Roman Kreuziger

Roman Kreuziger (Czech pronunciation: [ˈroman ˈkrojtsɪɡr̩]; born 6 May 1986) is a Czech former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2021 for six different teams. His father, Roman Kreuziger Sr., was also a bicycle racer who won the Tour of Austria in 1991 and the Cyclocross Junior World Championships in 1983.

Kreuziger competed as an all-rounder, with climbing and time trial abilities, becoming a contender for the General classification of stage races. He was also considered one of the biggest talents of the sport after winning the junior road race at the 2004 UCI Road World Championships and the 2008 Tour de Suisse at the age of 22. The next year, he won the 2009 Tour de Romandie and in 2013, he was the victor of the Amstel Gold Race.

Since his retirement, Kreuziger now works as a directeur sportif for UCI WorldTeam Team Bahrain Victorious.

He turned professional in 2006 with Liquigas after a successful amateur career which saw him win the Junior Road World Championships in 2004 and a stage of the Giro delle Regioni in 2005. In 2007, he showed great improvements in his abilities by placing second in the prologues of Paris–Nice and the Tour de Romandie, where he also finished sixth overall. He took his first professional victory in the second stage of the Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda. In late 2007, he also completed his first Grand Tour after finishing 21st in the Vuelta a España.

In 2008, he finished second in the Tour de Romandie, 35 seconds behind Andreas Klöden, one of the world's leading riders. He avenged his loss by winning the Tour de Suisse by finishing 49 seconds ahead of Klöden and winning the mountain time trial to Klausen Pass. In his first Tour de France, he proved himself as an excellent climber among the world's greats, eventually finishing second in the youth competition, and 12th overall. After the Tour, Kreuziger was known to be one of the future riders to potentially win grand tours.

In 2009, he got back to the Tour de Romandie and finally succeeded in his attempt to win the race, getting also one stage victory. He added to this success by finishing in ninth place in the Tour de France.

In 2010, he won the Giro di Sardegna, finished third in Paris–Nice. Kreuziger's 9th overall in the Tour de France was a disappointment because it was not much of an improvement from his 9th-place finish in the 2009 Tour (though he would move into 8th after the Alberto Contador's stripped title). He then made the move from Liquigas–Doimo to Astana after five seasons with the Italian team.

In 2011, Kreuziger won the mountains classification and a stage in the Giro del Trentino. He achieved a 4th-place finish in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège by winning the sprint of the chasing group, almost half-a-minute behind winner Philippe Gilbert. He then aimed for the Giro d'Italia. Kreuziger did not quite have the uphill strength that Contador, Nibali, and Scarponi had, causing him to miss out on the podium. He ended up finishing 5th overall and he also won the young rider's classification.