Robbie McEwen (born 24 June 1972) is an Australian former professional road cyclist. He is a three-time winner of the Tour de France points classification in 2002, 2004 & 2006 and, at the peak of his career, was considered the world's fastest sprinter. He last rode for on the

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

. A former Australian

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the ea ...

champion, McEwen switched to

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws a ...

in 1990 at 18 years of age. He raced as a professional from 1996 until 2012. McEwen retired from the World Tour after riding the 2012 Tour of California and is now a cycling broadcast commentator on the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour ...

, the

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 ...

, the

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 ...

and most of the major races for Warner Brothers Discovery networks like Eurosport, Discovery+ & Max Sports.

Career

Robbie McEwen 2006 Bay Cycling Classic 1

McEwen was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. After four years of moving through the regional, state and national levels of cycling, he started at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

in Canberra under road cycling coach Heiko Salzwedel. The first signs of his sprinting prowess on the international stage were at the Peace Race, winning three stages for the Australian national team. McEwen competed in the road race at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games (23rd) and the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games (19th). He was also included on the Australian team for the 1994 UCI Road Cycling World Championship in Italy, and the 2002 UCI Road Cycling World Championship in Belgium, where he won a silver medal. McEwen was again selected for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games (11th) as part of the road race team. McEwen was named 2002 Australian Cyclist of the Year, 2002 Male Road Cyclist of the Year and 1999 Male Road Cyclist of the Year. After spending 16 seasons racing for foreign teams (Dutch: Rabobank & Farm Frites; Belgian: Lotto; Russian: Katusha; USA: RadioShack), McEwen signed for the new Australian team in September 2011 after it gained a ProTeam licence for the 2012 season.

Tour de France

McEwen participated in the

on 12 occasions: 1997 (117th), 1998 (89th), 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. Over the years, he has won 12 stages. In 1999, McEwen won the final stage sprint in Paris on the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

. In 2002, McEwen won stage 3 (Metz–Reims) and stage 20 (Melun–Paris). In 2004, McEwen won stages 3 and 9. In 2005, McEwen won stage 5 to Montargis, stage 7 to Karlsruhe in Germany, and stage 13 to Montpellier. In 2006, McEwen won stages 2, 4 and 6 to Esch-sur-Alzette, St Quentin and Vitré respectively. He started the 2007 Tour with a victorious sprint on stage 1 to Canterbury. The stage win was seen as remarkable as he had crashed with to go. He injured his knee and wrist but with the help of his team he clawed his way back to the bunch to win the sprint by over a bike length. The injuries he sustained from this crash did not prevent him from continuing but eventually he was forced out of the race when the Tour entered the Mountains, his knee injury became worse and he failed to finish stage eight within the time limit. In 2002, McEwen became the first Australian to win the Tour de France points classification. By 2006, McEwen had won the Tour de France green points jersey three times in this race – in 2002, 2004 and, again, in 2006 – defeating rivals such as fellow Australians Baden Cooke and Stuart O'Grady, and international competitors like

Erik Zabel Erik Zabel (; born 7 July 1970) is a German former professional road bicycle racer who raced for most of his career with Team Telekom. With 152 professional wins and 211 wins in his career, he is considered by some to be one of the greatest Germ ...

of Germany,

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 in ...

of Belgium and

Thor Hushovd Thor Hushovd (born 18 January 1978) is a Norwegian former professional road bicycle racer. He is known for sprinting and time trialing; Hushovd is a three-time Norwegian National Road Race Championships, Norwegian national road race champion ( ...

of Norway. McEwen's first win in the 2002 Tour de France saw him win the green jersey from German legend Erik Zabel, with O'Grady third and Cooke fourth. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, McEwen won the points classification for a second time, defeating Hushovd and Erik Zabel. McEwen had fractured two transverse process (vertebrae) in a mass pile up on stage 6 and continued the race in extreme pain, making his stage 9 win in Guéret all the more remarkable. McEwen won his third and final Points classification in the

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

, this time with Zabel second and Hushovd third. In 2012, he announced that the Tour of California would be the last professional race of his career. He struggled to reach the finishing line of the mountain stages in the gruppetto. He humorously said after his arrival on the final stage in Los Angeles: "This was a good race to pick as my last because I suffered so much this week I won't miss it." He was awarded the "Most Courageous Rider" jersey at the end of the race to commemorate his last day of professional cycling. After retiring from racing, McEwen remained with Orica–GreenEDGE as a technical adviser and sprint coach.

Commentating

In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, Robbie McEwen commentated on the Tour de France's world feed in English, alongside fellow Australian Matthew Keenan. In 2021 he featured on SBS Australia's coverage of a number of cycling races, but his contract was not renewed for 2022. He commentated on the Santos Festival of Cycling for the 7 Network Australia, and joined GCN (Global Cycling Network) in March 2022. McEwen co-hosted the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

broadcast of the 2023 & 2024 Santos Men's

used by Peacock in the US alongside Anna Meares and Phil Liggett. He then went on to feature on

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

's coverage of the

2024 Tour de France The 2024 Tour de France was the 111th edition of the Tour de France. It started in Florence, Italy, on 29 June, and finished in Nice, France, on 21 July. The race did not finish in (or near) Paris for the first time since its inception, owing to ...

as both a pundit on The Breakaway and as a race commentator.

Sprinting style

McEwen was known as a particularly cunning and tactical sprinter. Where many teams would use lead-out trains to secure a stage win for their selected sprinter, McEwen achieved many of his victories either with one lead-out man, or often none at all, by aggressively and intelligently positioning himself within the peloton in the final kilometres. Fellow Australian cyclist Stuart O'Grady considers McEwen to be "one of the fastest, most powerful accelerators the planet has ever seen".

Personal life

McEwen lives in Australia with his Belgian wife, Angélique Pattyn, his son, Ewan, and his daughters, Elena and Claudia. In 2011, McEwen published an autobiography entitled 'One Way Road'. McEwen lived for many years in the Belgian town of Everbeek and is fluent in Dutch.

Major results

;1994 : Peace Race ::1st Stages 3, 6b & 9 : 1st Stage 1

Tour de l'Avenir Tour de l'Avenir () is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961 as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independents. Felice Gimondi, Joo ...

;1995 : Overall winner - Tour of Wellington : 1st Stage 4 Regio-Tour : 1st Stage 6

;1996 : 1st Luk-Cup Bühl : 1st Stage 4

Vuelta a Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a 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, due to Spain's fina ...

: 1st Stage 2

Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt The International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt was a stage race, multi-stage road bicycle racing, road bicycle race held in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. In the years from 1966 to 2007, it was considered one of the biggest sporting events in Rhine ...

: 1st Stage 3b Regio-Tour : 1st Stage 4

: 4th Overall

Herald Sun Tour The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria, sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six-day event. It is now held annuall ...

::1st Stages 1b, 8b & 10b ;1997 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Geelong Bay Classic Series ::1st Stages 1, 2 & 4 : Ronde van Nederland ::1st Stages 2 & 3a : 1st Stage 2

Four Days of Dunkirk The Four Days of Dunkirk () is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Despite the name of the race, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has been held over a 5 or 6 day period for ...

: 1st Stage 3

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 UCI race classifications, 2.Pro race, the highest rating below the UCI World Tour, World Tour, by the ...

: 4th Trofeo Alcúdia : 5th

GP Stad Zottegem Egmont Cycling Race is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in August in Zottegem, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competit ...

: 10th Overall Danmark Rundt ;1998 : 1st Stage 1

Vuelta a Andalucía The Vuelta a Andalucía (Tour of Andalusia) or Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race first held in 1925. Since 2005, it has been a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour. The race became a part of the new UCI ...

: 1st Stage 5 Geelong Bay Classic Series : 9th Overall Ronde van Nederland ::1st Stages 3a & 5 ;1999 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Geelong Bay Classic Series ::1st Stages 1, 4 & 5 : 1st Stage 20

: 1st Stage 2

: 1st Stage 1a Route du Sud :

::1st Stages 3 & 6 : 2nd Trofeo Luis Puig : 4th Dwars door Gendringen : 9th Overall Ronde van Nederland ::1st Stage 2 ;2000 : 1st Trofeo Alcúdia : 1st Stage 6

;2001 : 1st Trofeo Calvià :

::1st Stages 3 & 4 ( ITT) : International Uniqa Classic ::1st Jersey green

Points classification ::1st Stages 2 & 3 : 1st Stage 2 Ronde van Nederland : 1st Stage 2 Tour Méditerranéen : 8th Overall

Tour de Wallonie The Tour de Wallonie is a stage race cycling race on the UCI Europe Tour. It runs in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium in the end of July. Between 1974 and 1995 it was reserved to amateurs. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a ...

::1st Stage 4 : 8th

Nokere Koerse Nokere Koerse is a European semi classic single day cycle race held in the Belgian region of Flanders. The Nokere Koerse was created in 1944, initially as the ''Grand Prix Jules Lowie'' in honour of 1938 Paris–Nice winner Jules Lowie who ...

;2002 : 1st MaillotAustralia

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Jersey orange

Overall

Étoile de Bessèges The Étoile de Bessèges () is an early-season five-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually around Bessèges, in the Gard department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. First organized in 1971 as a one-day race, it became a ...

::1st Stage 1 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Circuit Franco-Belge ::1st Stages 2 & 3 : 1st Scheldeprijs : 1st

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 ...

: 1st

Delta Profronde Delta Profronde was a single-day road bicycle race held annually in June in Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. Th ...

: 1st RaboRonde Heerlen :

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 3 & 20 :

::1st Stages 4 & 10 :

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the ...

::1st Stages 2 & 7 :

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 1, 3, 4 & 6 : 2nd Silver medal uci

Road race,

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

: 2nd GP Rik Van Steenbergen : 3rd Tour du Haut Var : 3rd Veenendaal–Veenendaal : 4th Omloop Het Volk ;2003 : 1st Dwars door Vlaanderen :

::1st Stages 4 & 11 : 1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse : 1st Stage 3

: 1st Stage 4

: 3rd Veenendaal–Veenendaal : 4th

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 ...

: 6th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge ::1st Stage 3 : 7th

::Held

after Stages 1–5, 18 & 19 ;2004 : 1st Gouden Pijl : 1st Memorial Samyn-Fayt-le-Franc : 1st

Profronde van Oostvoorne Profronde van Oostvoorne () is an elite men's and women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in Oostvoorne, the Netherlands. The first edition was in 1985. The event is one of the post-Tour de France criteriums. Honours Men's ...

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 2 & 9 ::Held Jersey yellow

after Stage 3 :

::1st Stage 5 ::Held Jersey violet

after Stage 5 : Tour de Suisse ::1st Stages 2 & 4 : 2nd Overall

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 1 & 4 : 2nd Overall Tour of Qatar : 2nd Scheldeprijs : 2nd

: 2nd Veenendaal–Veenendaal : 4th Overall

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 H ...

::1st

Points classification : 8th Sparkassen Giro Bochum ;2005 : 1st MaillotAustralia

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Bay Classic ::1st Stages 1 & 4 : 1st

: 1st

::1st Stages 5, 7 & 13 :

::1st Stages 2, 6 & 10 ::Held Jersey pink

after Stage 2 ::Held Jersey violet

after Stages 2–3, 6 & 10–12 :

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 1, 2 & 6 : 1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse : 1st Stage 5 Tour of Qatar : 1st Stage 4

Niedersachsen Rundfahrt The Internationale Niedersachsen–Rundfahrt is a stage race, multi-stage road bicycle racing, road bicycle race held in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was first held in 1977 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. ...

: 3rd

Grand Prix d'Isbergues Grand Prix d'Isbergues is a professional cycle road race held in Isbergues, Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which ...

: 4th

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 m ...

;2006 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Grande Prémio Internacional Costa Azul ::1st Jersey green

Points classification ::1st Stage 1 : 1st

: 1st Down Under Classic :

::1st

Points classification ::1st Stages 2, 4 & 6 :

::1st Stages 2, 4 & 6 ::Held Jersey violet

after Stages 4–12 : 1st Stage 1

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 7

: 2nd Overall Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen ::1st Stage 2 : 2nd Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen : 3rd Overall

: 4th

: 5th Road race,

;2007 : 1st

::1st Stage 1 ::Held Jersey green

after Stage 1 :

::1st Stage 2 ::Held Jersey violet

after Stages 2 & 4 : 1st Stage 2

: 1st Stage 1

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian Sea, Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of th ...

: 1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse : 1st Stage 5

: 1st Stage 3 Jayco Bay Classic : 1st Stage 3 Eneco Tour : 2nd Scheldeprijs : 3rd Schaal Sels : 4th

Milan–San Remo Milan–Sanremo (in italian language, Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance ...

: 6th

Gent–Wevelgem Gent–Wevelgem, officially Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields, is a road bicycle racing, road cycling race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic cycle races, classic races part of the Flemish Cycling Week, run in late ...

: 6th

: 8th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge : 9th Omloop Het Volk ;2008 : 1st Vattenfall Cyclassics : 1st

: Tour de Suisse ::1st Stages 3 & 4 : 1st Stage 2

: 3rd Scheldeprijs : 6th

;2009 : 1st Down Under Classic : 1st Trofeo Cala Millor : 1st Stage 3

Tour de Picardie The Tour de Picardie was a professional multi-stage cycle road race that was held between 1936 and 2016 in Picardy, France. In its last twelve editions, it was organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a se ...

;2010 : 1st Trofeo Palma de Mallorca : 1st Stage 1 Eneco Tour : 2nd Scheldeprijs : 2nd Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen : 4th Overall

: 6th

: 7th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens ;2011 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Tour de Wallonie-Picarde ::1st Stages 1 & 4 : 1st Stage 4

: 2nd

Tour de Mumbai The Tour de Mumbai (also known as Mumbai Cyclothon) was an annual professional road bicycle racing Classic cycle races, classic one-day race held in Maharashtra, India, named after Mumbai. It is classified by the International Cycling Union (UCI ...

: 4th

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 Belgium, officially the Kingdom ...

: 5th Scheldeprijs : 8th

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Recognition

In 2015, he was an inaugural Cycling Australia Hall of Fame inductee. In 2019, inducted into

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

References

External links

Australian Cycling Federation profile

Robbie McEwen's profila at Cycling Base
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcewen, Robbie 1972 births Living people Australian Institute of Sport cyclists Australian male cyclists Australian Tour de France stage winners Tour de France Champs Elysées stage winners Olympic cyclists for Australia Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cyclists from Brisbane Australian Giro d'Italia stage winners Tour de Suisse stage winners Members of the Order of Australia Tour de France journalists Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Sportsmen from Queensland Cycling announcers

Career

Tour de France

Commentating

Sprinting style

Personal life

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Recognition

References

Further reading

External links