Steven Kruijswijk

Steven Kruijswijk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈsteːvən ˈkrœysʋɛik]; born 7 June 1987) is a Dutch road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma.[6] Kruijswijk is best known for his strong ability in the mountains where he has taken his greatest success.

Steven Kruijswijk
Kruijswijk in the most aggressive classification jersey at the 2014 Tour of Alberta
Personal information
Full nameSteven Kruijswijk
Nickname
  • De Kleerhanger[1]
  • (English: The Clothes Hanger)
Born (1987-06-07) 7 June 1987
Nuenen, Netherlands
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Weight63 kg (139 lb; 9 st 13 lb)[3]
Team information
Current teamTeam Jumbo–Visma
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeClimber
Professional teams
2006Van Vliet–EBH Advocaten
2007–2009Rabobank Continental Team
2010–Rabobank[4][5]
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
1 TTT stage (2019)

He has finished in the top 5 of all three Grand Tours, and was very close to winning the 2016 Giro d'Italia but lost the lead when he crashed into a snow bank on the penultimate mountain stage. He reached the podium for the first time in a Grand Tour when he placed 3rd overall in the 2019 Tour de France finishing 1:31 behind overall winner Egan Bernal.[7]

Career

Early career

In 2007 Kruijswijk began riding for the Rabobank Continental Team. In 2009 he won the Under 23 category of the Dutch National Road Race Championships.

2011–2015

In 2011, Kruijswijk finished 8th overall in the Giro d'Italia and won Stage 6 in the Tour de Suisse, finishing third overall.[8] His second career victory came at the Arctic Race of Norway in 2014.

Kruijswijk (left), wearing the maglia azzurra of mountains classification leader, at the 2015 Giro d'Italia

In 2015, Kruijswijk led LottoNL–Jumbo at the Giro d'Italia. Although he lost time in the first week, Kruijswijk rode a strong second half of the race, finishing second to Mikel Landa on stage 16, the queen stage of the race. He eventually finished seventh overall, 10 minutes and 53 seconds down on Alberto Contador.[9] Kruijswijk held the blue jersey as leader of the mountains classification from stages 16 to 18, and placed third in that competition behind Giovanni Visconti and Landa.[10] With his efforts in the second half of the race, Kruijswijk was praised by many as the next general classification rider from the Netherlands. Kruijswijk took his form into the Tour de France where he helped teammate Robert Gesink finish in 6th place overall. Kruijswijk was also active himself on mountain stages by going into breakaways, however he had no luck of winning a stage.

2016

Kruijswijk, wearing the maglia rosa of general classification leader, at the 2016 Giro d'Italia

In 2016, Kruijswijk rode the Giro d'Italia again, which began with three stages in the Netherlands. On the queen stage of the race, stage 14, Kruijswijk finished second behind Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE) to take the overall lead by 41 seconds over Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).[11] On stage 15, a mountainous time trial finishing on the Seiser Alm, Kruijswijk again finished second, this time to Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom–RusVelo) to increase his lead to 2 minutes and 12 seconds over Chaves, as Nibali encountered mechanical issues, and dropped to third overall, 2 minutes 51 seconds behind Kruijswijk.[12] Stage 16 saw Kruijswijk finish second for the third stage in a row, behind Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) and he increased his lead over Chaves to 3 minutes.[13] However, on stage 19 Kruijswijk crashed on the descent of the Colle dell'Agnello whilst following an attack by Nibali and Chaves, landing on a bank of snow on the side of the road. Although he was able to continue, Kruijswijk finished the stage almost five minutes down on Nibali and more than four minutes behind Chaves, thus dropping to third overall.[14] He visited the hospital after the stage where it was confirmed he had broken 2 ribs in the crash.[15] Nonetheless, he started stage 20 where he lost further time and dropped behind Valverde to fourth overall,[16] where he finished the Giro.[17]

In July, Kruijswijk signed a two-year contract extension with the team.[18] Following the disappointment of just missing out on the Giro win, Kruijswijk started the Vuelta a España, aiming to ride a good general classification in the race. He abandoned the race in the first week after a heavy crash.[19]

2017

Kruiswijk at the 2017 Giro d'Italia

Kruijswijk aimed to win the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia in 2017, after just missing out on the race win in 2016. His best result before the Giro was 7th overall at the Volta a Catalunya. He never reached his form from the previous year in the Giro however, and Kruijswijk abandoned the race in the last days due to illness. He quickly recovered at the Tour de Suisse, and reached the podium with 3rd overall. He was looking to redeem himself at the Vuelta a España where he was the team leader for LottoNL–Jumbo. Kruijswijk never reached the form he had the previous year and only broke inside the top 10 on the final days; with a 7th place on the finish to Alto de l'Angliru, Kruijswijk finished 9th overall in the race.

2018

Kruijswijk during stage 12 of the 2018 Tour de France

For the 2018 season, Kruijswijk's target was on the Tour de France together with co-captain Primož Roglič. At his final preparation race for the Tour de France, Kruijswijk reached 8th position at the Tour de Suisse. When arriving at the Tour de France, Kruijswijk had a decent start and only lost time on the stage 3 team time trial. When the race entered the mountains, Kruijswijk attacked on stage 12, and entered the breakaway. He attacked solo with 80 kilometres (50 miles) to go before getting caught 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) from the finish line on Alpe d'Huez. He still managed to fight for a top ten finish on the stage, and for his effort, Kruijswijk received the combativity award on stage 12. This also put him in good position to compete for a top 10 finish for the general classification, entering the third week in the high mountains of the Pyrenees. Kruijswijk stayed with the elite riders through the final week and rode a decent individual time trial on stage 20 to finish 5th overall.

Following his strong Tour de France campaign it was decided that Kruijswijk would ride Clásica de San Sebastián as one of the team leaders. Kruijswijk finished the race in 9th place with teammates Robert Gesink and Antwan Tolhoek taking 8th and 10th places respectively. Going into his second Grand Tour of the year, the Vuelta a España, Kruijswijk was awarded the role of team leader alongside George Bennett. With a strong performance in the first week it was then decided that LottoNL–Jumbo would ride 100% in pursuit of a podium with Kruijswijk. He entered the top 5 on stage 14 after an attack on the final climb of the stage. He finished fourth on the stage 16 individual time trial, advancing to 3rd place overall. On the following day however, Kruijswijk had a bad day on the steep climb to Balcón de Bizkaia, and dropped to 5th place overall. On the penultimate stage Kruijswijk once again entered the top 3 when he finished 3rd on stage 19. When three of his contenders for the podium rode away on the second last climb of the day, Kruijswijk hesitated and lost his podium place as he had to ride the final of the last climb at his own pace. He finished in 4th place overall.

Major results

2005
3rd Time trial, National Junior Road Championships
2007
1st Prologue Tour Alsace
7th Overall Tour du Haut-Anjou
9th Overall Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
2008
6th Overall Cinturó de l'Empordà
2009
National Under-23 Road Championships
1st Road race
2nd Time trial
2nd Overall Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
4th Internationale Wielertrofee Jong Maar Moedig
6th Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
8th Overall Tour of Ireland
10th Overall Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda
2010
8th Overall Vuelta a Burgos
2011
3rd Overall Tour de Suisse
1st Stage 6
8th Overall Giro d'Italia
2012
8th Overall Tour de Suisse
9th Overall Tour of Utah
2013
10th Overall Tour of Alberta
2014
1st Overall Arctic Race of Norway
7th Overall Tour de Langkawi
2015
5th Overall Tour de l'Ain
7th Overall Giro d'Italia
Held after Stages 16–18
7th Overall Tour of Britain
10th Volta Limburg Classic
2016
4th Overall Giro d'Italia
Held after Stages 14–18
5th Overall Tour de Yorkshire
2017
3rd Overall Tour de Suisse
5th Overall Tour de l'Ain
7th Overall Volta a Catalunya
8th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
9th Overall Vuelta a España
2018
4th Overall Vuelta a España
5th Overall Tour de France
Combativity award Stage 12
6th Overall Tour de Romandie
7th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
8th Overall Volta a Catalunya
8th Overall Tour de Suisse
9th Clásica de San Sebastián
2019
3rd Overall Tour de France
1st Stage 2 (TTT)
3rd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
5th Overall Volta a Catalunya
6th Overall Tour de Romandie
2020
4th Overall Tour de l'Ain

General classification results timeline

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Giro d'Italia 18 8 26 DNF 7 4 DNF DNF
Tour de France 33 15 21 5 3
Vuelta a España 41 DNF 9 4 DNF
Major stage race general classification results
Race 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Paris–Nice 76 21 38 DNF
Tirreno–Adriatico 21
Volta a Catalunya 71 14 DNF DNF 15 39 7 8 5 NH
Tour of the Basque Country DNF
Tour de Romandie 41 21 6 6
Critérium du Dauphiné DNF DNF
Tour de Suisse 3 8 44 27 3 8 NH
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References

  1. Ryan, Barry (26 May 2016). "Giro d'Italia: Kruijswijk faces final offensive in the Alps - Preview". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  2. "Team Jumbo-Visma - Steven Kruijswijk". Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  3. "Steven Kruijswijk". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  4. "Cheery Christmas for ambitious Team Jumbo-Visma". Team Jumbo–Visma. Team Oranje Road BV. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  5. "Team Jumbo-Visma 2020 roster presented in Amsterdam". Bianchi. F.I.V. Edoardo Bianchi S.p.A. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  6. "Jumbo-Visma". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  7. Hood, Andrew (27 July 2019). "Patience pays off for Jumbo-Visma as Kruijswijk hits podium". VeloNews. Pocket Outdoor Media, LLC. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  8. "Levi Leipheimer snatches Tour de Suisse victory from Damiano Cunego". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Press Association. 19 June 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  9. http://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php/Giro_d_Italia_2015?id=Giro_d_Italia_2015
  10. http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Giro_d_Italia_2015_Mountains_Classification
  11. "Kruijswijk moves into Giro d'Italia pink as Chaves wins stage 14 and rivals lose time - Cycling Weekly". 21 May 2016.
  12. http://www.skysports.com/cycling/news/15264/10291101/giro-ditalia-steven-kruijswijk-extends-lead-on-stage-15-time-trial
  13. "Valverde victorious as Nibali nosedives in stage 16". 24 May 2016.
  14. "Giro d'Italia: Kruijswijk angry and defeated after crash costs him the pink jersey - Cyclingnews.com".
  15. "With broken rib, Kruijswijk's Giro in doubt - VeloNews.com". 27 May 2016.
  16. "Vincenzo Nibali all but wins the Giro d'Italia with dominant ride on stage 20 - Cycling Weekly". 28 May 2016.
  17. http://www.skysports.com/cycling/news/15264/10299398/steven-kruijswijk-admits-he-will-look-back-on-giro-ditalia-with-regret
  18. "Kruijswijk extends with LottoNL-Jumbo for two more years - Cyclingnews.com".
  19. "Unprotected post in Vuelta a Espana stage 5 finale raises hackles". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
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