Gert Steegmans
Gert Steegmans
(born September 30, 1980 in Hasselt) is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who is currently a free agent. He has a strong finishing sprint and can compete in the sprint with fellow Belgian cyclist Tom Boonen.
Although Steegmans was already known in Belgium, he gained more popularity outside Belgium as he piloted Robbie McEwen to two stage wins during the 2006 Tour de France.
During the second stage of the 2007 Tour de France, a Liquigas rider fell sideways in the last 3 kilometres causing others to fall. Around 20 riders fell blocking the entire road and leaving approximately 30 riders to sprint for the victory, eventually taken by Steegmans in his home country ahead of his compatriot and team-mate Tom Boonen, who took over the green jersey by coming second in the stage.
On July 6, 2008, it was announced Steegmans signed a two-year contract with Tinkoff Credit Systems. In the Tour de France, he won the prestigious stage at Champs-Élysées. Team Tinkoff later folded under that name, and the management and ridership re-emerged as Team Katusha.
Gert Steegmans made headlines in the weeks leading up to the 2009 Tour de France with his refusal to sign an anti-doping agreement which Team Katusha was trying to get all its riders to sign. The agreement called for any rider who tested positive for a doping substance to pay a fine of five times their annual salary. Steegmans persisted in his refusal even after an ultimatum handed down by the team, which resulted in his not being selected for Katusha’s Tour de France squad. Katusha and Steegmans dissolved his contract on 5 August after Steegmans’ continuing refusal to sign the anti-doping charter. Team RadioShack announced that he would be joining the team in 2010.
(Source wikipedia.org)
Live your cycling dream man…live the dream!
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welcome to the shack, looking forward to see you and the team do well
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Whether or not I was a doper, I wouldn’t sign Team Katusha anti-doping agreement either. I’m surprised McEwan signed it but doesn’t he look at things upside down like that other guy from Silence-Lotto.
Great signing: he & Johan both speak the same language.
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Gert Steegmans is a very nice addition to the team. One of Belgiums best, tough, hard worker, according to myself.
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A guided missle for a great lead out or a win for himself if the moment is right. He should prove again worthy of headlines as part of the front of the pack in the sprint stages and early classic’s. One of Belgiums most notable riders. Cant wait to see the new colors of TEAM RADIO SHACK!!!
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I’m not sure what Geert adds to the team, in the sense of a TDF squad. Lance’s TDF squads are usually geared to do 2 things: climb and time trial. Sprinters create a problem for a team with a rider trying to win the GC. If he’s simply a roster member to ride other races and not the TDF though, then its a good signing. (Although the refusal to sign the doping thing worries me.)
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I’m fired up about this team! Gert, keep the drive, passion and lets WIN baby!
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What does he bring?
He’s big, and fast. We found out in 2009 TDF how important big is by watching HTC, in particular Hincape. The TDF has changed dramatically in the past few years because the dopers are being weeded out. The evenness amongst the riders compresses the field causing a larger peleton. You need a man that can block and can stay up front, protecting Lance. He won’t be going for the sprint finish unless there is a clear chance of victory and Lance is safe in the pack.
This is my opinion, I am sure that Lance and Bruyneel have their own.
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Daryl Impey will be a great leadout for Gert as he did for Rob Hunter
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I don’t think I would have signed that antidoping contract either even if I wasn’t doper. You never know when a test is going to be innacurate and give a false positive. Then you’re out of a team as well as millions of dollars!
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Well well well, I will have to trade my Quickstep outfit for a Team radio shack outfit, hihihi … Good luck and looking forward for the 2010 season!
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Eh Hunter, just saw your message. You must be on it, get my drift. As a proud Aussie “the other bloke” you refer to went up and over and won the World Road Championship, did you see it? As for Robbie McEwen, have a good hard look at his record and his reputation, enough said.
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cosa hai avut da dire con la katiuscha…. inbocca al lupo x il prossimo anno
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My guess is that he’ll be lined up for the 1 day classics. If TRS needs to be a pro tour team, then they need someone who will fill in the gaps. He’d be the likely pick.
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Hope he gives Boonen and cava a good fight for there money in the Tour DF. Alles geven manneke veel succes.
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go for it steegmans!
groeten uit West-Vlaanderen
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Gert,
veel succes komend jaar !!
hoge bomen scheren met het team, en een paar mooie overwinningen persoonlijk !!!
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Veel sterkte met het herstel.
Hopelijk zien we je vlug terug op de fiets.
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which came first: the wikipedia bio or this one? they’re identical. let’s go RS marketing – you can do better promoting your sprinter. tell us something we don’t know about Gert.
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