Tom Steels

Tom Steels (2008)

Tom Steels (1998)

Tom Steels (born September 2, 1971 in Sint-Gillis-Waas ) is a former Belgian cyclist who has worked as a coach after his active career.

Career

While Tom Steels already achieved several victories in his first year as a professional in 1994, he achieved his breakthrough in 1996 by winning the Omloop Het Volk and Gent-Wevelgem . He repeated his victory at the classic Gent-Wevelgem in 1999 and was Belgian road champion three times.

Steels won numerous stages of tours in the sprint , including a total of nine stages of the Tour de France , of which four victories fell on the 1998 Tour . During the finish sprint of the 6th stage of the 1997 Tour de France , he felt handicapped by Frédéric Moncassin and threw a drinking bottle at the Frenchman. The Tour de France jury then disqualified Steels and excluded him from the tour.

At the end of the 2008 season, Steels ended his racing career. In 2011 he became a coach with the Quickstep Cycling Team .

successes

Total victories: 81 , including:

1994

• a stage Tour de l'Avenir

1995

• one stage West Virginia Mountain Classic

1996

• Omloop Het Volk
• Gent – ​​Wevelgem
• one stage Tour Méditerranéen

1997

• a stage Paris – Nice
• Belgian road championship
• one stage Tour de Suisse
• a stage Tour du Luxembourg

1998

• two stages and points assessment Vuelta Ciclista a Andalucia / Ruta del Sol
• two stages Paris – Nice
• Dwars door Vlaandern
• Belgian road championship
• four stages of the Tour de France

1999

• a stage Paris – Nice
• Gent – ​​Wevelgem
• three stages Tour de France

2000

• a stage Paris – Nice
• two stage Tour de France
• one stage Tour Méditerranéen

2001

• a stage Germany tour
• two stages Postgirot Tour of Sweden

2002

• a stage 4 days from Dunkirk
• one stage tour of Catalonia
• Belgian road championship

2003

• a stage Etoile de Bessèges
• a stage and points scoring Tour of Belgium
• one stage tour of Austria

2004

• a stage Etoile de Bessèges
• a stage Tour du Luxembourg
• Belgian road championship
• two stages and points assessment of the Tour of Austria

2005

• a stage Etoile de Bessèges
• one stage Algarve tour
• a stage three days from De Panne

Grand Tour placements

Grand Tour	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Giro d'Italia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNF
Tour de France	-	DNF	85	104	DNF	DNF	DNF	-	-	-
Vuelta a España	86	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	DNF

Legend: DNF: did not finish , abandoned or withdrawn from the race due to timeout.

Teams

• 1994–1995 Vlaanderen 2002
• 1995-1997 Mapei GB
• 1998 Mapei Bricobi
• 1999-2002 Mapei-Quick Step
• 2003-2004 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
• 2005-2006 Davitamon Lotto
• 2007 Predictor Lotto
• 2008 Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner

Trivia

Steels played guitar with his three brothers in a rock band called "Steels Brothers". For his 50th victory as a professional driver, the mayor of Lavalle gave him a horse.

Web links

Commons : Tom Steels  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Tom Steels in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Tom Steels in the Tour de France database(French / English )
• Tom Steels in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ spiegel.de of July 9, 1999: Steels disqualified, Zabel in green
2. ↑ cyclingnews.com of October 29, 2010: Steels to join Quick Step as trainer
3. ^ Saarländischer Rundfunk (Ed.): Tour de France 2002 . Saarbrücken 2002, p. 16 .