- Marc Wauters
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Marc Wauters 
Personal information Full name Marc Wauters Nickname De Soldaat (The Soldier) Born 23 February 1969
Hasselt, BelgiumTeam information Current team Retired Discipline Road Role Rider Rider type Time-triallist Professional team(s) 1991-1993
1994-1995
1996-1997
1998-2006Lotto
WordPerfect
Lotto
RabobankMajor wins Tour de France, 1 stage
Paris–Tours (1999)
Tour de Luxembourg (1999)
GP Eddy Merckx (1999, 2001)
National Time-trial Champion
- (2002, 2003, 2005)
Infobox last updated on
11 January 2007Marc 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]
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 GP 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 GP Eddy Merckx for the second time in his career in 2001. His Tour de France stage win in the same year turned out to be his last win in his career outside of Belgium. Wauters was known as a worker in the peloton and didn't win much, but helped his team mates 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]
Contents
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 was wearing the yellow jersey for a day, before losing it to Stuart O'Grady.[7]
- 1993 - 107th
- 1994 - 92nd
- 1996 - 124th
- 1999 - did not finish in Paris
- 2000 - 43rd
- 2001 - winner stage 2, did not finish in Paris
- 2002 - 91st
- 2003 - 115th
- 2004 - 112th
- 2005 - 140th
Major achievements
- 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 GP 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 GP Eddy Merckx
- 1st 2nd stage Tour de France
- 2002
- 1st Belgian National Time Trial Championships
- 2003
- 1st Belgian National Time Trial Championships
- 2004
- 1st Kortrijk Criterium
- 2005
- 1st Belgian National Time Trial Championships
- 2006
- 1st Peer Criterium
- 1st 's Gravenwezel Criterium
External links
References
- ^ a b Marc Wauters profile at Cycling Archives
- ^ a b Abrupt einde aan carrière Wauters, 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, tcm.ie breaking news, 9 July 2001
Categories:- 1969 births
- Living people
- Belgian cyclists
- Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Olympic cyclists of Belgium
- Belgian Tour de France stage winners
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