Marc Wauters
Marc Wauters (born 23 February 1969 in Hasselt, Belgium) is a former Belgian cyclist who was professional from 1991 until 2006. The 2004 Olympian, nicknamed The Soldier[1] was a member of the Rabobank cycling team of the UCI ProTour since 1998 and had to end his career several weeks short because of a broken collarbone which he suffered during a training on 20 September 2006.[2]
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Marc Wauters |
| Nickname | De Soldaat (The Soldier) |
| Born | 23 February 1969 Hasselt, Belgium |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb; 11 st 7 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Time-triallist |
| Professional teams | |
| 1991-1993 | Lotto |
| 1994-1995 | WordPerfect |
| 1996-1997 | Lotto |
| 1998-2006 | Rabobank |
| Major wins | |
| Tour de France, 1 stage Paris–Tours (1999) Tour de Luxembourg (1999) Grand Prix Eddy Merckx (1999, 2001) .svg.png){kind=small}
| |
Wauters participated at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens where he took part in both the road race and the time trial without any success.[3][4] In his early career, between 1991 and 1996 he won several of the smaller road races in The Netherlands and Belgium he was cycling in. The only exception to this was his win in the 5th stage of the 1995 Vuelta a Andalucía.[5]
In 1997 and 1998 Wauters didn't win a single race, although he became 7th at the World Cycling Championships 1998, his highest position in this event during his career. From 1999 on after winning the Grand Prix Eddy Merckx he started achieving wins again. In this year he also won Paris–Tours, 2 stages in the Tour de Luxembourg plus the overall ranking and the overall classification in the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt. Trying to defend his title in Rheinland-Pfalz he won 3rd stage in 2000. At the end of the tour he had defended his title successively. He won the Grand Prix Eddy Merckx for the second time in his career in 2001. Wauters was known as a worker in the peloton and didn't win much, but helped his teammates achieving decent results. Meanwhile, he developed himself into one of Belgium's best time trial specialists, winning the Belgium championships in 2002, 2003 and 2005. At the 2004 World Championships he finished on a 7th position.[1]
On 15 October 2006 a memorial race was held in Zolder, Belgium to wave Wauters officially goodbye from the sport.[2]
Tour de France
Wauters started in a total of 10 Tour de France editions, finishing in Paris eight times. His highest final ranking was 43rd in 2000.[6] The year after, during the 2001 Tour de France Wauters won the second stage, held from Calais to Antwerp. He was part of a breakaway containing 16 cyclists together with teammate Erik Dekker. Wauters got away from the group together with Arnaud Pretot who he beat in the final sprint. Because of his decent result in the prologue two days prior in Dunkerque he wore the yellow jersey for a day, before losing it to Stuart O'Grady.[7]
Major results
- 1987
- 1st Belgian junior time trial championships
- 1991
- 1st Liedekerkse Pijl
- 1994
- 1st Ronde van Limburg
- 1st Ster van Zwolle
- 1st Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem - Dr Tistaertprijs
- 1995
- 1st Stage 5 Vuelta a Andalucía
- 1996
- 1st Sint-Truiden Criterium
- 1999
- 1st Grand Prix Eddy Merckx
- 1st Paris–Tours
- 1st overall Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
- 1st Stage 1 Tour de Luxembourg
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de Luxembourg
- 1st overall Tour de Luxembourg
- 2000
- 1st Peer Criterium
- 1st Stage 3 (B) Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
- 1st overall Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
- 2001
- 1st Grand Prix Eddy Merckx
- 1st 2nd stage Tour de France
- 2002
- 1st
- 2003
- 1st
- 2004
- 1st Kortrijk Criterium
- 2005
- 1st
- 2006
- 1st Peer Criterium
- 1st 's Gravenwezel Criterium
References
- Marc Wauters at Cycling Archives
- Abrupt einde aan carrière Wauters Archived 29 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine, nos.nl, 20 September 2006
- Sydney 2000 results cycling, espn.go.com, 27 September 2000
- Athens 2004 results cycling, news.bbc.co.uk, 14 August 2004
- Marc Wauters - Belangrijke overwinningen, cyclebase.nl
- The Tour since 1903, past results for Marc WAUTERS (BEL), letour.fr
- Tour de France : Local hero Wauters to wear yellow jersey Archived 13 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine, tcm.ie breaking news, 9 July 2001