Brian Bulgaç (born 7 April 1988) is a Dutch professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

, who rode most recently for .

Career

Duathlon

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Bulgaç started his sports career as a

duathlete Duathlon is an athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format similar to triathlons. The World Triathlon governs the sport internationally. Distance and format Duathlons are c ...

. He took part in several Junior European and World Championships, finishing three times in the top 20. The highlight of his duathlon career came in 2008 when he became third of Europe at the Under-23 European Duathlon Championships in

Serres Serres ( ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northern Greece. The c ...

. He had a bright future ahead in the sport but due to an

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

injury he was told by his physio therapist to just train on a bicycle for a while. His interest in cycling grew and by the time he was allowed to walk again he decided to focus on cycling.

Rabobank Continental Team (2010)

With a second place in stage two and a third place overall of the

Tour de Liège The Tour de la province de Liège (English: Tour of the Province of Liège) is a cycling race held annually in the Liège province of Belgium. Although it isn't part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle rac ...

in 2009 Bulgaç earned a spot in the for the 2010 season. His performances for Rabobank were not convincing enough to keep him in the team for 2011 with a fifth place in the

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Ancient Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier st ...

of the

Jadranska Magistrala The Adriatic Highway () is a road that stretches along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is part of the European route E65. The road passes through Croatia, with smaller stretches through Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro and end ...

and a ninth place in the

Ronde van Midden-Nederland The Ronde van Midden-Nederland is a road bicycle race held annually in Netherlands. It was organized as a 1.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 20 ...

as his best results.

Omega Pharma-Lotto development team (2011)

The team offered him a chance to perform in some smaller races with its development team. He took a second place in the third stage of the Triptyque Ardennaise and won the

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 cumulati ...

of a race that has been previously won by riders like

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 ...

, Paolo Tiralongo and

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the 2012 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two rid ...

. Later that year he also won the general classification of the Tour de Liège. With help from former professional cyclist

Kurt Van De Wouwer Kurt Van De Wouwer (born 24 September 1971 in Herentals) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer who raced between 1993 and 2006. He now works as a directeur sportif for UCI Women's Continental Team . Major results ;1988 : 1st ...

he managed to get a professional contract with .

Lotto-Belisol (2012–2013)

He made his grand tour debut during the

2012 Giro d'Italia The 2012 Giro d'Italia was the 95th edition of Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Danish city of Herning, and ended in Milan. The complete route of the 2012 Giro d'Italia was announced in mid October. For the fir ...

in which he twice rode in a long break away but failed to reach the finish before the peloton. He reached the finish line in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in his first grand tour as the 102nd rider overall.

2014

For the 2014 season, Bulgaç initially joined the Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team. However, in April it was announced that he would move to Giant-Shimano after being invited to a week-long training camp held by the team.

Team LottoNL-Jumbo (2015)

Bulgaç did not get a contract renewal from Giant-Shimano for the 2015 season. Instead, he joined Team LottoNL-Jumbo.

Major results

;2009 :3rd Overall

;2010 :9th

;2011 :1st Overall Triptyque Ardennaise :1st Overall

;2012 :102nd Overall

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

;2014 :5th Overall

Tour de Taiwan The Tour de Taiwan is an annual professional road bicycle racing race stage, stage race held in Taiwan since 1978, and has been part of the UCI Asia Tour since 2005. It was classed a 2.1 category race for the first time in 2012. History The Tour ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulgac, Brian 1988 births Living people Dutch male cyclists Cyclists from Amsterdam Dutch sportspeople of Turkish descent 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch sportsmen