Yaroslav Popovych (Ukrainian: Ярослав Попович; born 4 January 1980) is a Ukrainian former professional cyclist,[2][3] who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016.
 Popovych at the 2009 Tour de France | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Yaroslav Popovych | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 4 January 1980 Drohobych, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 66 kg (146 lb; 10.4 st) | |||||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Lidl–Trek | |||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | |||||||||||||||||
| Role |
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| Rider type | All-rounder | |||||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2004 | Landbouwkrediet–Colnago | |||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2007 | Discovery Channel | |||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Silence–Lotto | |||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Astana | |||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Team RadioShack | |||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2016 | RadioShack–Nissan[1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Managerial team | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2016– | Trek–Segafredo | |||||||||||||||||
| Major wins | ||||||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
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Medal record
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The winner of the under-23 road race at the 2001 UCI Road World Championships, Popovych turned professional in 2002 with Landbouwkrediet–Colnago, where he performed particularly strongly in the Giro d'Italia, finishing third in 2003. Upon joining Discovery Channel in 2005, his focus switched to the Tour de France, where he won the young riders' classification in 2005 and won stage 12 in 2006. When Discovery Channel folded at the end of 2007, Popovych moved to Silence–Lotto in 2008 and on to Astana in 2009. Popovych also raced for Team RadioShack in 2010 and 2011. From 2012 until 2016 he rode with the UCI ProTour team Trek–Segafredo.[4]
Career
editEarly years
editPopovych was born in Drohobych, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. He was considered one of the most promising cyclists while riding in junior and under-23 races after catching 35 victories in 2000 and 2001.[5] He won the Under-23 Men's road race in the 2001 UCI Road World Championships after finishing second the previous year. He also won the Paris–Roubaix edition for under-23 riders and palio del recioto.[5] The Ukrainian turned pro in 2002 by joining the Belgian team Landbouwkrediet–Colnago and delivered some strong showings, most notably in the Giro d'Italia where he finished third in 2003 and fifth in 2004, when he wore the pink jersey during three stages.
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team (2005–07)
editHe joined the Discovery Channel in 2005 and he was considered as a possible successor to Lance Armstrong as team leader. In this same year, Popovych took one of his best victories by winning the Volta a Catalunya, which is an important race before the Tour de France. Along with the rest of the Discovery team, he won stage four team time trial in the Tour de France and showed his potential by winning the young rider classification, while helping Armstrong win his seventh Tour de France at the time.
In the 2006 Tour de France, Popovych was considered one of the Discovery Channel team's four leaders, along with José Azevedo, Paolo Savoldelli and George Hincapie.[6] After failing to be among the best for the overall classification in the Pyrenees mountain stages, Popovych won stage 12 by repeatedly attacking his fellow break-away compatriots Alessandro Ballan, Óscar Freire and Christophe Le Mével. During 2006 season he also won stages at the Vuelta a Castilla y León and Tour de Georgia, where he finished third.[7]
Popovych mainly worked as a domestique during 2007 season, aiding Alberto Contador to win Paris–Nice and the Tour de France. Early in the season, he won the fifth stage in Paris–Nice after attacking 33 kilometres (21 miles) from the finishing line.[8] He was considered as the team leader for the Giro d'Italia, but he withdrew in the twelfth stage after suffering two crashes in the race. In the Tour de France, he finished eighth while working for Discovery Channel team-mates Contador and Levi Leipheimer.[9]
Silence–Lotto (2008)
editIn 2008, Popovych moved to Silence–Lotto squad after Discovery Channel announced that it would cease operations at the end of 2007.[9]
Popovych was recruited as a domestique member of the Tour de France team primarily to support lead rider Cadel Evans, but had a rather disappointing year, with only a 3rd place in Paris–Nice to show for. At the end of the year, it was announced he would team up with his former Discovery manager Johan Bruyneel again in 2009, joining the new Astana team.
Astana (2009)
edit_-_Stage_3_-_2009_ToC.JPG)
In 2009, Popovych and Armstrong joined the Kazakh-based cycling squad Astana, where many other former Discovery Channel riders and staff were also under contract. Popovych acted as a domestique for Contador in Paris–Nice, finishing 23rd himself.
On 15 October 2009 it was reported that Popovych would move to Team RadioShack for the 2010 season.[10]
Team RadioShack (2010)
editIn 2010 Popovych followed many former Astana riders to the newly created American based squad Team RadioShack.
Doping allegations
editIn January 2011 Popovych was incriminated in the Floyd Landis doping allegations against the U.S. Postal Service cycling team, after Sports Illustrated magazine reported that in November 2010 his property in Tuscany had been searched by Federal Officials who discovered drug testing documents, medical supplies and performance-enhancing drugs as well as evidence of links to controversial Italian physician Michele Ferrari.[11] Later that day Popovych denied the allegations.[12]
Major results
edit- 2000
- 1st Overall Tour de Nouvelle-Calédonie
- 1st Gran Premio di Poggiana
- 2nd Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
- 2nd Giro del Belvedere
- 2nd Coppa Città di Asti
- 3rd Piccolo Giro di Lombardia
- 10th Trofeo Alcide Degasperi
- 2001
- 1st
Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships - 1st Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza
- 1st Giro del Belvedere
- 1st Gran Premio Palio del Recioto
- 1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs
- 2nd Overall Grand Prix Guillaume Tell
- 2nd Gran Premio della Liberazione
- 2nd Trofeo Alcide Degasperi
- 4th GP Open Campania
- 9th GP Città di Napoli
- 2002
- 1st Poreč Trophy II
- 1st GP de Genève
- 3rd Poreč Trophy III
- 4th Overall Brixia Tour
- 4th Gran Premio Fred Mengoni
- 5th Poreč Trophy I
- 6th Overall Tour de Wallonie
- 9th Overall Tour de l'Avenir
- 10th Tre Valli Varesine
- 2003
- 3rd Overall Giro d'Italia
- 3rd Overall Tour de Wallonie
- 5th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
- 6th Coppa Ugo Agostoni
- 7th Overall Tour de Romandie
- 7th Giro della Provincia di Lucca
- 9th Overall Giro della Liguria
- 10th Giro dell'Emilia
- 2004
- 1st Trofeo Androni Giocattoli
- 5th Overall Giro d'Italia
- Held
Maglia Rosa for Stages 13–16
- Held
- 8th Overall Regio-Tour
- 9th Overall Tour of Austria
- 10th Firenze–Pistoia
- 2005
- 1st
Overall Volta a Catalunya[13] - 4th LuK Challenge Chrono (with Paolo Savoldelli)
- Tour de France
- 1st
Young rider classification - 1st Stage 4 (TTT)
- 1st
- 2006
- 1st Stage 12 Tour de France
- 1st Stage 2 (ITT) Vuelta a Castilla y León
- 3rd Overall Tour de Georgia
- 1st Stage 2
- 4th GP Ouest–France
- 2007
- 1st Stage 5 Paris–Nice
- 8th Overall Tour de France
- Stage 9 Combativity award
- 2008
- 3rd Overall Paris–Nice
- 2009
- 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France
- 2013
- 9th Gent–Wevelgem
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
edit| Grand Tour | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
|
12 | 3 | 5 | — | — | DNF | — | 15 | — | 63 | — | 133 | — | — |
 Tour de France
|
— | — | — | 12 | 25 | 8 | 24 | 41 | 85 | DNF | 76 | — | — | — |
 Vuelta a España
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | 52 | — | — | — | — | 85 | 115 | 132 |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
References
edit- ^ "RadioShack-Nissan-Trek announces lineup for 2012". VeloNews. Competitor Group, Inc. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
- ^ "La Parigi-Roubaix sarà l'ultima corsa della carriera di Yaroslav Popovych". Archived from the original on 2016-04-21. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
- ^ Yaroslav Popovych rijdt zondag laatste wedstrijd
- ^ "Trek Factory Racing (TFR) – USA". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ a b "Yaroslav Popovych bio". team.discovery.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- ^ "Interviews – Tour de France 2006 – Johan Bruyneel". letour.fr. 23 June 2006. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- ^ "Discovery Channel names Tour roster". cyclingnews.com. 6 June 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- ^ "Popovych rides glorious day away". cyclingnews.com. 6 March 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- ^ a b "Predictor-Lotto signs Popovych". cyclingnews.com. 5 September 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- ^ More RadioShack transfers confirmed
- ^ "Most Popular". CNN. 24 January 2011. Archived from the original on January 21, 2011.
- ^ Popovych denies Sports Illustrated details
- ^ Hood, Andrew (22 May 2005). "Popovych delivers big win at Cataluyna". Archived from the original on 2008-01-05. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
External links
edit
- Yaroslav Popovych at trap-friis.dk
- Profile from Tour de France 2007 at the Wayback Machine (archived 11 July 2007)
- Yaroslav Popovych at UCI
- Yaroslav Popovych at Cycling Archives (archived)
- Yaroslav Popovych at ProCyclingStats
- Yaroslav Popovych at Cycling Quotient
- Yaroslav Popovych at CycleBase
