Leigh Howard (born 18 October 1989) is an Australian professional

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling s ...

. He qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in both the Men's Madison and Men's Team Pursuit. Howard was part of the Men's team pursuit together with Kelland O'Brien, Sam Weisford and Alexander Porter. They secured a bronze medal after overlapping New Zealand who had crashed. Howard also competed in the Men's Madison where the team finished fifth with a time of 3:48.448 and therefore did not qualify for the final.

Career

Born in Geelong,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia, Howard now resides in

Waurn Ponds, Victoria Waurn Ponds is a mainly residential southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The suburb is bounded by Rossack Drive, Princes Highway, the Geelong to Warrnambool railway, Reservoir Road, Draytons Road, Pigdons Road, Deakin University a ...

. He began cycling competitively at the age of 10 and first represented Australia in 2005 at the age of 16. Howard is an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, and initially trained as an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...

. Howard won the bronze medal in the omnium event at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. He went on to take several medals in round 2 and 4 of the 2008–09 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics. In 2009, he again won a medal in the omnium at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, this time taking gold, he also took the silver medal in both the madison and team pursuit. Howard also had success on the road in 2009, winning stages 1 and 3 of the Tour of Japan. Howard become a professional rider in 2010 with . In his first professional race with team HTC Columbia, Howard won the fourth stage of the Tour of Oman. Impressively, Howard finished ahead of

Daniele Bennati Daniele Bennati (born 24 September 1980) is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the , , , , , , and squads. Specialising in fast sprint finishes, Bennati turned professional in 2002, when ...

, Tom Boonen and

Tyler Farrar Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

on the stage. After two years with the team, Howard moved to for the 2012 season. In November 2015 announced that Howard would join them for the 2016 season, with a role as part of the sprint train for

Matteo Pelucchi Matteo Pelucchi (born 21 January 1989) is an Italian former professional road cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He also competed in track cycling at a junior level. Career He rode for a year with in 2012, and four years with between ...

. Howard last rode for UCI Continental team .

Major results

;2006 : 3rd

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 ...

, National Junior Road Championships ;2007 : Tour of Tasmania ::1st Stages 1, 4 & 7 : UIV Cup ::1st Amsterdam ::1st Dortmund ;2008 : National Track Championships ::1st MaillotAustralia

Team pursuit ::1st MaillotAustralia

Scratch : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Tour of the Murray River ::1st Stages 5 & 13 : 1st Coppa Colli Briantei Internazionale : UIV Cup ::1st Amsterdam ::1st Munich : Tour of Gippsland ::1st Stages 6 & 8 : Tour of Tasmania ::1st Stages 1 & 8 : 1st Stage 2 Australian Cycling Grand Prix : 10th Overall Tour de Berlin ::1st Stage 2 ;2009 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Omnium,

UCI Track World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

: 1st

Overall Tour of Gippsland ::1st Stages 2, 3, 6 & 9 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Okolo Slovenska : 1st Classic Astico – Brenta : Tour of Japan ::1st Jersey green

Points classification ::1st Stages 1, 3 & 7 : 1st Stage 1 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23 : 4th Circuito del Porto : 8th

Giro del Belvedere The Giro del Belvedere is a professional cycling race held annually in the Treviso province, Italy. It has been part of the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport ...

;2010 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Madison,

(with Cameron Meyer) : 1st

Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (Championship of Flanders) or Koolskamp Koerse is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Koolskamp (part-municipality of Ardooie), West Flanders, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a ...

: 1st Stage 4

Tour of Oman The Tour of Oman is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Oman since 2010 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It was scheduled to become part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020, but both the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled ...

: 1st Sprints classification Bayern–Rundfahrt ;2011 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Madison,

(with Cameron Meyer) : 1st Stage 5

Ster Elektrotoer The ZLM Tour is a cycling race held over five stages, held in the southern Netherlands and Belgium as a 2.Pro race on the UCI ProSeries The UCI ProSeries is the second tier men's elite road cycling tour. It was inaugurated in 2020. The serie ...

: 3rd Trofeo Cala Millor : 4th Grand Prix de Denain ;2012 : 1st Stage 2 ( TTT)

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 ...

: 3rd Overall Tour of Britain ::1st Stage 2 ;2013 : 1st Trofeo Campos–Santanyí–Ses Salines : 1st Trofeo Platja de Muro : 8th

Vuelta a La Rioja The Vuelta a La Rioja ( en, Tour of La Rioja) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race held in La Rioja. From 2005 to 2008, it was a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing Road ...

;2014 : 5th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie : 7th Overall

Tour of Alberta The ATB Tour of Alberta was a Canadian bicycle stage race, which raced across the province of Alberta. It was sanctioned by Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and was part of the UCI America Tour. It was classified as a 2.1 race, making it one ...

;2015 : 6th RideLondon–Surrey Classic ;2016 : 1st Clásica de Almería : 1st Stage 1 Tour des Fjords : 2nd

Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race also known as Great Ocean Road Race or Cadel Road Race is an annual professional one-day road bicycle racing for both men and women starting and finishing in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, and routed along th ...

;2018 : 1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

: 2nd Six Days of London (with Kelland O'Brien) ;2021 : 3rd Bronze medal olympic

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 ...

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* *
Leigh Howard – Biography
at the ''Australian Institute of Sport'' website {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Leigh 1989 births Living people Australian male cyclists UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) Cyclists from Victoria (Australia) Australian Institute of Sport cyclists Cyclists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Australian track cyclists Olympic cyclists of Australia Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in cycling 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people Sportspeople from Geelong

Career

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

See also

References

External links