Simon Špilak
Špilak at the 2013 Tour de Romandie
Personal information
Full nameSimon Špilak
NicknameSpile
Born (1986-06-23) 23 June 1986
Tišina, Slovenia
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeAll-rounder
Short stage race specialist
Professional teams
2005–2007KRKA–Adria Mobil
2008–2011Lampre
2012–2019Team Katusha[1]
Major wins
Stage races
Tour de Suisse (2015, 2017)
Tour de Romandie (2010)

Single-day races and Classics

Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop (2013)

Simon Špilak (born 23 June 1986) is a retired Slovenian professional road bicycle racer.[2]

Professional career

Born in Tišina, Špilak was the winner of the 2010 Tour de Romandie, after original race winner Alejandro Valverde had his results expunged as part of a doping suspension. Špilak went on to gain second place in that race in 2013 and 2014, both times behind Chris Froome. In 2013, he was the victor of the GP Miguel Induráin and the Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop, his only two victories of the year. In 2015, he won the general classification of the Tour de Suisse with only five seconds of an advantage over Geraint Thomas. The victory was decided on the last day's time trial.[3] Špilak was considered a rarity in road cycling in that he is a general classification rider who targets one-week races rather than the three-week Grand Tours.[4] In an interview he said that he disliked the heat, so he was always preparing for spring races instead of Grand Tours which took part mostly in summer.[5]

In October 2019, Špilak announced his retirement after his Team Katusha–Alpecin team folded.[2]

Major results

2003
10th Time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships
2004
National Junior Road Championships
1st Road race
1st Time trial
1st Overall GP Général Patton
3rd Road race, UCI Junior Road World Championships
4th Paris–Roubaix Juniors
2005
1st Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
7th GP Kranj
9th Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
2006
1st Poreč Trophy
2nd Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
5th Trofeo Zsšdi
7th Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
7th Overall Istrian Spring Trophy
2007
1st La Côte Picarde
4th Overall Tour of Slovenia
1st Young rider classification
4th Overall Tour de l'Avenir
5th Overall Istrian Spring Trophy
2008
5th Overall Tour of Slovenia
5th Overall Three Days of De Panne
9th Tour of Flanders
2009
1st Stage 3 Tour of Slovenia
6th Overall Giro della Provincia di Grosseto
2010
1st Overall Tour de Romandie[lower-alpha 1]
1st Young rider classification
1st Stage 4
3rd Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt
2011
5th Overall Tour of Slovenia
5th Giro del Friuli
2012
4th Overall Paris–Nice
8th Overall Tour de Romandie
8th Overall Tour of Belgium
10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
2013
1st GP Miguel Induráin
1st Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop
2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
1st Stage 4
4th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
4th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
6th Overall Paris–Nice
9th Overall Tour de Suisse
10th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
2014
1st Stage 5 Critérium du Dauphiné
1st Stage 3 Arctic Race of Norway
2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
1st Stage 3
4th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
8th Overall Paris–Nice
9th Overall Volta ao Algarve
2015
1st Overall Tour de Suisse
2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
3rd Overall Paris–Nice
2016
7th Overall Tour de Romandie
8th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
9th Overall Tour de Suisse
2017
1st Overall Tour de Suisse
1st Stage 7
2nd Pro Ötztaler 5500
10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
2018
6th Overall Tour de Suisse
9th GP Miguel Induráin
2019
5th Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana
6th Overall Tour de Suisse
6th Overall Tour of California
9th Overall Tour de Romandie
10th Overall Volta ao Algarve

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Giro d'Italia 48 117
Tour de France 109 DNF DNF
Vuelta a España Did not contest during his career
Major stage race general classification results
Race 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Paris–Nice 12 DNF 13 4 6 8 3 31 59
Tirreno–Adriatico 18 11 27
Volta a Catalunya 34 DNF
Tour of the Basque Country 10 4 4 12 8 10 48
Tour de Romandie 1 21 8 2 2 2 7 30 30 9
Critérium du Dauphiné 77 85
Tour de Suisse DNF DNF 9 1 9 1 6 6
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Notes

  1. Retroactively awarded after Alejandro Valverde's results were disqualified following his backdated two-year ban in June 2010.

References

  1. Stokes, Shane (26 October 2011). "Katusha Team confirms its eleven new signings for 2012 season". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Here are all the riders retiring at the end of the 2019 season". Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  3. Stuart Clarke (21 June 2015). "Geraint Thomas falls just short of Tour de Suisse title as Spilak wins overall". Cycling Weekly. IPC Media Sports & Leisure network. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  4. "Tour de Suisse: 10 riders to watch".
  5. "Primož Roglič končuje sezono, Simon Špilak pa kariero". Delo. Retrieved 13 October 2019.

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