Borut Božič Explained

Borut Božič
Fullname:Borut Božič
Nickname:Borjo
Birth Date:1980 8, df=yes
Birth Place:Idrija, Yugoslavia
Height:1.80 m
Weight:67 kg
Currentteam:Retired
Discipline:Road
Ridertype:Sprinter
Proyears1:2004–2006
Proyears2:2007
Proyears3:2008
Proyears4:2009–2011
Proyears5:2012–2015
Proteam5:[1]
Proyears6:2016
Proyears7:2017–2018
Manageyears1:2019
Manageteam1: (directeur sportif)
Majorwins:Grand Tours

Vuelta a España

1 individual stage (2009)Stage races

Tour de Wallonie (2007)One-day races and Classics

National Road Race Championships (2008, 2012)

Borut Božič (born 8 August 1980) is a Slovenian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2018 for the,,,,, and teams.

Considered a sprinter in the mold of Óscar Freire, Božič's career highlights include winning the 2007 Tour de Wallonie, victory in the first stage of the 2009 Tour de Pologne (plus two days in the leader's jersey), winning the sixth stage of the 2009 Vuelta a España, and winning stage five of the 2011 Tour de Suisse. Božič worked as a directeur sportif for the team up to October 2019[2] but in that month was issued with a 2-year ban for his links to the doping ring uncovered by Operation Aderlass.[3]

Early and personal life

Born in Idrija, Božič got his start in cycling at age 10, despite growing up in a family with no connection to the sport. Though his friends cycled, his dad was a football player – so he looked to his compatriot Valter Bonca for inspiration. Božič is married to Klemintina, with whom he has a son, Sas. The family resides in Idrija, Slovenia. During the first three years of his career, Božič also trained for skiing, though by age 24 he realized he could make a living as a professional cyclist.[4]

Professional career

Božič turned professional in 2004 with . He moved to the Italian in 2007, but left for Belgian squad in 2008. Božič's most successful season to date was 2009, his first with, which he finished by taking third place in the Paris–Tours classic behind winner Philippe Gilbert and runner-up Tom Boonen. Božič escaped with the two Belgians with 7km (04miles) to go, at the base of the Côte de l'Epan after an attack from Gilbert's teammate Greg Van Avermaet. Having led the trio into the final 300m (1,000feet) on the Avenue du Grammont, Božič attempted to contest the sprint, but he was gapped by Gilbert with 150m (490feet) to the line, and cut short his effort. He also won stage six of the Vuelta a España.

After extending his contract with Vacansoleil through 2011,[5] Božič was able to train calmly during the winter, and he resumed his winning ways in 2010. Božič claimed stages 1 and 2 of the Étoile de Bessèges in France, and placed second on the third. He started the fourth stage as leader of the general classification, but lost over 20 minutes to eventual race winner Samuel Dumoulin . Nevertheless, Božič's consistency was rewarded with overall victory in the points classification, where he finished with 79 points, four more than the runner-up Niko Eeckhout of Belgium . Božič's next result of merit was a 12th-place in the 204km (127miles) East Flanders classic, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he arrived in the first chase group, 18 seconds in arrears of eventual race winner Juan Antonio Flecha .[6] Unfortunately, the 2010 season was ultimately a quiet one for Božič, and he did not score a major victory.

In 2011, a frustrated Božič continued racing a similar program to years past, but he crashed out of May's Giro d'Italia and saw his progress disrupted. Taking into account their rider's two falls in Italy and general lack of results, the team reworked Božič's schedule and conceptualized an alternative approach according to Vacansoleil's sports director Jean-Paul van Poppel, who explained:

"Due to the crashes Božič couldn't follow up to a start in the Giro and get the results he was aiming for in the season. However, after the Giro we made plans with Božič. We decided he would firstly compete in the Tour of Luxembourg to build him up for races and then we agreed the Tour of Switzerland was a race that would help him get some good results in the Tour de France. The plan is coming together nicely."[7]

Božič finally returned to the winner's circle on the UCI World Tour with a dramatic and emotional victory in the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse. There, Božič crossed the finish line in tears after having countered a daring move by his Italian teammate Marco Marcato in the final kilometre,[8] winning ahead of Spain's Óscar Freire, with the Slovak Peter Sagan of in third.[9]

Wiping the tears from his eyes while giving an interview immediately following his win, Božič told the press that he could not believe he had triumphed after such a long gap without a major victory:

"My last [big] win was in 2009, a stage in the Tour of Spain and even today I hadn't expected to do so well. I told my teammate Marcato to attack in the last kilometre because I felt a bit rough and that, if he couldn't make it, I'd try for the sprint. We were lucky it all worked out. I've had a very difficult last six months, no wins and never really feeling good on the bike. Today I thought it wasn't my day either but, with 50 meters to go, I got on Freire's back wheel, then got past him at the last possible moment."[9]

Božič's win gave added impetus to his push for a coveted spot on Vacansoleil's Tour de France roster, and he ultimately made his first start at the race, taking four top-ten stage finishes.

Božič joined for the 2012 season.[1] In October 2015 announced that Božič would be part of their squad for 2016.[10]

Major results

Source: [11]

2002
  • 1st Stage 5b Grand Prix Guillaume Tell
  • 10th Coppa San Geo
    2003
  • 8th Gran Premio Industrie del Marmo
  • 10th Circuito del Porto
    2004
  • Tour of Slovenia
  • 1st Stages 2 & 3
  • 1st Stage 6 Tour de Serbie
  • 3rd Overall Jadranska Magistrala
  • 1st Stage 2
  • 3rd Omloop van de Vlaamse Scheldeboorden
  • 5th Grand Prix de Denain
    2005
  • 1st Overall Jadranska Magistrala
  • 1st Stage 1
  • 1st Stage 3 Tour de l'Avenir
  • 2nd Poreč Trophy
  • 8th Overall Circuit des Ardennes
  • 8th GP Kranj
    2006
  • 1st Overall Jadranska Magistrala
  • 1st Prologue
  • Vuelta a Cuba
  • 1st Stages 4, 11b & 13
  • Tour of Slovenia
  • 1st Points classification
  • 1st Stages 1 & 4
  • Olympia's Tour
  • 1st Stages 2, 3 & 8
  • 2nd Overall Circuit des Ardennes
  • 1st Stage 1
  • 3rd Poreč Trophy
  • 10th Trofeo Zsšdi
    2007
  • 1st Overall Tour de Wallonie
  • 1st GP Kranj
  • 1st Stage 3 Tour of Ireland
  • 4th Tour de Rijke
    2008
  • 1st Road race, National Road Championships
  • 1st Stage 5 Étoile de Bessèges
  • 1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Andalucía
  • 6th Overall Delta Tour Zeeland
  • 1st Stage 3
  • 6th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
  • 9th Paris–Brussels
  • 10th Scheldeprijs
    2009
  • 1st Stage 6 Vuelta a España
  • Tour of Belgium
  • 1st Stages 2 & 3
  • 1st Stage 1 Tour de Pologne
  • 1st Stage 1 Tour du Limousin
  • 3rd Overall Ster Elektrotoer
  • 3rd Paris–Tours
  • 5th Overall Tour de Picardie
  • 6th Overall Three Days of De Panne
  • 6th Hel van het Mergelland
  • 9th Paris–Bourges
    2010
  • Étoile de Bessèges
  • 1st Stages 1 & 2
  • 2nd Overall Tour of Britain
  • 1st Stage 7
  • 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
  • 6th Overall Tour de Picardie
    2011
  • 1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse
  • 3rd Vattenfall Cyclassics
  • 4th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
  • 6th London–Surrey Cycle Classic
  • 6th Paris–Bruxelles
  • 7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
  • 9th Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen
    2012
  • 1st Road race, National Road Championships
  • 2nd Clásica de Almería
  • 6th GP Stad Zottegem
  • 8th GP Ouest–France
  • 8th Grand Prix Pino Cerami
  • 10th Vattenfall Cyclassics
    2013
  • 2nd Gent–Wevelgem
  • 2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen
  • 5th Grand Prix de Fourmies
  • 9th GP Ouest–France
    2014
  • 3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen
  • 7th E3 Harelbeke
    2015
  • 3rd Road race, National Road Championships
    2016
  • 5th Route Adélie

    Grand Tour general classification results timeline

    Grand Tour200920102011201220132014201520162017
    Giro d'ItaliaDNF124
    Tour de France136129DNF160
    Vuelta a España102
    Legend
    Did not compete
    DNFDid not finish

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. News: Astana signs Borut Božič and Kevin Seeldraeyers. 19 September 2011. 1 January 2012. VeloNation. VeloNation LLC.
    2. News: Borut Bozic si ritira e diventa ds della Bahrain Merida, che rinnova Feng e Wang. it. Borut Bozic retires and becomes DS of Bahrain Merida, which renews Feng and Wang. 5 October 2018. 1 January 2019. Cicloweb.it. Cicloweb.
    3. Web site: Kristijan Koren and Borut Bozic handed two-year bans for doping. 9 October 2019. Cyclingnews.com .
    4. Web site: PEZ Talk: Vacansoleil Fastman Borut Bozic. Joe. Papp. Ed. Hood. 8 August 2010. Pezcyclingnews.com .
    5. Web site: Richard Tyler . Bozic extends contract with Vacansoleil. Cyclingnews.com . 26 September 2009 .
    6. Web site: Brecht Decaluwé . Flecha fires solo shot for self and Sky. 27 February 2010 . Cyclingnews.com .
    7. Web site: Borut Bozic wins a difficult bunch sprint in Switzerland. Vacansoleildcm.co.uk . 15 June 2011 .
    8. News: Star sprinters thwarted in Switzerland . Surprise victory for Bozic. Skysports.com . 15 June 2011 .
    9. News: Reuters . Slovenia's Borut Bozic breaks down in tears after Swiss stage win. The Guardian. 15 June 2011. London.
    10. Web site: Team Cofidis Announces Its Final Roster For Next Season. 16 October 2015 . Orbea. 7 November 2015.
    11. Web site: Borut Bozic. FirstCycling.com. FirstCycling AS. 26 February 2023.