Leigh Howard (born 18 October 1989) is an Australian professional racing cyclist. He qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in both the Men's Madison and Men's Team Pursuit. Howard was part of the Men's team pursuit together with Kelland O'Brien, Sam Weisford and Alexander Porter. They secured a bronze medal after overlapping New Zealand who had crashed. Howard also competed in the Men's Madison where the team finished fifth with a time of 3:48.448 and therefore did not qualify for the final.[2]
 Howard in 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Leigh Howard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 18 October 1989 Geelong, Victoria, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disciplines |
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| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | Sprinter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amateur teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Geelong CC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Australian Institute of Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Team Toshiba | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Team HTC–Columbia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2015 | GreenEDGE[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | IAM Cycling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Aqua Blue Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | ACA–Ride Sunshine Coast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career edit
Born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, Howard now resides in Waurn Ponds, Victoria.[3] He began cycling competitively at the age of 10 and first represented Australia in 2005 at the age of 16.[3] Howard is an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, and initially trained as an automobile electrician.[3]
Howard won the bronze medal in the omnium event at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. He went on to take several medals in round 2 and 4 of the 2008–09 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics. In 2009, he again won a medal in the omnium at the World Championships, this time taking gold, he also took the silver medal in both the madison and team pursuit.[3] Howard also had success on the road in 2009, winning stages 1 and 3 of the Tour of Japan.
Howard become a professional rider in 2010 with Team HTC–Columbia.[4] In his first professional race with team HTC Columbia, Howard won the fourth stage of the Tour of Oman. Impressively, Howard finished ahead of Daniele Bennati, Tom Boonen and Tyler Farrar on the stage. After two years with the team, Howard moved to GreenEDGE for the 2012 season.[1] In November 2015 IAM Cycling announced that Howard would join them for the 2016 season, with a role as part of the sprint train for Matteo Pelucchi.[5]
Howard last rode for UCI Continental team Pro Racing Sunshine Coast.[6]
Major results edit
Road edit
- 2006
- 3rd Time trial, National Junior Championships
- 2007
- Tour of Tasmania
- 1st Stages 1, 4 & 7
- 2008
- 1st
Overall Tour of the Murray River
- 1st Stages 5 & 13
- 1st Coppa Colli Briantei Internazionale
- Tour of Gippsland
- 1st Stages 6 & 8
- Tour of Tasmania
- 1st Stages 1 & 8
- 1st Stage 2 Australian Cycling Grand Prix
- 10th Overall Tour de Berlin
- 1st Stage 2
- 2009
- 1st Overall Tour of Gippsland
- 1st Stages 2, 3, 6 & 9
- 1st Overall Okolo Slovenska
- 1st Classic Astico – Brenta
- Tour of Japan
- 1st
Points classification - 1st Stages 1, 3 & 7
- 1st
- 1st Stage 1 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
- 4th Circuito del Porto
- 8th Giro del Belvedere
- 2010 (2 pro wins)
- 1st
Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen - 1st Stage 4 Tour of Oman
- 1st
Sprints classification, Bayern–Rundfahrt - 2011 (1)
- 1st Stage 5 Ster Elektrotoer
- 3rd Trofeo Cala Millor
- 4th Grand Prix de Denain
- 2012 (1)
- 1st Stage 2 (TTT) Eneco Tour
- 3rd Overall Tour of Britain
- 1st Stage 2
- 2013 (2)
- 1st Trofeo Campos–Santanyí–Ses Salines
- 1st Trofeo Platja de Muro
- 8th Vuelta a La Rioja
- 2014
- 5th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie
- 7th Overall Tour of Alberta
- 2015
- 6th RideLondon–Surrey Classic
- 2016 (2)
- 1st Clásica de Almería
- 1st Stage 1 Tour des Fjords
- 2nd Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
Grand Tour general classification results timeline edit
| Grand Tour | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
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— | — | DNF | — | — | DNF |
 Tour de France
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— | — | — | — | — | 172 |
 Vuelta a España
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152 | — | 142 | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
Track edit
- 2006
- 1st
Team pursuit, UCI World Junior Championships - National Junior Championships
- 1st
Scratch - 2nd Kilo
- 2nd Madison (with Alex Smyth)
- 2nd Team pursuit
- 3rd Individual pursuit
- 1st
- 2007
- UCI World Junior Championships
- 1st Team pursuit
- 2nd
Madison (with Glenn O'Shea) - 3rd
Individual pursuit
- 1st
- National Junior Championships
- 1st Kilo
- 1st Omnium
- 1st Individual pursuit
- 1st
- UIV Cup
- 1st Amsterdam
- 1st Dortmund
- 3rd Madison, National Championships (with Travis Meyer)
- 2008
- National Championships
- 1st Madison (with Glenn O'Shea)
- 1st Scratch
- 1st Team pursuit
- 2nd Individual pursuit
- 1st
- UIV Cup
- 1st Amsterdam
- 1st Munich
- 2nd Omnium, UCI World Championships
- 2nd Scratch, UCI World Cup Classics, Melbourne
- 2009
- UCI World Championships
- 1st Omnium
- 2nd Madison (with Cameron Meyer)
- 2nd Team pursuit
- 1st
- UCI World Cup Classics, Beijing
- 1st Team pursuit
- 1st Madison (with Glenn O'Shea)
- National Championships
- 2nd Team pursuit
- 3rd Individual pursuit
- 2010
- UCI World Championships
- 1st Madison (with Cameron Meyer)
- 2nd Omnium
- 1st
- UCI World Cup Classics
- 1st Team pursuit, Beijing
- 1st Team pursuit, Melbourne
- 1st Madison, Melbourne (with Cameron Meyer)
- 2011
- 1st Madison, UCI World Championships (with Cameron Meyer)
- 1st
Madison, Oceania Championships (with Cameron Meyer) - 1st Madison, National Championships (with Glenn O'Shea)
- 2nd Six Days of Berlin (with Cameron Meyer)
- 2012
- 1st Six Days of Berlin (with Cameron Meyer)
- 2018
- 1st
Team pursuit, Commonwealth Games - Oceania Championships
- 1st Team pursuit
- 2nd
Omnium
- 1st
- National Championships
- 1st Team pursuit
- 2nd Madison (with Jordan Kerby)
- 1st
- UCI World Cup
- 1st Team pursuit, Berlin
- 2nd Scratch, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
- 3rd Madison, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (with Kelland O'Brien)
- 2nd Six Days of London (with Kelland O'Brien)
- 2019
- 1st
Team pursuit, UCI World Championships - National Championships
- 1st Madison (with Glenn O'Shea)
- 1st Team pursuit
- 1st
- UCI World Cup
- 1st Team pursuit, Brisbane
- 2nd Team pursuit, Cambridge
- 3rd Madison, Glasgow (with Sam Welsford)
- 2nd Scratch, Oceania Championships
- 2020
- 3rd Madison, National Championships (with Sam Welsford)
- 2021
- 1st Madison, National Championships (with Glenn O'Shea)
- 3rd
Team pursuit, Olympic Games
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b "GreenEdge snares Howard". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ^ "Leigh HOWARD". Olympics.com. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Rider profiles: Leigh Howard". Cycling Australia. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012.
- ^ ProCycling, Issue 133, January 2010, p. 63
- ^ "Leigh Howard, Vegard Stake Laengen and Oliver Naesen confirmed for IAM Cycling". cyclingnews.com. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- ^ "Australian Cycling Academy team focused on nurturing young talent". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
Former WorldTour rider Leigh Howard will captain the team which also includes current team pursuit world champions Sam Welsford and Kelland O'Brien on a 13-rider roster.
External links edit
- Leigh Howard at Cycling Archives
- Leigh Howard at ProCyclingStats
- Leigh Howard – Biography at the Australian Institute of Sport website
