Robbie McEwen
 McEwen in 2010 |
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Full name | Robbie McEwen | ||||||||||||
| Nickname | Pocket Rocket | ||||||||||||
| Born | 24 June 1972 Brisbane, Australia |
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| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 67 kg (150 lb; 10.6 st) | ||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||
| Current team | GreenEDGE | ||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||
| Rider type | Sprinter | ||||||||||||
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| Major wins | |||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Infobox last updated on 1 January 2012 |
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Robbie McEwen (born 24 June 1972 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, for GreenEDGE on the UCI World Tour, specializing in sprint finishes.[1] As a triple winner of the Tour de France's green jersey 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 Australia with his wife Angélique Pattyn, his son Ewan, and his daughters Elena and Claudia. In 2011 he published an autobiography, One Way Road.
Contents |
[edit] Career
McEwen started road cycling in 1992 at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra under head coach Heiko Salzwedel. The first signs of his sprinting prowess on the international stage were at the "Peace Race", winning three stages for the Australian National team.
He competed in the road race at the 1996 Summer Olympics (23rd) and the 2000 Summer Olympics (19th).[2] He was 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 again 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.
McEwen was named 2002 Australian Cyclist of the Year, 2002 Male Road Cyclist of the Year and 1999 Australia Male Road Cyclist of the Year. In December 2010, after the failure of the Australian-registered Pegasus team to obtain a UCI Professional Continental license, McEwen confirmed that 2011 would be his final professional season, which he would ride for Radio Shack after securing a contract with Johan Bruyneel's squad at the last minute.[3]. In September 2011 he joined the new Australian team GreenEDGE,[1] which obtained a ProTeam licence for the 2012 season.
[edit] Tour de France
McEwen has participated in the Tour de France 12 times, in 1997 (117th), 1998 (89th), 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. 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 20 km 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.
In 2002 McEwen became the first Australian to win the Maillot vert (green jersey) overall Points (or Sprint) Classification of the Tour de France. By 2006, McEwen had won the sprinters' green jersey points competition three times in this race, in 2002, 2004 and again in 2006, defeating rivals such as fellow Australians Baden Cooke and Stuart O'Grady, and international competitors like Erik Zabel of Germany and Thor Hushovd of Norway.
McEwen's first win in 2002 saw him take the green jersey from Zabel, with O’Grady third and Cooke fourth. In 2003 Cooke won the green jersey with McEwen second, Zabel third and O’Grady seventh. In 2004 McEwen won the green jersey for a second time, defeating Hushovd and Erik Zabel, with O'Grady 4th and Cooke 12th; McEwen had fractured two vertebrae early in the Tour and had ridden the race in pain, but despite this, three days after the Tour de France he came second to Lance Armstrong in a criterium in the Netherlands.[4] In 2005 McEwen came in third, behind Hushovd and O’Grady. McEwen won his third and final green jersey in 2006, this time with Zabel second and Hushovd third. McEwen was out of the top ten in 2007, placed eighth in 2008, and missed the Tour due to injury in 2009.
[edit] Palmares
- 2011
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de Wallonie
- 1st
Overall Tour de Wallonie-Picarde
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st Stage 4
- 2nd Tour de Mumbai
- 2010
- 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a Mallorca
- 1st Stage 1 Eneco Tour
- 2nd Grote Scheldeprijs
- 2nd Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen
- 2009
- 1st Down Under Classic
- 1st Stage 2 Vuelta a Mallorca
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de Picardie
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Held Maglia Rosa
- 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
- 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
- 1st Aalst Criterium
- 1st Memorial Samyn-Fayt-le-Franc
- 1st Wateringse Wielerdag
- 1st Spektakel van Steenwijk
- 1st Profronde van Ooostvoorne
- 1st Gouden Pijl
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 2000
- 1st Stage 6 Tour Down Under
- 1st Trofeo Cala Millor
- 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
- 1998
- 1st Stage 3 part a Ronde van Nederland
- 1st Stage 5 Ronde van Nederland
- 1st Trofeo Alcudia
- 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a Andalucía
- 1st Stage 5 Geelong Bay Classic Series
- 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
- 1996
- 1st Stage 4 Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia
- 1st Stage 3 Part B Regio-Tour International
[edit] References
- ^ a b Hinds, Alex (1 September 2011). "McEwen and Beppu to GreenEdge". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mcewen-and-beppu-to-greenedge. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ^ "Robbie McEwen". Sports Reference LLC. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/mc/robbie-mcewen-1.html. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
- ^ http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/12/news/robbie-mcewen-and-robbie-hunter-to-join-team-radioshack-for-2011_153829
- ^ Collins, Gerry (2 August 2004). "Robbie McEwen: Too tough to quit". ABC News. http://abc.net.au/olympics/2004/profiles/robbie_mcewen.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robbie McEwen |
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- 1972 births
- Living people
- Australian Institute of Sport alumni
- Australian cyclists
- Australian Tour de France stage winners
- Tour de France Champs Elysées stage winners
- Olympic cyclists of Australia
- Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Sportspeople from Brisbane
- Giro d'Italia stage winners
- Tour de Suisse stage winners
