Linus Gerdemann
Stage win Tour de France 2007 Germany Tour 2008 Tour de Luxembourg 2011
Linus Gerdemann ( born September 16, 1982 in Münster ) is a German professional cyclist.
Career
In his youth Gerdemann was strictly amateur mountain biker ( downhill ). After a traffic accident in 1999 in which he broke his shin, he had to give up the sport. However, since he wanted to continue to play sports and rehabilitation should, he switched to the bike after he had found in the basement of a friend such.
His first successes came as the winner of the U23 Radbundesliga the years 2003 and 2004 the team Winfix (later team Akud ). However, the former U23 national coach Peter Weibel denied him participation in the Road Cycling World Championship due to alleged lack of teamwork. Through the mediation of Dennis force and Jens Voigt he drove since June 2005 for the CSC team of Bjarne Riis, at that time still " subject " because the allegations of the former national coach yet nachwirkten. Shortly after his pro debut, he could enter stage wins at the Tour of Bavaria and the Tour de Suisse against the established world leader, so that the reservations against him were quickly abandoned. From CSC, he was then employed in heavy tours such as the Vuelta a España, where he led the opening time trial as the best German finished in 2005. He was soon regarded as a man with the potential for future Tour de France successes.
In the years 2006 and 2007 he drove for the team T -Mobile. In this team, he also showed attractive benefits, such as at the 2006 Tour of Catalonia and the Tour de Suisse, where he always sat accents, and which he finished as joint - seventh. To meet the new anti- doping policy of the team, he ended his association with the controversial doctor and coach Luigi Cecchini, with whom he had come upon Bjarne Riis in contact.
In the prologue of the Tour of Germany 2006, Linus Gerdemann with not even a second behind the first runner-up and was therefore the best German driver. However, this good performance, he could not confirm later in the tour and ended up, after he had lost a lot of time on the peak at the two mountain stages in the midfield in the overall standings.
His biggest success so far was Gerdemann posted on July 14, 2007, when he won the seventh stage of the Tour de France in the destination Le Grand-Bornand and the previous mountain stage at the Col de la Colombière. By winning the stage, he received the yellow jersey of the overall leader and the white jersey of best young rider, he also was elected combative rider of the stage.
In the race Tirreno - Adriatico 2008, he retired at 26- km - long individual time trial in the fall in the barricade a double broken leg but still finished the stage in eighth position. The participation in the Tour de France and the Olympics, he had to cancel then. In his comeback in August 2008, he won a stage and the overall classification of the Tour de l' Ain. In the time trial of this tour, he finished in second place behind his teammate Tony Martin.
In Germany Tour 2008, he won the queen stage to Hochfügen. He also took the lead in the overall and the points classification and secured by a fourth place in the final time trial in Bremen also the overall win ahead of his teammate Thomas Lövkvist.
He was honored by the Sports Federation of Münster at Sports Ball 2008 Sportsman of the Year.
End of October 2008 it was announced that the only German ProTeam Milram captain Linus Gerdemann has undertaken as for the new season. He has shared in the 2009 Tour de France with Sprinter Gerald Ciolek this role. For Milram 2009 he won the overall classification of the Tour of Bavaria in 2009, 2010, the Trofeo Inca and Tirreno- Adriatico on a stage, but failed to live up to expectations at the Tour de France.
After the Milram team was disbanded at the end of the 2010 season, Gerdemann moved to Luxembourg team Leopard Trek. In the Tour de Luxembourg 2011, he took for this team both a stages, as well as the overall victory. In 2012, he remained loyal to the team, which was renamed himself with the U.S. team Radioshack merged and 2012 as RadioShack - Nissan. After Gerdemanns contract had expired in late 2012, he found not a new team for 2013, so that he drove no races in 2013. In 2014, Gerdemann starts for the team MTN Qhubeka.
Team
- 2003 Winfix Techem
- 2004 Winfix.de - Arnolds Sicherheit
- 2005 Akud Arnolds Sicherheit ( until May 1 )
- 2005 CSC ( 2nd May)
- 2006-2007 Team T -Mobile
- 2008 Team High Road / Columbia team
- 2009-2010 Team Milram
- 2011 Team Leopard Trek
- 2012 RadioShack -Nissan