Kristijan Đurasek

Kristijan Đurasek (born 26 July 1987) is a Croatian professional road bicycle racer, who most recently rode for UCI WorldTeam . He has been competing since 2005, and has represented Croatia at two Summer Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016.

In November 2019 he was banned for four years, backdated to May of that year, due to the Operation Aderlass investigation into blood doping.

Professional career

Perutnina Ptuj (2006–2008) Đurasek started racing for Slovenian continental team in 2006, but his professional career only started in 2008. At the time he did not have much success in international races. He competed for for three years during which he won five medals at the Croatian road cycling championships.

Loborika (2009–2011) Đurasek signed a contract with Croatian continental team at the beginning of 2009. In 2011, he won his first UCI Europe Tour race at the GP Folignano. Two days later he repeated his success by winning the Trofeo Internazionale Bastianelli. During those years he won three more medals at the Croatian road cycling championships including both national titles at the 2011 championships.

Adria Mobil (2012) In 2012, Đurasek competed for continental team . His most notable results were third place in the GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano, seventh place in the Giro dell'Appennino and third place in the Passo della Bocchetta stage in the Giro di Padania. He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics as a late replacement for Robert Kišerlovski, who was injured on the 14th stage of the Tour de France. He finished 68th in the road race, 40 seconds behind the race winner Alexander Vinokourov.

Lampre–Mérida (2013–2019) At the end of the 2012 season, Đurasek signed a contract with for the 2013 season. As a result, he became the third Croatian cyclist ever to ride for a UCI ProTeam. His first UCI World Tour race was Paris–Nice, where he finished 80th overall. His first victory was in the Tre Valli Varesine on 23 August 2013. At the end of the 2013 season Đurasek competed at the World Championships in men's road race, but he failed to complete the race. He finished 7th overall at the 2014 Tour of Turkey, 45 seconds behind the race winner Adam Yates.

In 2015, Đurasek awarded himself the leader's jersey of the Tour of Turkey on the sixth stage featuring a hilltop finish, taking the lead from Davide Rebellin. He went on to win the race in the general classification, scoring a historic result for Croatian cycling. In the Tour de Suisse, he won the second stage by attacking a leading group of eight other riders, putting four seconds into them. He was named in the start list for the 2015 Vuelta a España.

In 2016, Đurasek competed at his second Summer Olympics. At the Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Đurasek finished 18th, more than 3 minutes behind the race winner Greg Van Avermaet. As of 2016, 18th place is the best ever Croatian Olympic result across all cycling events. During that year he also took part at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

At the start of the 2017 season, Đurasek logged a stage win at the Tour of Croatia, where he outsprinted Vincenzo Nibali at the Biokovo mountain finish.

Major results Source:

2007 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships 2008 National Road Championships

3rd Road race 4th Overall Tour de Serbie 2009 2nd Tour of Vojvodina II 6th GP Capodarco 7th Trofeo Internazionale Bastianelli 10th Overall Tour de Serbie 2010 2nd Trofeo Internazionale Bastianelli 2nd Tour of Vojvodina II 3rd Overall Oberösterreich Rundfahrt 5th Overall Giro del Friuli-Venezia Giulia 8th Trofeo Gianfranco Bianchin 10th Banja Luka–Belgrade I 2011 National Road Championships

1st GP Folignano 1st Trofeo Internazionale Bastianelli 3rd Overall Okolo Slovenska 4th Memoriał Henryka Łasaka 2012 National Road Championships 2nd Road race 2nd Time trial 3rd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 4th Overall Istrian Spring Trophy 7th Giro dell'Appennino 8th Banja Luka–Belgrade II 9th Overall Giro di Padania 2013 1st Tre Valli Varesine 2014 7th Overall Tour of Turkey 7th Tre Valli Varesine 2015

1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse

2017 1st Stage 2 Tour of Croatia 2018 9th Overall Tour of California

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish No. Voided result