Michael Boogerd

Michael Boogerd

Personal information
Full name	Michael Boogerd
Nickname	Boogey
Born	May 28, 1972 (1972-05-28) (age 39)  Netherlands
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	62.5 kg (138 lb; 9.84 st)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist
Professional team(s)
1993-2007	WordPerfect-Colnago-Decca Novell-Decca-Colnago Rabobank
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 2 individual stages Stage Races Paris–Nice (1999) 1 individual stage Setmana Catalana (1998, 2001) Single-Day Races and Classics Dutch Road Race Championship (1997, 1998, 2006) Amstel Gold Race (1999) Brabantse Pijl (2001, 2003) Giro dell'Emilia (1999) GP Beghelli (1999)
Infobox last updated on July 14, 2011

Michael Boogerd (born May 28, 1972 in The Hague) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with teammate Erik Dekker, even inspiring Dutch authors to write a book called "Michael & Erik" about this generation, and the two of them in particular.

He began his professional career in 1994, joining WordPerfect. In 1995 the team changed name to Novell, before Rabobank in 1996 became main sponsor and name for the team. Boogerd stayed with the team his entire career.

His speciality were hilly classics like Liège–Bastogne–Liège, La Flèche Wallonne and the Amstel Gold Race in the Ardennes week and the Lombardian races in the Fall, as well as mountain-stages. He has won two stages in Tour de France (1996, 2002) as well as the Amstel Gold Race and Paris–Nice. He has been Dutch Champion three times, in 1997, 1998 and in 2006. In addition to these major victories, Boogerd scored a large number of podium finishes in his favorite spring classics, which gave him a reputation in the Netherlands of being 2nd or 3rd more often than winning - a notion he dismissed in a 2007 interview looking back at his career.

In the 1998 Tour de France, Boogerd finished 5th overall in the General Classification, his highest finish ever in the Tour. His main result in the 2005 Tour de France was on stage 15, where he finished 4th, 57 seconds behind stage winner, George Hincapie. Also in the Tour de France 2005, he was punished with twenty seconds at Stage 9 of the race. In the 2006 Tour de France, Boogerd's role was to support Rabobank team leader Denis Menchov in the Alps and Pyrenees. He rode exceptionally well helping his team captain to 6th overall and Michael Rasmussen to the Polka Dot jersey.

He is known for gritting his super-white teeth^{[citation needed]}. His nickname is the "Boogie-man". Boogerd ended his career in 2007, with a 12th place in the World Championship road race in Stuttgart. His planned last race was the 2007 Giro di Lombardia, but a fall in the weeks before made him unable to participate.^[1]

After his active career, Boogerd has done freelance promotional activities for Rabobank, and is frequently seen or heard on TV during live coverage of major races, both on Dutch and Belgian television.

Michael Boogerd

Major Results

1996

Tour de France stage 6

31st Overall, Tour de France

1997

Dutch National Road Race Championship

16th Overall, Tour de France

1998

5th Overall, Tour de France

4th, Amstel Gold Race

Dutch National Road Race Championship

1999

1st, Paris–Nice

1st Stage 5

1st, Giro dell'Emilia

1st, Amstel Gold Race

1st, Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli

2001

10th Overall, Tour de France

9th, Amstel Gold Race

1st, Setmana Catalana

1st, Brabantse Pijl

2002

3rd, Amstel Gold Race

Tour de France stage 16

12th Overall, Tour de France

Ronde van Nederland stage 6

2003

1st, Brabantse Pijl

2nd, Amstel Gold Race

2004

2nd, Amstel Gold Race

2005

7th Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco

2nd, Amstel Gold Race

3rd, Liège–Bastogne–Liège

24th Overall, Tour de France

4th, Stage 15

6th Overall, Tour of Poland

2006

5th Overall, Tirreno–Adriatico

3rd, Amstel Gold Race

5th, Liège–Bastogne–Liège

Dutch National Road Race Championship

13th Overall, Tour de France

6th, Stage 11

7th, Stage 14

5th, Stage 17

4th, Züri-Metzgete

8th, Giro di Lombardia

2007

12th Overall, Tour de France

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline

Grand Tour	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Giro	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	17	-	-	-	-	-
Tour	-	31	16	5	56	WD	10	12	32	74	24	14	12
Vuelta	42	-	-	49	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	WD	-

WD = withdrew

References

1. ^ Cyclingheroes.info: Boogerd has to stop cycling even before his planned fare well in the Giro di Lombardia 2007, retrieved January 15, 2008

External links

• Official website
• Michael Boogerd profile
• Michael Boogerd at Trap-Friis.dk

Sporting positions
Preceded by Maarten den Bakker	Dutch National Road Race Champion 1997–1998	Succeeded by Maarten den Bakker
Preceded by Frank Vandenbroucke	Winner of Paris–Nice 1999	Succeeded by Andreas Klöden
Preceded by Rolf Järmann	Winner of the Amstel Gold Race 1999	Succeeded by Erik Zabel
Preceded by Johan Museeuw	Winner of the Brabantse Pijl 2001	Succeeded by Fabien De Waele
Preceded by Laurent Jalabert	Winner of the Catalan Week 2001	Succeeded by Juan Miguel Mercado
Preceded by Fabien De Waele	Winner of the Brabantse Pijl 2003	Succeeded by Luca Paolini
Preceded by Léon van Bon	Dutch National Road Race Champion 2006	Succeeded by Koos Moerenhout

Persondata
Name	Boogerd, Michael
Alternative names
Short description	Retired road bicycle racer
Date of birth	1972-05-28
Place of birth	The Hague, Netherlands
Date of death
Place of death