latexco |
| Professional teams | |
| 2004–2006 | U.S. Postal Service |
| 2007–2015 | Predictor–Lotto |
| 2016 | Team Katusha |
| 2017 | LottoNL–Jumbo |
| Major wins | |
| One-day races and Classics | |
Medal record | |
Jurgen Van den Broeck (born 1 February 1983) is aBelgian formerroad bicycle racer,[2] who competed professionally between 2004 and 2017 for theDiscovery Channel,Lotto–Soudal,Team Katusha andLottoNL–Jumbo squads. Van den Broeck specialised in thetime trial discipline, having been Junior World Champion against the clock in 2001. The promise he first displayed in minor stage races like theTour de Romandie andEneco Tour was later validated and confirmed by top-10 finishes in all three Grand Tours: theGiro d'Italia, theTour de France and theVuelta a España.
Born inHerentals, Van den Broeck won theJunior World Time Trial Championship in2001 and made his professional debut in 2003 as astagiaire for the Quick-Step–Davitamon–Latexco team.
Rather than remaining in Belgium, however, Van den Broeck signed with the AmericanU.S. Postal Service team ofLance Armstrong for his first full season as a professional in 2004. His only result of note that year was 6th-place overall in theTour of Belgium.
Van den Broeck remained withJohan Bruyneel's team in 2005 when Discovery Channel took over the title sponsorship, and he continued with the Americans in 2006 after Armstrong retired. During that period he finished on the podium in stages of theDeutschland Tour and the Tour of Belgium (where he also won the mountains classification), and he rode to a top-20 finish overall in theTour de Romandie. In June, however, Van den Broeck announced his intention to return to Belgium when he agreed to a two-year contract with the then-Davitamon squad, which would be re-branded in 2007 asPredictor–Lotto. The following month Van den Broeck scored his first win as a professional, taking the Schriek, Derny in Belgium ahead ofErwin Vervecken and futurecyclo-cross world championNiels Albert.[3][4]
At the age of 24, Van den Broeck managed to finish in the top-10 on the general classification at the2007 Eneco Tour with his new team, though he also won the bronze medal in theBelgian National Time Trial Championships.[5] After completing his first Grand Tour in an anonymous 74th place at the2007 Giro d'Italia, Van den Broeck finally showed that he had talent as a stage racer when he returned to Italy the following year and came seventh overall in the2008 Giro d'Italia. Merely months later, bothRiccardo Riccò andEmanuele Sella – respectively finishing 2nd and 6th in the2008 Giro d'Italia – were sanctioned for doping.
Showing excellent form in the2009 Tour de France, Van den Broeck climbed with the leaders through the Alps, although he had crashed heavily on the fourth stageteam time trial, and lost more than seven minutes. His consistency resulted in 15th place in the final general classification ranking, which was later improved to 14th after the disqualification of 11th placedMikel Astarloza for testing positive for EPO; he also placed 9th place in the competition for thepolka dot jersey. As the performances came at the end ofCadel Evans' tenure atSilence–Lotto, the Belgian outfit decided that Van den Broeck was capable and reliable enough to become their general classification leader.
The following season he rode to an important and somewhat surprising 3rd place (5th place prior toAlberto Contador andDenis Menchov being disqualified and removed from the results) in the2010 Tour de France, becoming the first Belgian to finish in the top 5 sinceClaude Criquielion in1986. After the Tour Van den Broeck won two criteriums: one inPeer and the other in his hometown ofHerentals.
In the2011 Tour de France, after an encouraging first week and while aiming for a general classification podium spot, Van den Broeck had to abandon the race along with another overall contender,Alexander Vinokourov, after a massive and spectacularly grim downhill crash which left him with apneumothorax, broken ribs and a fractured shoulder.[6] Not to be deterred, however, Van den Broeck recovered from his injuries in time to compete in the2011 Vuelta a España, where he finished 8th overall.
In 2012, Van den Broeck finished 3rd in theVolta a Catalunya and then finished 5th in theCriterium du Dauphiné,[7] showing good form for the forthcoming Tour de France. On Stage 7 of theTour de France, a mountain top finish atLa Planche des Belles Filles,[8] Van den Broeck lost 1 minute 54 seconds to stage winnerChris Froome after getting a flat tyre just before the final climb. However Van den Broeck then showed his good form in the mountains to move him up to finishing 4th overall.
In 2013, Van den Broeck abandoned in theTour de France after he crashed in stage 5.
In 2015, he finished twelfth at theGiro d'Italia. In June, he won theNational Time Trial Championships for the first time in his career.[9]
In September 2015,Team Katusha announced that Van Den Broeck would join them for 2016, after nine seasons with Lotto.[10]
After one season with Team Katusha,LottoNL–Jumbo signed Van den Broeck on a two-year contract.[11] In May, it was announced that Van den Broeck would retire at the end of the 2017 season.[2]
Time trial,UCI Junior Road World Championships
Overall Tour of Limburg
Time trial, National Road Championships| Grand Tour general classification results | |||||||||||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | 74 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 12 | — | 91 | |||
 Tour de France | — | — | — | — | — | 15 | 3 | DNF | 4 | DNF | 13 | — | DNF | — | |||
 / Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | DNF | — | DNF | DNF | — | — | |||
| Major stage race general classification results | |||||||||||||||||
| Race | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |||
| Paris–Nice | — | — | — | 25 | 35 | 15 | DNF | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
 / Tirreno–Adriatico | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | 11 | — | DNF | |||
 Volta a Catalunya | 68 | 71 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | 9 | 35 | 23 | — | — | |||
| Tour of the Basque Country | DNF | — | DNF | DNF | 23 | — | 10 | 13 | 12 | — | 27 | — | 29 | — | |||
| Tour de Romandie | — | 56 | 20 | 44 | — | 68 | — | — | — | 7 | — | 14 | — | 57 | |||
 Critérium du Dauphiné | — | — | — | — | — | 29 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 29 | 3 | — | 24 | — | |||
| Tour de Suisse | — | 45 | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | |||
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
