Niki Terpstra

Terpstra in 2008

Niki Terpstra was born on 18 May 1984 in Beverwijk in the Netherlands.

He was part of the silver medal winning team in the team pursuit in the 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, together with Levi Heimans, Jens Mouris and Peter Schep. With a 4th place in the Three Days of De Panne followed by a 14th place at the 2008 Tour of Flanders, young Terpstra showed signs of considerable talent.

Between 2007 and 2010, Terpstra rode for the German Team Milram. In 2009 Terpstra won the 3rd stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, gaining the yellow leader jersey at the same time, keeping it for a day.[5]

Terpstra at the 2013 Tour of Flanders

In 2011, Terpstra joined the Belgian UCI World Tour Quick-Step team.

In 2012, Terpstra took a prestigious victory at the Dwars door Vlaanderen, winning in solo fashion after being on the attack all day. He detached himself from the break on the Oude Kwaremont with Jelle Wallays of Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator. He dropped Wallays on the Paterberg and finished the race with an advantage of 47 seconds over Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel.[6]

Terpstra crossing the line at the Roubaix Velodrome to win the 2014 Paris–Roubaix.

In 2014 he won his first short stage race with the victory in the Tour of Qatar. Terpstra continued his good form in the classics, placing fifth in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, winning the Dwars door Vlaanderen for the second time in his career, and placing sixth in the Tour of Flanders. On 13 April 2014 he won the Paris–Roubaix race in solo fashion, after attacking from the leading group of 11 riders with 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) remaining.[7]

In 2015, Terpstra defended his Tour of Qatar title, holding the race lead after winning the individual time trial on Stage 3.[8] At Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Terpstra made the decisive breakaway of four riders with teammates Tom Boonen and Stijn Vandenbergh, along with Ian Stannard (Team Sky). After Stannard closed down a Boonen attack in the closing stages Terpstra tried to counterattack, but Vandenbergh closed the gap, allowing Stannard to attack with only Terpstra able to follow. Stannard went on to beat Terpstra in the sprint finish.[9] In March Terpstra had some success, first by getting the second position in the Ronde van Zeeland Seaports. He then got on the second step of the podium of a very windy Gent–Wevelgem, as he won the two-man sprint for second position after Luca Paolini had crossed the line solo.[10] In his next race, the Tour of Flanders, he broke away from the peloton with Alexander Kristoff 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the finish but could not beat Kristoff in the final sprint, completing the race in second place.[11] In June, he won the Dutch National Road Race Championships in a bunch sprint, surprising the pure sprinters.[12]

In 2016, Terpstra won the Eneco Tour after a dramatic rain-swept final stage that saw former race leader Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) crash out. The stage featured cobbles and bergs used in the Classics first saw Dennis lose time, and then drop out completely due to his injuries. Terpstra, who started the final stage in fifth place overall, formed part of a front group of three riders and finished second behind stage winner Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Dimension Data).[13]

Terpstra at the 2018 Tour of Flanders

In 2018, Terpstra won E3 Harelbeke, soloing to the line after initially attacking on the Taaienberg with teammate Yves Lampaert with more than 70 kilometres (43 miles) remaining. Terpstra finished 20 seconds clear of an elite group, led home by his team-mate Philippe Gilbert, and he became the first Dutchman to win E3 Harelbeke since Steven de Jongh in 2003.[14] Terpstra won the Tour of Flanders with a late solo attack. After following an attack by Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain–Merida) over the Kruisberg climb, Terpstra dropped the Italian soon after, then caught and quickly dispatched a trio of riders from an earlier breakaway on the final climb of the Oude Kwaremont. Terpstra remained clear over the remaining 25 kilometres (16 miles), finishing 12 seconds ahead of Trek–Segafredo's Mads Pedersen from the earlier breakaway, and by teammate and defending race-winner Gilbert who led the bunch home in third.[15] It was his second ‘Monument’ victory [16] and he became the first Dutch rider since Adri van der Poel in 1986 to win the Tour of Flanders.[17] The following week, Terpstra claimed third place at Paris–Roubaix, leading home a group 57 seconds behind winner Peter Sagan (Bora–Hansgrohe) and Silvan Dillier (AG2R La Mondiale).[18]

In 2019, Terpstra joined French team Direct Énergie.[19]

On 16 June 2020, Terpstra was involved in a crash in the Netherlands. While motor-pacing, he was forced to avoid hitting a pack of geese at high speed, hitting a rock and falling to the ground.[20] He was initially ruled out of racing for three months,[21] but returned to racing at August's Tour de Wallonie.[22]