Borut Božič

Borut Božič
	Božič at the 2012 Tour Down Under
Personal information
Full name	Borut Božič
Nickname	Borjo
Born	8 August 1980; Idrija, Yugoslavia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	67 kg (148 lb)
Team information
Current team	Bahrain–McLaren
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider (retired); Directeur sportif;
Rider type	Sprinter
Professional teams
2004–2006	Perutnina Ptuj
2007	Team LPR
2008	Cycle Collstrop
2009–2011	Vacansoleil
2012–2015	Astana[1]
2016	Cofidis
2017–2018	Bahrain–Merida
Managerial team
2019–	Bahrain–Merida (directeur sportif)
Major wins
	Grand Tours Vuelta a España 1 individual stage (2009) Stage races Tour de Wallonie (2007) One-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (2008, 2012)

Borut Božič (born 8 August 1980) is a Slovenian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2018 for the Perutnina Ptuj, Team LPR, Cycle Collstrop, Vacansoleil–DCM, Astana, Cofidis and Bahrain–Merida teams. Considered a sprinter in the mold of Óscar Freire, Božič's career highlights include winning the 2007 Tour de Wallonie, victory in the first stage of the 2009 Tour de Pologne (plus two days in the leader's jersey), winning the sixth stage of the 2009 Vuelta a España, and winning stage five of the 2011 Tour de Suisse. Božič now works as a directeur sportif for the Bahrain–McLaren team.[2]

Early life

Born in Idrija, Božič got his start in cycling at age 10, despite growing up in a family with no connection to the sport. Though his friends cycled, his dad was a football player – so he looked to his compatriot Valter Bonca for inspiration. Božič is married to Klemintina, with whom he has a son, Sas. The family resides in Idrija, Slovenia. During the first three years of his career, Božič also trained for skiing, though by age 24 he realized he could make a living as a professional cyclist.[3]

Professional career

Božič turned professional in 2004 with Perutnina Ptuj. He moved to the Italian Team LPR in 2007, but left for Belgian squad Cycle Collstrop in 2008. Božič's most successful season to date was 2009, his first with Vacansoleil, which he finished by taking third-place in the Paris–Tours classic behind winner Philippe Gilbert and runner-up Tom Boonen. Božič escaped with the two Belgians with 7 km to go, at the base of the Côte de l'Epan after an attack from Gilbert's teammate Greg Van Avermaet. Having led the trio into the final 300m on the Avenue du Grammont, Božič attempted to contest the sprint, but he was gapped by Gilbert with 150m to the line, and cut short his effort.

After extending his contract with Vacansoleil through 2011,[4] Božič was able to train calmly during the winter, and he resumed his winning ways in 2010. Božič claimed stages 1 and 2 of the Étoile de Bessèges in France, and placed second on the third. He started the fourth stage as leader of the general classification, but lost over 20 minutes to eventual race-winner Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis). Nevertheless, Božič's consistency was rewarded with overall victory in the points classification, where he finished with 79, four more than the runner-up Niko Eeckhout (Bel) of An Post – Sean Kelly. Božič's next result of merit was a 12th-place in the 204 km East Flanders classic, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he arrived in the first chase group, 18 second in arrears of eventual race winner Juan Antonio Flecha (SKY).[5] Unfortunately, the 2010 season was ultimately a quiet one for Božič, and he did not score a major victory like in the previous year's Tour of Spain (1st, stage 6).

In 2011, a frustrated Božič continued racing a similar program to years past, but he crashed-out of May's Giro d'Italia and saw his progress disrupted. Taking into account their rider's two falls in Italy and general lack of results, the team reworked Božič's schedule and conceptualized an alternative approach according to Vacansoleil's sports director Jean-Paul van Poppel, who explained:

Božič at the 2012 Tour Down Under.

"Due to the crashes Božič couldn't follow up to a start in the Giro and get the results he was aiming for in the season. However, after the Giro we made plans with Božič. We decided he would firstly compete in the Tour of Luxembourg to build him up for races and then we agreed the Tour of Switzerland was a race that would help him get some good results in the Tour de France. The plan is coming together nicely."[6]

Božič finally returned to the winner's circle at the UCI WorldTour with a dramatic and emotional victory in the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse. There, Božič crossed the finish line in tears after having countered a daring move by his Italian team mate Marco Marcato in the final kilometre.[7] Second behind the 30-year-old Slovenian after the 204 km trek from Huttwil to Tobel-Täegerschen was Spain's Óscar Freire, with the Slovak Peter Sagan of Liquigas in third.[8]

Wiping the tears from his eyes while giving an interview immediately following his win, Božič told the press that he could not believe he had triumphed after such a long gap without a major victory:

"My last [big] win was in 2009, a stage in the Tour of Spain and even today I hadn't expected to do so well. I told my teammate Marcato to attack in the last kilometre because I felt a bit rough and that, if he couldn't make it, I'd try for the sprint. We were lucky it all worked out. I've had a very difficult last six months, no wins and never really feeling good on the bike. Today I thought it wasn't my day either but, with 50 meters to go, I got on Freire's back wheel, then got past him at the last possible moment."[8]

Božič's win gave added impetus to his push for a coveted spot on Vacansoleil's Tour de France roster, which would mark the Slovenian's 1st appearance in the French grand tour. He has already competed in both the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España.

Božič joined Astana for the 2012 season.[1] In October 2015 Cofidis announced that Božič would be part of their squad for 2016.[9]

Career achievements

Major results

2002

1st Stage 2 Grand Prix Guillaume Tell

2004

1st 2 Stages Tour of Slovenia

1st Stage Tour of Serbia

1st Stage Istrian Spring Trophy

2005

1st

Overall Istrian Spring Trophy

1st Stage 1

1st Stage 3 Tour de l'Avenir

2006

1st

Overall Istrian Spring Trophy

1st Prologue & Stage 1

Tour of Slovenia

1st

Points classification

1st Stages 1 & 4

Olympia's Tour

1st Stages 2, 3 & 8

1st Stage 1 Circuit des Ardennes

2007

1st

Overall Tour de Wallonie

1st GP Kranj

1st Stage 3 Tour of Ireland

4th Tour de Rijke

2008

1st

Road race, National Road Championships

1st Stage 5 Étoile de Bessèges

1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Andalucía

1st Stage 3 Delta Tour Zeeland

6th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne

9th Paris–Brussels

10th Scheldeprijs

2009

1st Stage 6 Vuelta a España

Tour of Belgium

1st Stage 2 & 3

1st Stage 1 Tour de Pologne

1st Stage 1 Tour du Limousin

3rd Overall Ster Elektrotoer

3rd Paris–Tours

5th Overall Tour de Picardie

6th Overall Three Days of De Panne

6th Hel van het Mergelland

9th Paris–Bourges

2010

Étoile de Bessèges

1st Stages 1 & 2

2nd Overall Tour of Britain

1st Stage 7

6th Overall Tour de Picardie

2011

1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse

3rd Vattenfall Cyclassics

4th Grand Prix d'Isbergues

6th London–Surrey Cycle Classic

6th Paris–Bruxelles

7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships

9th Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen

2012

1st

Road race, National Road Championships

2nd Clásica de Almería

6th GP Stad Zottegem

8th GP Ouest–France

8th Grand Prix Pino Cerami

10th Vattenfall Cyclassics

2013

2nd Gent–Wevelgem

2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen

5th Grand Prix de Fourmies

9th GP Ouest–France

2014

3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen

7th E3 Harelbeke

2015

3rd Road race, National Road Championships

2016

5th Route Adélie

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Giro d'Italia	—	—	DNF	—	—	124	—	—	—
Tour de France	—	—	136	129	—	—	—	DNF	160
Vuelta a España	102	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Legend
—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish

gollark: I hope they aren't having people pack them *manually*.

gollark: Well, it's probably fine, as you can't just set the frequency of light arbitrarily precisely.

gollark: Oh dear. Apparently frequency is in fact continuous.

gollark: Due to uncertainty things non-[HG]Tech™ entities cannot, as far as I know, measure light and whatever to arbitrary precision, so I assume they can't create it to that either.

gollark: No, there are physics reasons too. Something something planck length/time/etc.

References

"Astana signs Borut Božič and Kevin Seeldraeyers". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. 19 September 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
"Borut Bozic si ritira e diventa ds della Bahrain Merida, che rinnova Feng e Wang" [Borut Bozic retires and becomes DS of Bahrain Merida, which renews Feng and Wang]. Cicloweb.it (in Italian). Cicloweb. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
""PEZ Talk: Vacansoleil Fastman Borut Bozic," Joe Papp and Ed Hood, ''PEZCyclingNews,'' August 8, 2010". Pezcyclingnews.com.
Richard Tyler (26 September 2009). ""Bozic extends contract with Vacansoleil," Richard Tyler,". Cyclingnews.com.
Brecht Decaluwé. ""Flecha fires solo shot for self and Sky," Brecht Decaluwé". Cyclingnews.com.
""Borut Bozic wins a difficult bunch sprint in Switzerland," ''vacansoleildcm.co.uk,'' June 15, 2011". Vacansoleildcm.co.uk. 15 June 2011.
Star sprinters thwarted in Switzerland (15 June 2011). ""Surprise victory for Bozic," Sky Sports, ''skysports.com,'' June 15, 2011". Skysports.com.
Reuters (15 June 2011). ""Slovenia's Borut Bozic breaks down in tears after Swiss stage win," Reuters, ''guardian.co.uk,'' June 15, 2011". London: Guardian.
"Team Cofidis Announces Its Final Roster For Next Season". Orbea. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.

External links

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[Bozic_Astana-1] "Astana signs Borut Božič and Kevin Seeldraeyers". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. 19 September 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.

[2] "Borut Bozic si ritira e diventa ds della Bahrain Merida, che rinnova Feng e Wang" [Borut Bozic retires and becomes DS of Bahrain Merida, which renews Feng and Wang]. Cicloweb.it (in Italian). Cicloweb. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2019.

[3] ""PEZ Talk: Vacansoleil Fastman Borut Bozic," Joe Papp and Ed Hood, ''PEZCyclingNews,'' August 8, 2010". Pezcyclingnews.com.

[4] Richard Tyler (26 September 2009). ""Bozic extends contract with Vacansoleil," Richard Tyler,". Cyclingnews.com.

[5] Brecht Decaluwé. ""Flecha fires solo shot for self and Sky," Brecht Decaluwé". Cyclingnews.com.

[6] ""Borut Bozic wins a difficult bunch sprint in Switzerland," ''vacansoleildcm.co.uk,'' June 15, 2011". Vacansoleildcm.co.uk. 15 June 2011.

[7] Star sprinters thwarted in Switzerland (15 June 2011). ""Surprise victory for Bozic," Sky Sports, ''skysports.com,'' June 15, 2011". Skysports.com.

[guardian.co.uk-8] Reuters (15 June 2011). ""Slovenia's Borut Bozic breaks down in tears after Swiss stage win," Reuters, ''guardian.co.uk,'' June 15, 2011". London: Guardian.

[9] "Team Cofidis Announces Its Final Roster For Next Season". Orbea. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.