Wout Poels
Dutch racing cyclist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wouter Lambertus Martinus Henricus Poels (born 1 October 1987) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI ProTeam Unibet Rose Rockets.
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Poels at the 2018 Tour of Britain | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Wouter Lambertus Martinus Henricus Poels |
| Born | 1 October 1987 Venray, Limburg, the Netherlands |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 66 kg (146 lb; 10 st 6 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Unibet Rose Rockets |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber[1] Super-domestique[1] |
| Professional teams | |
| 2006–2008 | Fondas-P3Transfer Team |
| 2009–2013 | Vacansoleil |
| 2014 | Omega Pharma–Quick-Step |
| 2015–2019 | Team Sky[2] |
| 2020–2024 | Bahrain–McLaren[3][4] |
| 2025 | XDS Astana Team |
| 2026– | Unibet Rose Rockets |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Career
Poels was born in Venray. He almost lost a kidney after a massive crash on the sixth stage of the 2012 Tour de France.[5]
After competing with the Vacansoleil–DCM[6] squad since 2009, Poels moved to the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step squad for the 2014 season.[7]
Team Sky (2015–19)
In September 2014, Team Sky announced that Poels would join them from 1 January 2015.[8] His first win for the team came in the 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, where he led the team following the withdrawal of Chris Froome. Poels won stage 4 into Castelraimondo with an attack on the final climb and a solo descent to the finish line. He moved into the lead of the race and went on to finish seventh in the overall standings.[9][10] He later finished second overall at the Tour of Britain, winning the toughest mountain stage with an uphill finish on Hartside Fell.
In 2016, Poels won his first one-day race after sprinting to victory from a four-man group in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. It was the first monument for Team Sky and for Poels himself.[11][12]
Bahrain–McLaren (2020–2024)
In September 2019, Poels announced that he was joining the Bahrain–Merida team, later renamed as Bahrain–McLaren, for the 2020 season.[3] In his first season with the team, Poels finished sixth overall at the Vuelta a España.[13] The following year, he held the polka-dot jersey for four days at the 2021 Tour de France, and recorded his best finish at the race to that point – sixteenth overall. In 2022, Poels won the penultimate stage and the general classification at the Vuelta a Andalucía,[14][15] his first overall stage race win since 2016.[16] Poels then won his first Tour de France stage in 2023; having been part of a large breakaway on stage fifteen, Poels and three other riders went clear following the Col des Aravis, with Poels soloing away on the final climb towards Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and he ultimately won the stage by more than two minutes.[17][18]
XDS Astana (2025)
Poels joined XDS Astana Team for the 2025 season.[19] His standout result for the season was winning Presidential Tour of Turkey general classification, mountain jersey and victory in stage 4.
Unibet Rose Rockets (2026-current)
After only a season with Astana, Poels leave the team and joined Unibet Rose Rockets at the start of 2026 season.[20]
Major results
Source: [21]
- 2007
- 10th Overall Vuelta a Extremadura
- 1st Mountains classification
- 2008
- 1st
Overall Vuelta Ciclista a León - 3rd Overall Volta a Lleida
- 3rd Rund um Düren
- 9th Overall Circuit des Ardennes
- 2010 (2 pro wins)
- 1st Stage 4 Tour of Britain
- 2nd Overall Tour de l'Ain
- 1st Stage 4
- 8th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
- 9th Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop
- 2011 (1)
- 1st Stage 15 Vuelta a España
- 2nd Overall Tour de l'Ain
- 1st Stage 3
- 3rd Overall Tour Méditerranéen
- 1st
Young rider classification
- 1st
- 3rd Overall Vuelta a Murcia
- 4th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 2012 (1)
- 2nd Overall Tour de Luxembourg
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st Stage 3
- 1st
- 3rd Overall Vuelta a Murcia
- 8th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st
- 2013 (1)
- 7th Amstel Curaçao Race
- 8th Overall Tour de l'Ain
- 1st Stage 4
- 9th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 10th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
- 2014 (1)
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tirreno–Adriatico
- 9th Strade Bianche
- 10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1st Stage 4
- 2015 (2)
- 2nd Overall Tour of Britain
- 1st Stage 5
- 3rd Overall Abu Dhabi Tour
- 5th Milano–Torino
- 7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Stage 4
- 8th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
- 8th GP Ouest-France
- 2016 (6)
- 1st Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 1st
Points classification - 1st
Mountains classification - 1st Stages 1 (ITT) & 4
- 1st
- 1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- 1st Stage 5 Volta a Catalunya
- 1st Stage 6 Tour of Britain
- 4th La Flèche Wallonne
- 7th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 2017 (1)
- 3rd Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st Stage 7
- 4th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 4th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 6th Overall Vuelta a España
- 6th Milano–Torino
- 7th Overall Tour of Guangxi
- 2018 (3)
- 1st Stage 4 (ITT) Paris–Nice
- 2nd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stage 2
- 1st
- 2nd Overall Tour of Britain
- 1st Stage 6
- 2019 (1)
- 3rd Overall Tour Down Under
- 3rd Overall Volta ao Algarve
- 4th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
- 1st Stage 7
- 7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
- 10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- 2020
- 6th Overall Vuelta a España
- 6th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
Combativity award Stage 5 Tour de France- 2021
- 4th Overall Tour de la Provence
- Tour de France
- Held
after Stages 8 & 15–17 - Combativity award Stage 8
- Held
- 2022 (2)
- 1st Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 1st Stage 4
- 2023 (2)
- 1st Stage 15 Tour de France
- 1st Stage 20 Vuelta a España
- 6th Overall UAE Tour
- 9th Overall Tour of Slovenia
- 2024 (1)
- 3rd Overall Tour de Hongrie
- 1st Stage 5
- 6th Overall Tour of the Alps
- 2025 (2)
- 1st
Overall Tour of Turkey
- 1st
Mountains classification - 1st Stage 4
- 1st
- 7th Overall Tour of Oman
- 2026
- 4th Overall Sibiu Cycling Tour
- 7th Overall Arctic Race of Norway
General classification results timeline
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| Grand Tour general classification results | ||||||||||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia |
— | — | — | 21 | — | — | — | 12 | — | — | — | 34 | — | — | 50 | 22 |
 Tour de France |
DNF | DNF | 28 | — | 44 | 28 | — | 58 | 26 | 110 | 16 | — | 27 | 43 | — | — |
 Vuelta a España |
17 | — | DNF | 38 | — | — | 6 | — | 34 | 6 | 23 | DNF | 15 | — | 23 | |
| Major stage race general classification results | ||||||||||||||||
| Stage races | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
 Paris–Nice |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | 15 | 27 | — | — | — |
 Tirreno–Adriatico |
18 | 8 | 10 | 38 | 7 | 14 | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — | 11 | DNF | — |
 Volta a Catalunya |
— | — | — | — | 24 | 34 | — | — | — | NH | 79 | DNF | 29 | 11 | 18 | — |
| Tour of the Basque Country |
39 | 17 | 9 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Tour de Romandie |
— | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
 Critérium du Dauphiné |
— | — | 57 | — | 39 | 25 | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de Suisse |
25 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | NH | 31 | — | — | 16 | — | — |
Classics results timeline
| Monument | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 119 |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | NH | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | DNF | 76 | — | 80 | — | 1 | — | 117 | 10 | 87 | 109 | 38 | 42 | 30 | — | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | 119 | — | DNF | — | — | DNF | 12 | DNF | 38 | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | 105 | — | |
| Classic | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
| Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne | — | — | — | NH | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Strade Bianche | — | — | — | — | — | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 44 |
| E3 Harelbeke | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | NH | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dwars door Vlaanderen | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Amstel Gold Race | — | 106 | DNF | DNF | — | 118 | DNF | 41 | — | DNF | 108 | 58 | — | 22 | — | — | — | |
| La Flèche Wallonne | DNF | — | 32 | 15 | 113 | 12 | DNF | 4 | — | 64 | 22 | 16 | 22 | 25 | 47 | — | — | — |
| Clásica de San Sebastián | — | — | — | — | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | NH | — | DNF | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| IP | In progress |
| NH | Not held |
