Vasil Kiryienka

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Vasili Vasilyevich Kiryienka (Belarusian: Васіль Васілевіч Кірыенка; Łacinka: Vasil Vasilevič Kiryjenka; born 28 June 1981) is a Belarusian former racing cyclist,[4] who rode professionally between 2006 and 2020 for the OTC Doors, Rietumu Banka–Riga, Tinkoff Credit Systems, Movistar Team and Team Ineos squads. He currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team BelAZ.[5]

Vasil Kiryienka
Kiryienka at the 2011 Giro d'Italia
Personal information
Full nameVasili Vasilyevich Kiryienka
NicknameRobocop[1]
Born (1981-06-28) 28 June 1981 (age 43)
Height1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight75 kg (165 lb; 11.8 st)
Team information
Current teamBelAZ
Disciplines
  • Road
  • Track
Role
Rider type
  • Time trialist
  • Domestique
Professional teams
2006OTC Doors
2006Rietumu Banka–Riga
2007–2008Tinkoff Credit Systems
2009–2012Caisse d'Epargne
2013–2020Team Sky[2][3]
Managerial team
2021–BelAZ
Major wins
Grand Tours
Giro d'Italia
3 individual stages (2008, 2011, 2015)
Vuelta a España
1 individual stage (2013)

One-day races and Classics

World Time Trial Championships (2015)
National Time Trial Championships
(2002, 2005, 2006, 2015, 2018)
European Games Time Trial (2015, 2019)
Medal record
Men's road bicycle racing
Representing  Belarus
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Richmond Time trial
Silver medal – second place 2016 Doha Time trial
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Valkenburg Time trial
European Games
Gold medal – first place 2015 Baku Time trial
Gold medal – first place 2019 Minsk Time trial
Representing Team Sky
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Tuscany Team time trial
Men's track cycling
Representing  Belarus
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2008 Manchester Points race
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Bordeaux Points race

Career

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Early years

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Born in Rechytsa, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Kiryienka won his first national time trial championship in 2002. His early career focused mainly on the track, where he won the Points Race at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. Later that season Kiryienka won Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia, a mountainous affair leading to Presolana, after spending the day on the attack and registering more than 6 hours and a half in the saddle. He attacked his six breakaway companions at the foot of the Monte Para climb and soloed to the finish for the win, by a margin of over four minutes.[6]

Caisse d'Epargne (2009–2012)

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Kiryienka competing in the time trial at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London

Kiryienka moved to the Spanish Caisse d'Epargne squad for the 2009 season.

In 2010 he finished second in the tenth stage of the Tour de France after he was outsprinted at the line in Gap by Sérgio Paulinho (Team RadioShack) after the pair's decisive attack with 14 kilometres (8.7 miles) remaining.[7]

On 23 May 2011, during the Giro d'Italia, Kiryienka's Movistar Team teammate Xabier Tondo was killed in a freak accident at home while preparing to train with teammates. He was reportedly crushed between his car and a garage door.[8] Five days later, Kiryienka rode to victory in a solo effort on Stage 20, a mountain top finish at Sestriere, and he dedicated the stage victory to Tondó, pointing skyward as he crossed the finish line.[9] The team had met to consider withdrawing from the race after Tondó's death, but instead the riders unanimously voted to ride on.[10] Kiryienka commented that the squad at the Giro hoped to get a further stage win (as Francisco Ventoso's win had come before Tondó's death) to honor him, while other members of the team grieved with Tondó's family.[11]

In September 2012, Kiryienka finished third in the individual time trial at the road world championships.[12]

Team Sky (2013–2020)

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Kiryienka at the 2014 Tour de France

Kiryienka left Movistar Team at the end of the 2012 season, and joined Team Sky on an initial three-year contract from the 2013 season onwards.[13]

In May 2015, Kiryienka won the individual time trial of the Giro d'Italia, which was 59.5 kilometres (37.0 miles) long and relatively rolling.[14] In June 2015, he won the individual time trial at the inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.[15] On 23 September 2015, Kiryienka won the individual time trial at the CI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia, United States.[16]

Kiryienka had the honor to carry the flag of his native Belarus at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he competed in the men's individual time trial event; he finished in 17th place. In October, he competed in the same event at the World Championships in Doha, where he won the silver medal – giving him at least one medal of each colour for his career.[17]

In January 2020, Kiryienka retired from the sport due to recurring "cardiac issues".[4]

Major results

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Road

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1999
3rd Time trial, National Championships
2000
2nd Time trial, National Championships
2001
2nd Time trial, National Championships
2002
1st   Time trial, National Championships
2004
National Championships
2nd Time trial
3rd Road race
6th Overall Tour of Turkey
2005
1st   Time trial, National Championships
1st Coppa della Pace
1st Giro del Casentino
1st Coppa Comune Castelfranco di Sopra
1st Coppa Mobilio Ponsacco – Cronometro
1st Stage 3 Giro della Toscana Under-23
2006
1st   Time trial, National Championships
2nd Overall Scandinavian Week
1st Stage 3
2nd Scandinavian Open
3rd Riga Grand Prix
4th Tallinn–Tartu GP
4th Szlakiem Walk Majora Hubala
5th Overall Five Rings of Moscow
6th Time trial, UCI World Championships
8th Overall Course de la Solidarité Olympique
1st Stage 6
2007
1st Stage 3 Ster Elektrotoer
1st Stage 5 Vuelta a Burgos
2nd Overall Étoile de Bessèges
2nd Eindhoven Team Time Trial
3rd Time trial, National Championships
7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
8th Overall Tour of Austria
8th Tour du Haut Var
9th Time trial, UCI World Championships
9th Grand Prix de Fourmies
2008
1st Stage 19 Giro d'Italia
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda
2nd Time trial, National Championships
2nd Overall Ster Elektrotoer
2nd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
7th Overall Vuelta a Murcia
2011
1st   Overall Route du Sud
1st Stage 20 Giro d'Italia
2nd Overall Critérium International
1st   Points classification
9th Overall Vuelta a Murcia
10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
1st Stage 2
2012
3rd   Time trial, UCI World Championships
6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
2013
1st Stage 18 Vuelta a España
UCI World Championships
3rd   Team time trial
4th Time trial
2014
1st Stage 1b (TTT) Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
3rd Overall Bayern Rundfahrt
4th Time trial, UCI World Championships
  Combativity award Stage 11 Vuelta a España
2015
1st   Time trial, UCI World Championships
1st   Time trial, European Games
1st   Time trial, National Championships
1st Chrono des Nations
1st Stage 14 (ITT) Giro d'Italia
2016
1st Chrono des Nations
2nd   Time trial, UCI World Championships
2017
UCI World Championships
3rd   Team time trial
5th Time trial
6th GP Miguel Induráin
2018
1st   Time trial, National Championships
9th Time trial, UCI World Championships
2019
1st   Time trial, European Games

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

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Grand Tour 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
  Giro d'Italia 35 73 37 25 84 102 DNF
  Tour de France 60 DNF 77 DNF 86 103 112
  Vuelta a España 34 16 73 110 83 DNF
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Track

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2003
UCI World Cup Classics, Aguascalientes
1st Individual pursuit
3rd Team pursuit
UEC European Under-23 Championships
3rd   Individual pursuit
3rd   Team pursuit
2004
3rd Individual pursuit, UCI World Cup Classics, Aguascalientes
2005
1st Points race, UCI World Cup Classics, Manchester
2006
UCI World Cup Classics
1st Scratch, Sydney
2nd Points race, Moscow
3rd Points race, Sydney
3rd   Points race, UCI World Championships
2008
1st   Points race, UCI World Championships

References

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  1. ^ Mills, Benjamin. "Team Sky Photo Gallery". Team Sky. BSkyB. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Team Sky". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  3. ^ "Team Ineos". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b Malach, Pat (30 January 2020). "Kiryienka retires due to recurring 'cardiac issues'". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  5. ^ "BelAZ". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  6. ^ Gregor Brown (30 May 2008). "Contador proves tough under Di Luca's pressure". Cycling News. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  7. ^ "Sergio Paulinho snatches Tour de France stage win". BBC Sport. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  8. ^ "Xavier Tondo dies in domestic accident". Cyclingnews.com. 23 May 2011. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  9. ^ Felix Lowe (28 May 2011). "Kiryienka remembers Tondo with win". Eurosport. Yahoo! News Network. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  10. ^ "Movistar to continue in Giro in the wake of Tondo's death". Cyclingnews.com. 23 May 2011. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  11. ^ Jean-François Quénet (28 May 2011). "Kiryienka paid tribute to Xavier Tondo". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  12. ^ "Road World Championships: Tony Martin retains time trial title". BBC Sport. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  13. ^ "Kiryienka to Sky for three years". Cycling News. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  14. ^ "Contador powers back into Giro lead in stage 14 ITT won by Kiryienka". VeloNews. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  15. ^ "Kiryienka, Van Dijk win European Games time trials". Cyclingnews.com. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  16. ^ "Kiryienka wins time-trial gold at World Championships". BBC Sport. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  17. ^ "Vasil Kiryienka calls time on his career". Belarus Olympic Committee. National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
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Summer Olympics
Preceded by Flagbearer for   Belarus
Rio de Janeiro 2016
Succeeded by