Steven Kruijswijk

Steven Kruijswijk

Kruijswijk in the most aggressive classification jersey at the 2014 Tour of Alberta
Personal information
Full name	Steven Kruijswijk
Nickname	De Kleerhanger (The Clothes Hanger)
Born	(1987-06-07) 7 June 1987 (age 29) Nuenen, Netherlands
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	66 kg (146 lb; 10.4 st)
Team information
Current team	LottoNL–Jumbo
Discipline	Road
Role	Climber
Professional team(s)
2006	Van Vliet–EBH Advocaten
2007–2009	Rabobank Continental Team
2010–	Rabobank

Steven Kruijswijk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈsteːvən ˈkrœysʋɛik]; born 7 June 1987) is a Dutch road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam LottoNL–Jumbo.

In 2007 Kruijswijk began riding for the Rabobank Development Team. In 2009 he won the Under 23 category of the Dutch National Road Race Championships.

In 2011, Kruijswijk finished 8th overall in the Giro d'Italia. He then won Stage 6 in the Tour de Suisse and also finished third overall.

In 2014, Kruijswijk took overall victory at the Arctic Race of Norway, his first career victory.

In 2015, Kruijswijk led Team LottoNL–Jumbo at the Giro d'Italia. Although he lost time in the first week, Kruijswijk rode a strong second half of the race, with finishing second to Mikel Landa on Stage 16 from Pinzolo to Aprica which was the queen stage of the race, and eventually finishing seventh overall, 10 minutes and 53 seconds down on Alberto Contador. Kruijswijk held the Blue Jersey as leader of the Mountains Classification from Stages 16–18, and placed third in that competition behind Giovanni Visconti.

In 2016, Kruijswijk again rode the Giro d'Italia, which began with three stages in the Netherlands. On the queen stage of the race, Stage 14 from Palmanova to Cividale del Friuli, Kruijswijk finished second behind Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE) to take the overall lead by 41 seconds over Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team). On Stage 15, a mountainous time trial finishing on Alpe di Suisi, Kruijswijk again finished second, this time to Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom–RusVelo) to increase his lead to 2 minutes and 12 seconds over Chaves, as Nibali encountered mechanical issues, and dropped to third overall, 2 minutes 51 seconds behind Kruijswijk. Stage 16 from Bressanone to Andalo saw Kruijswijk again finish second, behind Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) and he increased his lead over Chaves to 3 minutes. However, on Stage 19 Kruijswijk crashed on the descent of the Colle Dell'Agnello whilst following an attack by Nibali and Chaves, landing on a bank of snow to the side of the road. Although he was able to continue, Kruijswijk finished the stage almost five minutes down on Nibali and more than four minutes behind Chaves, thus dropping to third overall. He visited hospital after the stage where it was confirmed he had broken 2 ribs in the crash. Nonetheless, he started Stage 20 where he lost further time and dropped behind Valverde to fourth overall. He finished the Giro in fourth overall. In July, Kruijswijk signed a two-year contract extension with the team.