Tuft at Worlds TT in September 2008 |
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Svein Tuft |
| Born | 19 May 1977 Langley, British Columbia, Canada |
| Team information | |
| Current team | GreenEDGE |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Time-Trialist |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 2005–2008 2009–2010 2011 2012– |
Symmetrics Garmin-Slipstream SpiderTech-C10 GreenEDGE |
| Infobox last updated on 1 January 2012 |
|
Svein Tuft (born May 9, 1977) is a Canadian road bicycle racer and the 2006–2007 UCI America Tour champion. Tuft currently races for UCI ProTeam GreenEDGE.[1] He is the current Canadian road and time trial champion.
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He was born in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. His grandfather, Arne Tuft, was an Olympic cross-country skier from Norway.
Tuft dropped out of school at 15 to travel and camp. He spent the next several years mountain climbing and going on long bike trips, including a 4,000 mile trip to Alaska as a teenager.[2]
While racing with the Symmetrics Cycling Team, Tuft lived in a trailer behind team owner Kevin Cunningham's house near Langley BC. In the adjacent trailer was Tuft's teammate Christian Meier. The team referred to the two as the trailer park boys.
Tuft first raced in 1999, at the British Columbia Provincial Championships. Strong results landed him a place on the Broadmark Capital team, followed by short stints on the Mercury and Prime Alliance teams. Tuft's career flourished when he rode for the Canadian Symmetrics Cycling Team – a prominent team in North American Cycling from 2005–2008. Tuft is a six time Canadian National Time Trial Champion, having secured the title three years straight from 2004 to 2006 and again 2008 to 2010. He first captured the title in 2004 from his former teammate and three time Canadian Olympian Eric Wohlberg. Wohlberg held the title for eight consecutive years prior to Tuft. In 2007 Tuft conceded the Canadian National Time Trial title to Ryder Hesjedal.
He was selected to compete for Canada at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing China in the Road Race and Time Trial. Svein Tuft was the leader at the finish for a long time in the time trial, before eventually finishing 7th.
So far his best result is second place in the time trial in Varese Italy during World Championships in 2008 in which he overcame a flat tire in the last 5 km.
He is featured prominently in a Symmetrics Cycling Team Comic book written by Marvel Comics DB Pro Editor in chief Matthew Hansen, which is used as a press kit for the team. In the comic book, Tuft is very muscular. Upon seeing himself in the comic, Tuft remarked "We're all a bunch of sissies really."[3]
In 2011 Svein Tuft was supposed to be a part of Team Pegasus Cycling. Unfortunately due to sponsorship issues, the team had to pull out at the last minute. [4] Tuft was recruited as a member of the Canadian Professional Pro-Continental Team, SpiderTech-C10, managed by Steve Bauer. Tuft won both the Canadian National Time Trial and Canadian National Road championships in Burlington, Ontario with SpiderTech in 2011. In August 2011, Tuft announced that he would leave SpiderTech for the Australian team GreenEDGE in 2012.[1]
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for Canada | ||
| Road bicycle racing | ||
| World Championships | ||
| Silver | 2008 Varese | Elite Men's Time Trial |