Dutch cyclist

Karsten Kroon (born 29 January 1976) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for Tinkoff, a UCI ProTeam. He retired at the end of the 2014 season.

Contents

• 1 Career
  • 1.1 Doping
• 2 Major results
  • 2.1 Grand Tour general cl*ification results timeline
• 3 See also
• 4 Notes
• 5 External links

Career

Born in Dalen, Kroon showed his talent as an amateur by winning the professional Ronde van Drenthe in 1996. He joined the Rabobank youth squad in 1997 and won a number of amateur races in two years. In 1999, he moved to the senior squad. His few wins included stage 8, on Bastille Day, of the 2002 Tour de France. Kroon and his teammate, Erik Dekker, finished in a seven-man group, and Kroon won a stage in his first Tour de France with the help of the more experienced Dekker. Kroon led the mountains cl*ification in each of the three Grand Tours, though his lead did not last to the end.

On 10 August 2005 he said that, until 2007, he was to ride for Saxo Bank. He wanted more freedom. "I've never said that I want to be leader," he told Cyclingnews.com, "I only want to get chances". In March and April 2006, he was joint team captain in ProTour races. He finished in the top ten of Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour of Flanders. He helped Fränk Schleck win the Amstel Gold Race by disrupting the chase when Schleck attacked; Kroon finished fourth. Kroon finally finished on the podium, in La Flèche Wallonne, third in front of Schleck. He also came second in the 2009 Amstel Gold Race, just behind Serguei Ivanov.

In 2010, Kroon joined BMC Racing Team, but returned to Team Saxo Bank for the 2012 season.

Doping

On 24 April 2018, it was reported that Kroon had confessed to doping for "a short period during my career". He added: "I was a professional cyclist in a very difficult time and I have a lot of respect for my colleagues who resisted the temptation to use doping."

Major results

19961st Ronde van Drenthe19971st Vlaamse Pijl1st Stage 2 Circuit Franco-Belge19981st Overall Ster der Beloften1st Stage 2Vuelta a Navarra1st Stages 2 & 31st Stage 6 Circuit des Mines1st Stage 2 Vuelta a León199910th Clásica de Almería20004th DAB Cl*ic7th Dwars door GendringenHeld Mountain jersey for 13 days Giro d'Italia20011st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton3rd Spark*en Giro Bochum9th Brabantse PijlHeld King of the Mountains jersey, Vuelta a España20021st Stage 8 Tour de France20031st Stage 5 Tour du Poitou-Charentes20041st Rund um den Henninger Turm20055th Brabantse Pijl9th Omloop Het VolkHeld King of the Mountains Jersey for Stage 6, Tour de France20063-Länder-Tour1st Stages 2 & 53rd La Flèche Wallonne4th Amstel Gold Race8th Tour of Flanders20074th Tour of Flanders20081st Stage 2 Vuelta a Castilla y León1st Stage 5 Sachsen-Tour1st Rund um den Henninger Turm5th Giro di Lombardia9th Amstel Gold Race20092nd Amstel Gold Race2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm4th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne5th Brabantse Pijl20101st RaboRonde Heerlen9th Amstel Gold Race20125th Overall Tour de l'Eurometropole

Grand Tour general cl*ification results timeline

See also

• List of Dutch Olympic cyclists

Notes

External links

• KarstenKroon.com (fansite)
• Team CSC profile
• Karsten Kroon at Cycling Archives