Niko Eeckhout

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**Niko Eeckhout**
Personal information

Full name	Niko Eeckhout
Nickname	Rambo
Date of birth	December 16, 1970 (1970-12-16) (age 37)
Country	Belgium
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	73 kg (160 lb)
Team information
Current team	Topsport Vlaanderen
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist, sprinter
Professional team(s)
1992–1993 1994 1995–1996 1997–1998 1999–2000 2001–2004 2005–	Collstrop Varta Collstrop Lotto Palmans Lotto Topsport Vlaanderen
Major wins
UCI Europe Tour (2005-2006) Belgium Road Race Champion (2006) Dwars door Vlaanderen (2001,2005) Championship of Flanders (1996,1998,2000,2006) GP Isbergues
Infobox last updated on:
December 29, 2007

Niko Eeckhout (born 16 December 1970 in Izegem) is a professional road racing cyclist from Belgium. He is the 2005-2006 UCI Europe Tour series champion. He rides for Topsport Vlaanderen.

[edit] Career

Eeckhout started his career in 1993 in the little Collstrop-team. He was immediately a winner, although he won minor cycling races like the Championship of Flanders or the Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde. In 1997 and 1998 he rode for Lotto, but then he rode two years for Palmans. Eeckhout really became a successful cyclist when he transferred in 2001 to Lotto-Adecco. That year he won 11 races, like Dwars door Vlaanderen or de GP van Steenbergen.

But in the two next seasons, he was less successful. At the end of 2004, he needed to find a new team because Lotto didn't want him anymore. So he went to Chocolade Jacques, where he found his second youth. He started the 2005 season by winning Dwars door Vlaanderen. In that season, he even won the GP d'Isbergues and a stage in the Three Days of De Panne. Also next year, in 2006 he continued winning. He won the Three Days of West-Flanders and other races. But in June 2006 he won the biggest race in his career. In Antwerp he became the Belgian Champion by beating Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert. In total, he won in 2006 12 races. He was also the winner of the 2005-2006 UCI Europe Tour.