Borut Božič

Borut Božič (born 8 August 1980) is a Slovenian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2018 for the , , , , , and teams.

Considered a sprinter in the mold of Óscar Freire, Božič's career highlights include winning the 2007 Tour de Wallonie, victory in the first stage of the 2009 Tour de Pologne (plus two days in the leader's jersey), winning the sixth stage of the 2009 Vuelta a España, and winning stage five of the 2011 Tour de Suisse. Božič worked as a directeur sportif for the team up to October 2019 but in that month was issued with a 2-year ban for his links to the doping ring uncovered by Operation Aderlass.

Early and personal life Born in Idrija, Božič got his start in cycling at age 10, despite growing up in a family with no connection to the sport. Though his friends cycled, his dad was a football player – so he looked to his compatriot Valter Bonca for inspiration. Božič is married to Klemintina, with whom he has a son, Sas. The family resides in Idrija, Slovenia. During the first three years of his career, Božič also trained for skiing, though by age 24 he realized he could make a living as a professional cyclist.

Professional career

Božič turned professional in 2004 with . He moved to the Italian in 2007, but left for Belgian squad in 2008. Božič's most successful season to date was 2009, his first with , which he finished by taking third place in the Paris–Tours classic behind winner Philippe Gilbert and runner-up Tom Boonen. Božič escaped with the two Belgians with to go, at the base of the Côte de l'Epan after an attack from Gilbert's teammate Greg Van Avermaet. Having led the trio into the final on the Avenue du Grammont, Božič attempted to contest the sprint, but he was gapped by Gilbert with to the line, and cut short his effort. He also won stage six of the Vuelta a España.

After extending his contract with Vacansoleil through 2011, Božič was able to train calmly during the winter, and he resumed his winning ways in 2010. Božič claimed stages 1 and 2 of the Étoile de Bessèges in France, and placed second on the third. He started the fourth stage as leader of the general classification, but lost over 20 minutes to eventual race winner Samuel Dumoulin . Nevertheless, Božič's consistency was rewarded with overall victory in the points classification, where he finished with 79 points, four more than the runner-up Niko Eeckhout of Belgium . Božič's next result of merit was a 12th-place in the East Flanders classic, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he arrived in the first chase group, 18 seconds in arrears of eventual race winner Juan Antonio Flecha . Unfortunately, the 2010 season was ultimately a quiet one for Božič, and he did not score a major victory.

In 2011, a frustrated Božič continued racing a similar program to years past, but he crashed out of May's Giro d'Italia and saw his progress disrupted. Taking into account their rider's two falls in Italy and general lack of results, the team reworked Božič's schedule and conceptualized an alternative approach according to Vacansoleil's sports director Jean-Paul van Poppel, who explained:

"Due to the crashes Božič couldn't follow up to a start in the Giro and get the results he was aiming for in the season. However, after the Giro we made plans with Božič. We decided he would firstly compete in the Tour of Luxembourg to build him up for races and then we agreed the Tour of Switzerland was a race that would help him get some good results in the Tour de France. The plan is coming together nicely."

Božič finally returned to the winner's circle on the UCI World Tour with a dramatic and emotional victory in the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse. There, Božič crossed the finish line in tears after having countered a daring move by his Italian teammate Marco Marcato in the final kilometre, winning ahead of Spain's Óscar Freire, with the Slovak Peter Sagan of in third.

Wiping the tears from his eyes while giving an interview immediately following his win, Božič told the press that he could not believe he had triumphed after such a long gap without a major victory:

"My last [big] win was in 2009, a stage in the Tour of Spain and even today I hadn't expected to do so well. I told my teammate Marcato to attack in the last kilometre because I felt a bit rough and that, if he couldn't make it, I'd try for the sprint. We were lucky it all worked out. I've had a very difficult last six months, no wins and never really feeling good on the bike. Today I thought it wasn't my day either but, with 50 meters to go, I got on Freire's back wheel, then got past him at the last possible moment."

Major results Source:

2002 1st Stage 5b Grand Prix Guillaume Tell 10th Coppa San Geo 2003 8th Gran Premio Industrie del Marmo 10th Circuito del Porto 2004 Tour of Slovenia 1st Stages 2 & 3 1st Stage 6 Tour de Serbie 3rd Overall Jadranska Magistrala 1st Stage 2 3rd Omloop van de Vlaamse Scheldeboorden 5th Grand Prix de Denain 2005

1st Stage 1 1st Stage 3 Tour de l'Avenir 2nd Poreč Trophy 8th Overall Circuit des Ardennes 8th GP Kranj 2006

1st Prologue Vuelta a Cuba 1st Stages 4, 11b & 13 Tour of Slovenia

1st Stages 1 & 4 Olympia's Tour 1st Stages 2, 3 & 8 2nd Overall Circuit des Ardennes 1st Stage 1 3rd Poreč Trophy 10th Trofeo Zsšdi 2007

1st GP Kranj 1st Stage 3 Tour of Ireland 4th Tour de Rijke 2008

1st Stage 5 Étoile de Bessèges 1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Andalucía 6th Overall Delta Tour Zeeland 1st Stage 3 6th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 9th Paris–Brussels 10th Scheldeprijs 2009 1st Stage 6 Vuelta a España Tour of Belgium 1st Stages 2 & 3 1st Stage 1 Tour de Pologne 1st Stage 1 Tour du Limousin 3rd Overall Ster Elektrotoer 3rd Paris–Tours 5th Overall Tour de Picardie 6th Overall Three Days of De Panne 6th Hel van het Mergelland 9th Paris–Bourges 2010 Étoile de Bessèges 1st Stages 1 & 2 2nd Overall Tour of Britain 1st Stage 7 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships 6th Overall Tour de Picardie 2011 1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse 3rd Vattenfall Cyclassics 4th Grand Prix d'Isbergues 6th London–Surrey Cycle Classic 6th Paris–Bruxelles 7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 9th Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen 2012

2nd Clásica de Almería 6th GP Stad Zottegem 8th GP Ouest–France 8th Grand Prix Pino Cerami 10th Vattenfall Cyclassics 2013 2nd Gent–Wevelgem 2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen 5th Grand Prix de Fourmies 9th GP Ouest–France 2014 3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen 7th E3 Harelbeke 2015 3rd Road race, National Road Championships 2016 5th Route Adélie

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish