Maarten Wynants (born 13 May 1982) is a Belgian 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 com ...

, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2021 for the , and teams. He now works as a

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (, ) is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is seen as the equivalent to a field manager in baseball, or a head coach in football. At professional level, a directeur sportif follows t ...

for his final professional team,

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

Career

Born in

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...

, Wynants was awarded the Combativity award, given to a rider judged to have shown exceptional attacking spirit during the race, following Stage 1 of the

2010 Tour de France The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996. The race visited th ...

on 4 July. Attacking in the first kilometre, he continued to lead from the front until both he and Alexandr Pliushin of were caught by the peloton just from the end of the stage. In June 2020, Wynants announced that he would retire from cycling in April 2021, after that year's

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling monument, Monuments' ...

. Following the postponement of Paris–Roubaix to October due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...

, Wynants' final race occurred at the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders () may refer to the following cycle races: * Tour of Flanders (men's race) The Tour of Flanders (), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race held in Belgium every spri ...

Major results

;2004 : 1st Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships : 10th

Grand Prix de Waregem The Grand Prix Waregem was a cycling race held annually in Belgium. It was part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale ...

;2005 : 3rd Hel van het Mergelland ;2006 : 1st

Grote Prijs Beeckman-De Caluwé Grote Prijs Beeckman-De Caluwé is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in July in Ninove, Belgium. The 169 km race is named after the local cyclists Kamiel Beeckman and Edgard de Caluwé, winner of the Tour of Flanders (men's race), Tour ...

: 7th Overall

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 bicycle racer, road cycling tour. It was inaugurate ...

;2007 : 3rd

Halle–Ingooigem Halle–Ingooigem is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in June in West Flanders, Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Cou ...

: 5th Overall

: 9th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge : 10th Overall

Volta ao Algarve Volta may refer to: Persons * Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), Italian physicist and inventor of the electric battery, count and eponym of the volt * Giovanni Volta (1928–2012), Italian Roman Catholic bishop * Giovanni Serafino Volta (1764–1 ...

;2008 : 3rd Trofeo Sóller : 5th

Le Samyn Le Samyn is an annual single-day road bicycle race in Belgium, held usually in late February or early March. The event was created in 1968 as ''Grand Prix de Fayt-le-Franc'', named after the former municipality where it started and finished. In ...

: 6th

Paris–Brussels The Brussels Cycling Classic (known until June 2013 as Paris–Brussels) is a semi classic European bicycle race, one of the oldest races on the international calendar. History Paris–Brussels was first run on 12 August 1893 as an amateur eve ...

: 6th

Grand Prix de Fourmies The Grand Prix de Fourmies is a bicycle race held in the Fourmies commune of France. From 2005 to 2019 it was organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2021, it joined the UCI ProSeries The UCI ProSeries is the second tier men's ...

;2010 :

Combativity award Stage 1

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

;2011 : 7th Overall

Tour of Belgium The Tour of Belgium (; ) 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. Between 1982 and 1990 several races were not org ...

;2012 : 3rd Overall

Tour de l'Eurométropole The Circuit Franco-Belge is a single day cycling race held annually in Belgium and France. The race was previously known as the Tour de Wallonie-Picarde in 2011 and as the Tour de l'Eurométropole from 2012 to 2021. From 2005 to 2015 the Tour de ...

: 7th Binche–Tournai–Binche : 8th

Dwars door Vlaanderen ''Dwars door Vlaanderen'' ('Across Flanders') is a semi-classic road bicycle race in Belgium, held annually since 1945. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, both in West Flanders. Since 2017 the event is included in the UCI Wor ...

: 10th Overall

: 10th

;2013 : 2nd Trofeo Platja de Muro : 9th

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad , previously Omloop Het Volk, is a one-day road cycling race in Belgium, held annually in late February. It is the opening event of the Belgian cycling season, as well as the first race of the year in Northwestern Europe, and holds significant pre ...

;2014 : 6th

Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne is an annual single-day road bicycle racing, road cycling race in Belgium. It is held one day after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, on the last Sunday of February or the first of March, and completes the opening weekend of the Be ...

;2016 : 9th

: 9th

;2017 : 2nd Omloop van het Houtland : 3rd Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde ;2018 : 1st Stage 5 ( TTT)

Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after th ...

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* Belgian male cyclists Cyclists from Hasselt 1982 births Living people European Games competitors for Belgium Cyclists at the 2015 European Games 21st-century Belgian sportsmen {{Belgium-cycling-bio-1980s-stub