Andreas Klöden (born 22 June 1975) is a German former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 1998 and 2013. His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and finishing second in the general classification at the 2004 and

2006 Tour de France The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between the 1st and the 23rd of July. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of Floyd Landis. Due to the United ...

. Klöden was a tall, lightly built racer with enough strength to place high in the overall classifications of the

Grand Tours In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...

, but his performances were affected by injuries.

Biography

Klöden was born in

Mittweida Mittweida () is a town in Saxony, Germany, in the Mittelsachsen district. Geography Mittweida is situated on the river Zschopau, 18 km north of Chemnitz, and 54 km west of Dresden. Embedded within the steep hills and valleys of the riv ...

in 1975. Before he turned professional, he won the bronze medal in the Under 23 World

Time Trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

Championships in 1996, and two stages at the International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt in 1997.

The T-Mobile years (1998–2006)

Klöden signed with ' (later T-Mobile Team) in 1998, and in his first pro season he won the Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt's

General classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulat ...

s (GC) and the prologue of the

Tour de Normandie Tour de Normandie is a road bicycle race held annually in the region of Normandy, France. The race started in 1939, but was not held in the periods of 1940–1955 and 1960–1980. It was originally a race for amateurs, but was opened for professi ...

. In 1999, he won a stage at the Portuguese Tour of Algarve. But the first of his great seasons came in 2000, where after notching two important victories in the GC of Paris–Nice and

Tour of the Basque Country The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: ''Itzulia Basque Country'', es, Vuelta al País Vasco, links=no, eu, Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual road cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April. It is one of the races ...

, he went on to obtain the bronze medal at the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

, after fellow German

Jan Ullrich Jan Ullrich (; born 2 December 1973) is a German former professional road bicycle racer. Ullrich won gold and silver medals in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Sydney. He won the 1999 Vuelta a España and the HEW Cyclassics in fro ...

and Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov, two riders with whom he would spend several seasons on T-Mobile. After that came three injury plagued seasons in which he gained no victories. He was forced to abandon the

2003 Tour de France The 2003 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 5 to 27 July, and the 90th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti- ...

due to a fractured tailbone. 2004 saw his cycling rebirth as he won the German National Road Racing Championships and so continued T-Mobile/Team Telekom's winning streak, which went back to Bernd Gröne's 1993 win of these Championships. Klöden held his great moment of form until the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

, which began one week later. In that Tour, which he began as a

domestique In road bicycle racing, a domestique is a rider who works for the benefit of their team and leader, rather than trying to win the race. In French, ''domestique'' translates as "servant".However, in French, the term used is ''équipier''. In I ...

for Ullrich, he did not win any stage but finished second overall after taking second place from Italian

Ivan Basso Ivan Basso (born 26 November 1977) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1999 and 2015 for seven different teams. Basso, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, was considered among the best mountain riders in ...

in the final time trial. Ullrich, whom Klöden was supposed to be supporting, finished fourth that year, the only time he finished outside the top three in the Tour de France. Finishing ahead of Ullrich brought Klöden international fame and rumours circulated that he was moving to or , where he would have led the team, but instead he stayed at T-Mobile with Ullrich. Andreas Klöden in Namur

In the 2005 season he won a stage at the Bayern-Rundfahrt. Klöden as well as teammates Ullrich and Vinokourov were considered among the challengers for the 2005 Tour de France overall victory, with Ullrich as the strongest bid. Klöden contributed to the team success of T-Mobile in the race that saw Ullrich finish 3rd and Vinokourov finish fifth. On stage 8 in the Vosges Mountains, he attacked halfway up the final climb of the day and eventually took the K.O.M. points, catching breakaway leader

Pieter Weening Pieter Weening (born 5 April 1981) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally for the (2004–2011), (2012–2015), (2016–2019), and (2020) teams. Career Weening was born in Harkema, Friesland. 2005 In 2005 ...

right at the summit. On the way down to the finish in Geradmer, he lost the sprint finish in the closest Tour de France finish of all time – (9.6 millimetres or 0.0002 secs) until stage 7 of the

2017 Tour de France The 2017 Tour de France was the 104th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 21- stage race took place across , commencing with an individual time trial in Düsseldorf, Germany on 1 July, and concluding with the Champ ...

when

Marcel Kittel Marcel Kittel (born 11 May 1988) is a German former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2019 for the , and squads. As a junior, he specialised in time trials, even winning a bronze medal in the World Championships for cycl ...

beat

Edvald Boasson Hagen Edvald Boasson Hagen (born 17 May 1987) is a Norwegian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI ProTeam . He was ranked as no. 3 in the world by UCI as of 31 August 2009, when he was 22 years old. He is known as an all-rounder, havin ...

( 4.0 millimetres or 0.00003 secs). Later, he withdrew from the Tour at stage 17 into Revel, having crashed during the 16th stage and fracturing a bone in his right wrist. In the Tour of 2006, Klöden became one of the favorites for the overall victory when Ullrich, Vinokourov and Basso did not start. Vinokourov did not participate because of his teammates doping scandal, which caused his Astana team to fall below the minimum six riders to start. After somewhat weak performances in the first mountain stages, Klöden was in good shape in the Alps, climbing in the overall ranking. Klöden was very strong in the closing time trial where he finished second after his teammate

Serhiy Honchar Serhiy Gonchar ( uk, Сергій Гончар; born 3 July 1970) is a Ukrainian former professional road racing cyclist. He won the World Time Trial Championship in 2000. Due to a temporary spelling error in his passport, he is often incorre ...

, climbing from fourth to the third place in the general classification over

Carlos Sastre Carlos Sastre Candil (; born 22 April 1975) is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer and winner of the 2008 Tour de France. He consistently achieved outstanding results in the Vuelta a España and in the Tour de France. Sastre establ ...

. On stage 11 to the Pla D'Beret, Klöden was dropped by the leading group and lost about 1:30mins, which cost him dearly. On Stage 15, he performed strongly, dropping everyone, except eventual overall winner Floyd Landis. On Stage 16, Kloden again performed well, finishing fourth on the stage, however on stage 17, he again cracked on the Col de Joux Plane, but recovered on the descent, thanks mainly to the help given to him by teammate Patrik Sinkewitz.

The Astana years (2007–2009)

On 27 August 2006, Klöden announced that he would ride for in the 2007 season, although Alexander Vinokourov was the team captain. This announcement came as something of a surprise to the cycling community because Klöden, despite his talent and accomplishments, would almost certainly not be the leader of that team, which was organized around Vinokourov. During the Tour de France, he rode well, but had to help Astana captain Vinokourov, and lost a few minutes. An accident almost saw the repeat of his 2003 Tour injury, but this time the injury to the coccyx was just a hairline fracture and he was able to continue. Astana formally withdrew from the

2007 Tour de France The 2007 Tour de France the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 to 29 July. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain. It was ...

on 24 July, when Vinokourov's doping test was found to be positive. His racing in September was interrupted by injury, following an accident while out training when a car crossed his path forcing him to swerve, Klöden ended up in a ditch. Although an X-ray showed no broken bones, he missed the GP de Plouay and the Tour of Poland. His 2008 season was uneventful in grand tours though he won the Tour of Romandie that year and he came second in the Tour de Suisse. His 2009 Tour de France was mainly serving as a domestique for Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong though after stage 15 Kloden sat 4th overall. Klodens podium chances closed in however on stage 17 when his teammate Alberto Contador put in a controversial attack dropping Kloden allowing the Andy and Frank Schleck to gain over 2 minutes over him. He would later end up finishing 6th overall that year though he would end up moving into 5th overall after Lance Armstrong's titles were stripped. On 2 October 2009 it was confirmed that Klöden would join for the 2010 season

2009 Doping allegations

In 2009 allegations emerged claiming that Andreas Klöden used the Freiburg University Clinic for an

illegal Illegal, or unlawful, typically describes something that is explicitly prohibited by law, or is otherwise forbidden by a state or other governing body. Illegal may also refer to: Law * Violation of law * Crime, the practice of breaking the ...

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...

during the

. Later, Kloden and others apart of the

T-Mobile Team T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobil ...

Matthias Kessler Matthias Kessler (born 16 May 1979 in Nuremberg) is a German former professional road racing cyclist who competed from 2000 to 2007 for and . Biography Kessler debuted as a pro during the 2000 season after becoming German under 23 champion in 1 ...

and Patrick Sinkewitz were confirmed by Freiberg doctors to have blood doped at the University during the

where their blood was held. At his retirement, Klöden denied that he ever used doping. He had made an agreement with prosecutors paid an undisclosed amount to a charity, to stop the investigation, because he felt that the investigation hindered his career.

The Team Radioshack Years (2010–2011)

Klöden had an uneventful 2010 season. He finished the 2010 Tour de France in 14th place 16’36” behind Contador. Contador was later disqualified, resulting in a 13th place 15'57' behind Andy Schleck. His other biggest finishes were 8th in Tour de Suisse and Eneco Tour. 2011 saw a rebirth of Klöden's career when he won the 2011 Tour of the Basque Country while also finished 2nd in Paris–Nice and getting a stage victory. He also had 2 ITT victories in Giro del Trentino and

Critérium International The Critérium International was a two-day bicycle stage race held in France every spring from 1932 until 2016, typically the last weekend of March. It was formerly known as the Critérium National de la Route, first run in 1932. For many years ...

. He carried his good form into the

2011 Tour de France The 2011 Tour de France was the 98th edition of the race. It started on 2 July at the Passage du Gois and ended on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 24 July. The cyclists competed in 21 stages over 23 days, covering a distance of . The route e ...

but crashed and had to withdraw because of two crashes that injured his back. He later entered the Vuelta as co-leader with Brajkovic but withdrew.

RadioShack-Nissan (2012–2013)

In 2012, Klöden signed with RadioShack-NissanTrek. He finished the

2012 Tour de France The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, i ...

in 11th place, 17'54" behind Wiggins. He also finished 4th in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Klöden continued to ride for Radioshack in 2013. He finished 9th in both the 2013 Volta ao Algarve and 2013 Paris-Nice early on in the season. His first top five finish came in the 2013 Tour of Belgium, where he finished fourth. He lost time early on in the Pyrenees in the

2013 Tour de France The 2013 Tour de France was the 100th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on the island of Corsica on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 July. The Tour consisted of twenty-one stages ...

, forcing him to switch his goals from the general classification to stage wins. He made the breakaway on stage 16 to Gap, finishing in fifth place. He tried his luck again on stage 19 to Le Grand-Bornand. After finishing second there in the

2004 Tour de France The 2004 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 3 to 25 July, and the 91st edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Ant ...

behind

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...

; he finished second again, this time after

Rui Costa Rui Manuel César Costa (; born 29 March 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who is the 34th president of sports club S.L. Benfica. He also succeeded Luís Filipe Vieira as president of the club's SAD board of directors. ...

who had also won the stage to Gap. He finished the Tour in 30th place, 1h02'43" behind winner

Chris Froome Christopher Clive Froome ɹɪs fɹuːm (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France (in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), one ...

. In October 2013, Klöden announced his retirement from cycling after a sixteen-year professional career.

Career achievements

Major results

;1996 : 3rd Bronze medal blank

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

, UCI Road World Under–23 Championships ;1997 : 1st Prologue & Stage 7b Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt : 1st Stage 3

Flèche du Sud The Flèche du Sud, is a road bicycle race held annually in Luxembourg. It is currently organised as a 2.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport dis ...

: 1st Stage 4 Commonwealth Bank Classic : 7th

, UCI Road World Under–23 Championships : 7th

HEW Cyclassics The Hamburg Cyclassics (currently known as the Bemer Cyclassics for sponsorship purposes) is an annual one-day professional and amateur cycling race in and around Hamburg, Germany. Although the route varies, its distance is always around 250 ...

: 9th Overall

Circuit Cycliste Sarthe The Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire ( en, Circuit of Sarthe) is an early-season short road bicycle racing stage race held annually in Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France. Since 2005, it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tou ...

;1998 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt ::1st Stage 3a : 1st Prologue

;1999 : 1st Stage 3

Volta ao Algarve The Volta ao Algarve (Portuguese; en, Tour of the Algarve) is a road bicycle racing stage race held annually in the Algarve, Portugal. Since 2017, it has been organised as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race became part of the new UCI ...

: 5th Overall Regio-Tour ;2000 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st Stage 5b : 1st Jersey white

Overall Paris–Nice ::1st Stage 7 : 1st Stage 7

Peace Race The Peace Race (german: Friedensfahrt, cs, Závod míru, sk, Preteky mieru, russian: Велогонка Мира (), pl, Wyścig Pokoju , french: Course de la Paix, it, Corsa della Pace, ro, Cursa Păcii) was an annual multiple stage bicycl ...

: 2nd Overall

Deutschland Tour The Deutschland Tour (English: ''Tour of Germany'' and sometimes ''Deutschland-Rundfahrt'' in German) is the most important multi-stage road bicycle race in Germany. Initially the race was held in May/June, but from 2005 until 2008 it was moved t ...

: 2nd Overall

Danmark Rundt Danmark Rundt is a Danish stage race for professional road bicycle racers organized as a part of the UCI Continental Circuits. It is currently sponsored by the Danish national postal agency, PostNord, and the race is therefore also known as Po ...

: 3rd

Road race,

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

: 3rd Overall Regio-Tour : 5th EnBW GP : 5th Overall Setmana Catalana ;2001 : 5th EnBW GP : 8th

Grand Prix Eddy Merckx Grand Prix Eddy Merckx was a cycle race around Brussels, where Eddy Merckx was born. It was held between 1980 and 2004, disappearing after the creation of the UCI ProTour in 2005. The race was initially an individual time trial An individual tim ...

;2002 : 2nd Overall Regio-Tour : 5th Overall

Sachsen Tour The Sachsen Tour is a multi-stage road bicycle race held in the region of Saxony, Germany. It was first held in 1985 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicy ...

;2003 : 4th Overall

: 7th Overall

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of the season, it is considered to be an important prep ...

;2004 : 1st MaillotAlemania

Road race, National Road Championships : 2nd Overall

: 2nd Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt : 6th

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week betw ...

: 6th Overall

;2005 : 1st Stage 5 Bayern–Rundfahrt ;2006 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Regio-Tour ::1st Stage 4 : 2nd Overall

;2007 : 1st Overall

: 1st

Overall

::1st Stage 2 : 5th Overall

: 5th Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt : 10th Overall

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...

;2008 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. It ...

::1st Stage 3 : 2nd Overall

: 8th Overall

;2009 : 1st Stage 1 (ITT) Giro del Trentino : 2nd Overall

Tour de Luxembourg The Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.Pro race, the highest rating below the World Tour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), th ...

: 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 5 : 4th Overall

: 5th Overall

::1st Stage 4 (TTT) : 5th Overall

;2010 : 4th Overall

Vuelta a Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia ( en, Tour of Murcia) is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, d ...

: 8th Overall

Eneco Tour The Benelux Tour (previously known as the Eneco Tour and the BinckBank Tour) is a road bicycle racing stage-race that is part of the UCI World Tour. The race was established in 2005 and was originally known as the Eneco Tour, named after the orig ...

: 8th Overall

;2011 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st

Points classification : 1st Stage 3 (ITT)

: 1st Stage 1 (ITT) Giro del Trentino : 2nd Overall Paris–Nice ::1st Stage 5 : 5th Overall

;2012 : 4th Overall

USA Pro Cycling Challenge The USA Pro Cycling Challenge, also known as USA Pro Challenge, was an annual multi-day professional road bicycle racing stage race that first took place in Colorado in 2011. Originally announced on August 4, 2010 by Colorado Governor Bill Ritt ...

;2013 : 4th Overall

Tour of Belgium The Tour of Belgium ( nl, Ronde van België; french: Tour de Belgique) is a five-day bicycle race which is held annually in Belgium, and is part of the UCI ProSeries. It was held annually between 1908 and 1981, except during both world wars. Bet ...

: 9th Overall

: 9th Overall Paris–Nice

General classification results timeline

References

External links

*
Andreas Klöden on the Homepage of his Team Radioshack
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kloden, Andreas 1975 births Living people People from Mittweida People from Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt German male cyclists Cyclists from Saxony Doping cases in cycling Olympic cyclists of Germany Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics German cycling road race champions Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in cycling Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics