Johan Vansummeren life and biography

Johan Vansummeren, born February 4, 1981 in Lommel is a Belgian road racing cyclist who rides for the Garmin-Transitions team in the UCI ProTour.

During the 2007 Tour de France, commentator Paul Sherwen repeatedly praised Vansummeren's work in support of his team leader, eventual second place finisher Cadel Evans, even going so far as to say "I would like to nominate Johan Vansummeren as the number one teammate of this year's Tour."

Wrote CyclingNews of the tall rider:

Few riders are tackling both Paris-Roubaix and the Amstel Gold Race like Vansummeren. Sylvain Chavanel - another top performer in Paris-Roubaix - is trying the same thing and it will be interesting to see how both riders perform on Sunday. Vansummeren realizes that thanks to his versatility he is capable of having a good shot at both races. "I'm an all-round rider. I can battle along in almost every Spring Classic and I'm also going well uphill. There's a downside to that versatility as well since I'm not the top specialist for one specific type of racing," Vansummeren said. The 28 year-old rider won the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2003 and so he knew he could do well in the Ardennes. However, after finishing Paris-Roubaix eighth in 2008 and fifth this year, it becomes clear that Vansummeren is also a man for the cobbles. "I never rode the U23 Paris-Roubaix so I didn't know how good I was at it. After going well in 2008 I was super motivated to do well in Paris-Roubaix this year and that's why I was so nervous at the start," Vansummeren said, referring to last week when Cyclingnews spotted an extremely nervous Belgian at the start in Compiègne. "You can't live up to every race in that way."

At 1.97 metres (6 ft 5.5 in), Vansummeren is among the tallest riders in the peloton.

Palmares

2003
1st U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège
2nd Silver medal blank.svg U-23 Road Race World Championchips
3rd Overall, Beverbeek Classic

2004
10th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx

2005
4th Overall, Tour Down Under

2006
1st Jersey green.svg Sprints Classification, Tour of Britain

2007
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour de Pologne
1st Stage 7
1st Stage 1 part b TTT Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale Coppi-Bartali

2008
8th Paris-Roubaix
17th Amstel Gold Race

2009
5th Paris-Roubaix
12th Overall Tirreno-Adriatico

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