Thomas Dekker (cyclist)
Dekker at the 2013 Tour of Alberta
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Thomas Dekker |
| Born |
6 September 1984 Dirkshorn, North Holland, Netherlands |
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Weight | 69 kg (152 lb; 10.9 st) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | All-rounder |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 2003–2004 | Rabobank GS3 |
| 2004 | → Rabobank (stagiaire) |
| 2005–2008 | Rabobank |
| 2009 | Silence–Lotto |
| 2011 | Chipotle–Garmin Development Team |
| 2012–2014 | Garmin–Barracuda |
| Major wins | |
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Thomas Dekker (born 6 September 1984) is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career highlights included winning Tirreno–Adriatico in 2006 and Tour de Romandie in 2007. He won two Dutch National Time Trial Championships and represented his country at the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece.
A few days before the start of the 2009 Tour de France, it was announced that Dekker had tested positive for EPO in a retroactive test carried out on a urine sample taken in December 2007. Dekker initially protested his innocence but he later admitted to using EPO, claiming it was a one-time mistake. He eventually admitted to using EPO over at least parts of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, although he declined to give exact dates. Dekker was suspended for two years, from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2011.
Dekker's career has been marked by other doping allegations. He was a client of Luigi Cecchini, an Italian doctor who was investigated in relation to doping matters, though Dekker adamantly denies that Cecchini was involved in his doping. In 2009 he was also questioned in the Humanplasma doping scandal, a suspected doping ring connected to Austrian manager Stefan Matschiner. Dekker retired in March 2015 after narrowly failing to set a new world hour record.
Though born in Amsterdam, Dekker grew up from a very young age in the small village of Dirkshorn in North Holland. He was nicknamed "The hulk from Dirkshorn" and joined the Rabobank junior team in 2002, winning the Junior National time trial championships, among other races. In 2003 he joined Rabobank GS3, the continental team of Rabobank, winning two stages of Ster Elekrotoer, and the national under-23 titles in the Road Race and Time Trial disciplines. He also finished third in the Men's under-23 road race of the 2003 UCI Road World Championships.
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