Nick Nuyens (original) (raw)

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Belgian cyclist

Nick Nuyens

Nuyens at the 2011 Four Days of Dunkirk
Personal information
Full name Nick Nuyens
Nickname Bom van Bevel ("Bomb from Bevel")
Born (1980-05-05) 5 May 1980 (age 44)Lier, Flanders, Belgium
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 68 kg (150 lb)
Team information
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Classics specialist
Professional teams
2003–2006 Quick-Step–Davitamon
2007–2008 Cofidis
2009–2010 Rabobank
2011–2012 Saxo Bank–SunGard
2013–2014 Garmin–Sharp
Major wins
Stage races Étoile de Bessèges (2007) Ster Elektrotoer (2004) Tour of Britain (2005) One-day races and Classics Tour of Flanders (2011) Dwars door Vlaanderen (2011) Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne (2006) Omloop Het Volk (2005) Grand Prix de Wallonie (2004, 2005, 2009) Paris–Brussels (2004)

Nick Nuyens (born 5 May 1980) is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist who last rode for Garmin–Sharp in the UCI World Tour.[1] His biggest wins included the semi-classics Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Omloop Het Volk, Paris–Brussels and the classic Tour of Flanders. He was a classics rider. His first wife was the Belgian multiple national champion, Evy Van Damme, with whom he had three children. In 2015 he married Lynn Peeters.[2] He retired in 2015 after failing to secure a new contract.[3]

The year 2011 was a good one for him, since he took the victory on two classics in Flanders. At the end of March, he prevailed in a sprint at the Dwars door Vlaanderen, after desperately trying to steer clear of the group in the last 20 kilometres (12 mi) of the race. Geraint Thomas of Team Sky finished second, while the lead group was a few seconds away.[4] Two weeks later, Nuyens took one of the Monuments of cycling, the Tour of Flanders. After the Muur van Geraardsbergen, one of the big favourites, Fabian Cancellara, was caught by the bunch. Nuyens was part of the chasers that bridged to the leading group in the final kilometers, and a trio of riders were left to battle it out for the finish while another group was very close to them in the final meters. Nuyens got the better of Sylvain Chavanel (Quick-Step) and Cancellara in the three-man sprint. Nuyens said of his biggest win of his career: "It was only in the final 50 meters that I started to fully realize what was happening, that I was about to win this beautiful race."[5]

Nuyens left Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank at the end of the 2012 season, and joined Garmin–Sharp on a three-year contract from the 2013 season onwards.[1]

During the 2009 season he used a wood block under his saddle to prevent it from sagging in wet conditions.[6]

Since 2017 Nuyens has been the general manager of the Vérandas Willems–Crelan cycling team, which is a road Pro Continental cycling team and one of the main Belgian cyclo-cross teams.

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

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Classics results timeline

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Legend

— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish
  1. ^ a b "Nuyens signs with Garmin-Sharp through 2015". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 6 October 2012.
  2. ^ "'Lynn heeft me leren kennen op mijn dieptepunt. Nu mag ze ook de mooie kant zien'". Het Nieuwsblad. 25 February 2014.
  3. ^ "Nuyens set to announce retirement". 13 January 2015.
  4. ^ Nigel Wynn (23 March 2011). "Thomas second in Dwars door Vlaanderen as Nuyens wins". Velo News. 2012 Competitor Group, Inc.
  5. ^ Ben Delaney (3 April 2011). "Nick Nuyens wins 2011 Tour of Flanders". Velo News. 2012 Competitor Group, Inc. Archived from the original on 20 December 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  6. ^ http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2009/tech/features/gent_wevelgem109/GW_Rabobank_Nuyens_wood [_bare URL_]