Thomas Lövkvist

Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Thomas Lövkvist


image_caption = Lövkvist during the 2008 Tour of California
fullname = Thomas Lövkvist
nickname = Gotland
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1984|4|4
country = SWE
height = convert|1.86|m|ftin|abbr=on|lk=on
weight = convert|70|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
currentteam = Team Columbia
discipline = Road
role = Rider
ridertype = Allround
amateuryears =
amateurteams =
proyears = 2004–2007
2008–
proteams = Française des Jeux
Team Columbia
majorwins = Critérium International, 1 stage
Sweden National road championship (2006)
Sweden National time trial championship (2004)
updated = December 24, 2007

Thomas Lövkvist (born April 4, 1984 in Visby, Gotland) is a Swedish professional road bicycle racer riding for the UCI ProTeam Team Columbia. He became the youngest Swedish professional road bicycle racer when he started his professional bicycling career in FDJeux.com at the age of 19 in 2004. cite web
title = Thomas Lövkvist signs with FDJeux.com
publisher = cyclingnews.com
date = 15 September 2003
url = http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/?id=2003/sep03/sep15news
accessdate = 2008-07-09] Lövkvist is a good time trialist and has recently improved his climbing abilities.

Career

Early years

As a junior, Lövkvist was the European mountain bike champion. Aged 19 he won the individual time trial and the overall classification of the Circuit des Ardennes. Lövkvist also finished sixth and wore the leader's jersey in the 2003 Tour de l'Avenir. Following this results he turned professional for the French team FDJeux.com in 2004.

Française des Jeux (2004–2007)

Lövkvist first professional season turned out to be a very successful one. The week after turning 20 he won the last stage Circuit de la Sarthe with a 171 km breakaway, covering 150 alone after getting rid of Christophe Moreau. The stage win also gave him the overall classification, drawing comparisons with Tour de France winners Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond, who also won the race at the age of 20. [cite web
title = A champion is born: Thomas Lövkvist
publisher = cyclingnews.com
date = 9 April 2004
url = http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2004/apr04/sarthe04/sarthe044
accessdate = 2008-07-09] Lövkvist finished 10 seconds ahead of Franck Bouyer, who four days later earned his revenge by beating Lövkvist in the French semi-classic Paris-Camembert.cite web
title = Sarthe rematch turns the tables
publisher = cyclingnews.com
date = 13 April 2004
url = http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2004/apr04/camembert04
accessdate = 2008-07-09] Later in the season he also won the Swedish National time trial championships and participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the 2004 Tour de l'Avenir he won the last stage and finished second overall on the same time of the winner, Sylvain Calzati.

Lövkvist began the 2005 season with a 12th place in the Paris-Nice. He made his debut in the Tour de France as the youngest rider at the age of 21. He also finished 4th in the Tour de Pologne and 14th in the Deutschland Tour. He was later named the Swedish Cyclist of the Year.cite web
title = Rider profile: Thomas Lövkvist
publisher = cyclingfans.com
date = 13 July 2006
url = http://www.cyclingfans.com/arc07-09-06-07-13-06.html
accessdate = 2008-07-09] In 2006 he became the Swedish National Road Race champion and was once again the youngest rider of Tour de France.

In 2007 he finished second in the Criterium International after winning the concluding time trial. He also competed in the Tour de France and later finished second in the 14th stage of the Vuelta a España, the best stage result for a Swede in Vuelta a España since 1982. At the age of 23 he had finished his second Grand Tour of the season and the fourth of his career. Note that Lövkvist was the UCI ProTour rider with most competition days (84) in 2007 and he only abandoned in the last stage of Paris-Nice. He was also the third rider who covered more competition kilometers in the ProTour. [cite web|url=http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/info/PTstats2007_EN.doc |title=CYCLING QUOTIENT - PROTOUR STATISTICS 2007 |publisher=cqranking.com |format=DOC |accessdate=2008-07-09]

Team Columbia (2008–)

Lövkvist joined the T-Mobile Team for the 2008 season, later known as Team High Road and Team Columbia. Lövkvist won the best young rider classification and finished third in the Tirreno-Adriatico. His improvement in stage races became clear after he finished fifth in the Tour de Suisse, ahead of his team leader Kim Kirchen. Lövkvist also took the white jersey from Romain Feillu in the first time trial of the 2008 Tour de France, where he finished 11th.

Palmarès

;2003: 1st, prologue, Dookola Mazowska: 1st, Overall, Circuit des Ardennes:: 1st, Stage 4;2004: 1st, Overall, Circuit de la Sarthe:: 1st, Stage 4: 2nd, Overall, Tour de l'Avenir:: 1st, Stage 10 : SWE National Time Trial Championships;2006: SWE National Road Race Championships;2007: 1st, Stage 3 (ITT), Critérium International: 2nd, Stage 14, Vuelta a España;2008: 3rd, Tirreno-Adriatico: 5th, Tour de Suisse: : 2nd, Deutschland Tour

External links

*Cyclingwebsite|5951|Thomas Lövkvist
*trapfriis|sweden.Lovkvist.htm

References

Persondata
NAME= Lövkvist, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Road racing cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH= 1984-04-04
PLACE OF BIRTH=Visby, Gotland, Sweden
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=