Jakob Storm Piil (born 9 March 1973) is a Danish former 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 common ...

, where he later lived many years in Odense. He is an all-round rider, known for his aggressive style of riding, whose speciality is to pick the right breakaways. He competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics and the

2000 Summer 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 ...

. He is the cousin of Danish former professional bicycle racer

Jørgen V. Pedersen Jørgen Vagn Pedersen (born 8 October 1959 in Copenhagen, Hovedstaden) is a retired Danish road bicycle racer, and as of 2007 sports director at Team CSC. He participated in Tour de France in 1985, 1986, and 1987 for the team. In 1988 he rod ...

Biography

Piil was born in

Virum Virum is a mostly residential, suburban neighbourhood in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, located on both sides of Lyngby Kongevej, approximately 15 km north of central Copenhagen, Denmark. The neighbourhood is bordered by Lake Furesø to the ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. He started his career as a

track racer Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the sho ...

, riding six-day races with shifting partners, including the Danish riders Michael Sandstød,

Tayeb Braikia Tayeb Braikia (born 8 March 1974 in Århus) is a Danish former cyclist. Major results ;1996 :1st U23 National Road Race Championships ;1997 :1st Stages 1 & 5 Cinturón a Mallorca :2nd Midtbank Grand Prix :3rd Overall Tour de Berlin ;1998 :1 ...

, and Jimmi Madsen. In 1997 he signed up for the RDM professional

cycling team A cycling team is a group of cycle sport, cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle racing, bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important i ...

, getting only a handful of top-ten results in his first year as a pro. He moved to Danish

Team Acceptcard Acceptcard Pro Cycling, also known as ''Team Acceptcard'' was a Danish professional road bicycle racing team in 1998 and 1999. The sponsor, , is a Danish credit card company. It was considered Denmark's first professional cycling team, and was ma ...

in 1998, where he got the first, minor, victory of his career at the GP Skive in 1998. 1999 was his professional breakthrough with many good results, and a meriting win of the USPRO Championship. In 2000, he switched to Team CSC, back then known as ''Team Memory Card – Jack & Jones''. His first year at Team CSC wasn't entirely successful, as a crash into a car just before the

Milan–San Remo Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is ...

ruined the first four months of his season, though he still managed a few minor results. 2001 was a better season for Piil, as he won the

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 bicyc ...

and, perhaps most importantly for his later career, finished a 2nd at stage 17 in the

2001 Tour de France The 2001 Tour de France was a multiple-stage bicycle race held from 7 to 29 July, and the 88th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti ...

. After a 16-man break-away was established after only five kilometres, Piil was one of three riders in the 16-man group who were able to keep the

peloton In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close (drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reductio ...

behind them, but Piil found himself beaten by Serge Baguet at the finish line. In 2002 Piil won

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200&nbs ...

and Danmark Rundt, and once again tried his luck at winning a stage in the 2002 Tour de France. At the 18th stage, Piil was lined up in a favourable position to sprint for the stage win, when his foot jumped out of the toe clip with 250 meters to go, and Piil came in third. In 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 ...

, Piil finally got the success he sought. At the 219 kilometres long stage 10, Piil was a part of a nine-man breakaway which ended up in a duel for the stage win between Piil and Fabio Sacchi. As the two riders neared the finishing line, they shook hands on a good final sprint, and Sacchi opened with Piil on the wheel, a position Piil used to his full advantage, sprinting past Sacchi just before the finishing line. In 2004, Piil tried again, and he won the title of the most aggressive rider 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 ...

, but didn't get a stage win for his effort. Most of the 2005 season was ruined due to injuries, and Piil was left out of Team CSC's setup for the

2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong origi ...

. Instead, he rode the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...

, where he once again showed his tenacity to attack, and looked in great form until illness forced him to retire from the race. He recuperated in time for the World Cycling Championship where he got the biggest result of the season with a fifth place, behind winner

Tom Boonen Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed i ...

. In 2006 Jakob Piil did not participate in any of the grand tours, and shortly after being left out of the

2006 Vuelta a España The 2006 Vuelta a España was held from 26 August to 17 September 2006, and was the 61st edition of the race. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Alexander Vinokourov of the cycling team. The points classification wa ...

team, he wrote a contract with T-Mobile Team.

Major results

;1997 :8th GP Aarhus ;1998 :4th GP Aarhus ;1999 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

Tour of Sweden The Tour of Sweden (or Postgirot Open) was an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Sweden from 1982 to 2002. It replaced the former Six Days Race 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, t ...

::1st Stage 2 :1st First Union Invitational :1st US Pro Championship :2nd Grand Prix de Villers-Cotterêts :5th Overall Danmark Rundt :9th Overall

;2001 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st Stages 3 & 7 : 1st MaillotDinamarca

Road race Road racing, road race of road racer may refer to: * Road racing in motorsport * Road running on foot * Road bicycle racing * ''Road Race'', initial name of 1976 arcade game ''Fonz'' (video game) * Roadracers (1994 film) * Roadracers (1959 fi ...

, National Road Championships :1st

Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise, formerly known as the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in February around the city of Marseille, France. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event ...

:3rd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton :4th First Union Invitational :5th Overall Danmark Rundt ;2002 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Danmark Rundt ::1st Stage 1 :1st

:10th Overall

::1st Stage 5 ;2003 :1st Stage 10

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 consist ...

:1st GP Aarhus :1st Wachovia Invitational ;2004 :8th Overall Ster Elektrotoer :10th Wachovia Invitational ;2005 :4th Trofeo Città di Castelfidardo :10th 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. Between 1985 and 1995 it was an amateur race. It ...

;2006 :2nd Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese :5th GP Ouest–France

References

External links

Elmic
(source) {{DEFAULTSORT:Piil, Jakob 1973 births Living people Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Danish male cyclists Danish Tour de France stage winners Olympic cyclists of Denmark Danmark Rundt winners People from Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark