 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Marc Wauters |
| Nickname | De Soldaat (The Soldier) |
| Born | (1969-02-23)23 February 1969 (age 56) Hasselt, Belgium |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb; 11 st 7 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Lotto–Intermarché |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role |
|
| Rider type | Time triallist |
| Professional teams | |
| 1991–1993 | Lotto |
| 1994–1995 | WordPerfect–Colnago–Decca |
| 1996–1997 | Lotto |
| 1998–2006 | Rabobank |
| Managerial team | |
| 2009– | Silence–Lotto |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Marc Wauters (born 23 February 1969 inHasselt, Belgium) is aBelgian formercyclist who was professional from 1991 until 2006. The2004 Olympian, nicknamedThe Soldier[1] was a member of theRabobank cycling team of theUCI ProTour since 1998 and had to end his career several weeks short because of a broken collarbone which he suffered during a training on 20 September 2006.[2]
He currently works as adirecteur sportif forUCI ProTeamLotto–Intermarché.[3]
Wauters participated at the2000 Summer Olympics inSydney and at the2004 Summer Olympics inAthens where he took part in both the road race and the time trial without any success.[4][5] In his early career, between 1991 and 1996 he won several of the smaller road races inThe Netherlands and Belgium he was cycling in. The only exception to this was his win in the 5th stage of the 1995Vuelta a Andalucía.[6]
In 1997 and 1998 Wauters didn't win a single race, although he became 7th at theWorld Cycling Championships 1998, his highest position in this event during his career. From 1999 on after winning theGrand Prix Eddy Merckx he started achieving wins again. In this year he also wonParis–Tours, 2 stages in theTour de Luxembourg plus the overall ranking and the overall classification in theRheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt. Trying to defend his title in Rheinland-Pfalz he won 3rd stage in 2000. At the end of the tour he had defended his title successively. He won the Grand Prix Eddy Merckx for the second time in his career in 2001. Wauters was known as a worker in the peloton and didn't win much, but helped his teammates achieving decent results. Meanwhile, he developed himself into one of Belgium's best time trial specialists, winning the Belgium championships in 2002, 2003 and 2005. At the 2004 World Championships he finished on a 7th position.[1]
On 15 October 2006 a memorial race was held inZolder,Belgium to wave Wauters officially goodbye from the sport.[2]
Time trial
OverallPrudential Tour OverallTour de Luxembourg OverallRheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt OverallRheinland-Pfalz RundfahrtTime trial, National Road ChampionshipsTime trial, National Road ChampionshipsTime trial, National Road ChampionshipsWauters started in a total of 10Tour de France editions, finishing inParis eight times. His highest final ranking was 43rd in 2000.[7] The year after, during the2001 Tour de France Wauters won the second stage, held fromCalais toAntwerp. He was part of a breakaway containing 16 cyclists together with teammateErik Dekker. Wauters got away from the group together withArnaud Pretot who he beat in the final sprint. Because of his decent result in the prologue two days prior inDunkerque he wore the yellow jersey for a day, before losing it toStuart O'Grady.[8]
