Betfair Bonus!

Full name Michael Boogerd
Nickname Boogey
Date of birth May 28, 1972 (1972-05-28) (age 37)
Country Netherlands
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 62.5 kg (138 lb; 9.84 st)
Team information
Current team Retired
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Classics specialist
Professional team(s)1
1993-1994
1995
1996-2007 WordPerfect
Novell
Rabobank
Major wins
Flag of the Netherlands National Champion (1997, 1998, 2006)
Paris Nice (1999)
Amstel Gold Race (1999)
Tour de France, 2 stages
Infobox last updated on:
December 9, 2007

1 Team names given are those prevailing
at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Michael Boogerd (born May 28, 1972 in The Hague) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with teammante Erik Dekker, even inspiring Dutch authors to write a book called “Michael & Erik” about this generation, and the two of them in particular.

He began his professional career in 1994, joining WordPerfect. In 1995 the team changed name to Novell, before Rabobank in 1996 became main sponsor and name for the team. Boogerd stayed with the team his entire career.

His speciality were hilly classics like Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Fleche Wallonne and the Amstel Gold Race in the Ardennes week and the Lombardian races in the Fall, as well as mountain-stages. He has won two stages in Tour de France (1996, 2002) as well as the Amstel Gold Race and Paris-Nice. He has been Dutch Champion three times, in 1997, 1998 and in 2006. In addition to these major victories, Boogerd scored a large number of podium finishes in his favorite spring classics, which gave him a reputation in the Netherlands of being 2nd or 3rd more often than winning - a notion he dismissed in a 2007 interview looking back at his career.

In the 1998 Tour de France, Boogerd finished 5th overall in the General Classification, his highest finish ever in the Tour. His main result in the 2005 Tour de France was on stage 15, where he finished 4th, 57 seconds behind stage winner, George Hincapie. In the 2006 Tour de France, Boogerd’s role was to support Rabobank team leader Denis Menchov in the Alps and Pyrenees. He rode exceptionally well helping his team captain to 6th overall and Michael Rasmussen to the Polka Dot jersey.

He is known for gritting his super-white teeth[citation needed]. His nickname is the “Boogie-man”. Boogerd ended his career in 2007, with a 12th place in the World Championship road race in Stuttgart. His planned last race was the 2007 Giro di Lombardia, but a fall in the weeks before made him unable to participate.[1].

After his active career, Boogerd has done freelance promotional activities for Rabobank, and is frequently seen or heard on tv during live coverage of major races, both on Dutch and Belgium television.

Michael lives in the Belgium town Essen with his wife Nerena and son Mikai.
Michael Boogerd

[edit] Major Results

1996
Tour de France stage 6
31st Overall, Tour de France
1997
Flag of the Netherlands Dutch National Road Race Championship
16th Overall, Tour de France
1998
5th Overall, Tour de France
4th, Amstel Gold Race
Flag of the Netherlands Dutch National Road Race Championship
1999
1st, Paris-Nice
1st, Giro dell’Emilia
1st, Amstel Gold Race
1st, Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli
2001
10th Overall, Tour de France
9th, Amstel Gold Race
1st, Setmana Catalana
1st, Brabantse Pijl
2002
3rd, Amstel Gold Race
Tour de France stage 16
12th Overall, Tour de France
Ronde van Nederland stage 6
2003
1st, Brabantse Pijl
2nd, Amstel Gold Race
2004
2nd, Amstel Gold Race
2005
7th Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
2nd, Amstel Gold Race
3rd, Liège-Bastogne-Liège
24th Overall, Tour de France

4th, Stage 15

6th Overall, Tour of Poland
2006
5th Overall, Tirreno-Adriatico
3rd, Amstel Gold Race
5th, Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Flag of the Netherlands Dutch National Road Race Championship
13th Overall, Tour de France

6th, Stage 11
7th, Stage 14
5th, Stage 17

4th, Züri-Metzgete
8th, Giro di Lombardia
2007
12th Overall, Tour de France

“>