Theo Bos

Theo Bos

Bos at the 2012 Japan Cup
Personal information
Full name	Theo Bos
Born	(1983-08-22) August 22, 1983 Hierden, Netherlands
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Team information
Current team	Team Dimension Data
Discipline	Road and track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Professional team(s)
2009	Rabobank Continental Team
2010	Cervélo TestTeam
2011–2014	Rabobank[1]
2015–	MTN–Qhubeka
Medal record Track cycling Competitor for the  Netherlands Olympic Games 2004 Athens Sprint World Championships 2004 Melbourne Sprint 2005 Los Angeles Time trial 2006 Bordeaux Sprint 2006 Bordeaux Keirin 2007 Palma de Mallorca Sprint 2005 Los Angeles Team sprint 2007 Palma de Mallorca Keirin 2004 Melbourne Time trial 2008 Manchester Team sprint 2011 Apeldoorn Madison
Infobox last updated on 2 March 2015

Theo Bos (born 22 August 1983) is a Dutch road cyclist and track cyclist, Olympic silver medalist and five-time world champion. He lives in Alkmaar. Theo Bos is the brother of Olympic medalist in speed skating Jan Bos. Bos rides for UCI Professional Continental Team Team Dimension Data.^[2]

Early life

Bos was born in Hierden, Netherlands. He has an older brother Jan Bos, who is a professional speed skater.

He went to high school in Harderwijk, where he got a havo diploma. Later he also got a vwo diploma.

In 2001, he was Junior World Champion track cycling at 1,000 m. The same year, at the age of 18, he started his professional cycling career as a senior.

Professional sport career

Track cycling

He won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the sprint event.

He won an individual gold in the sprint at the 2004 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. The following year, he won the individual sprint and a silver medal in the team sprint at the 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

At the 2006 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, Bos won the keirin and completed a triple, having been world champion in the sprint, kilo and keirin . He won the keirin after accelerating with two laps to go, winning by a wide margin and able to raise his hands and salute the crowd as he passed the finish line.^[3] His French rival, and bronze medal winner, Arnaud Tournant, said Bos' performance was "the best I’ve seen in a very long time."

On 16 December 2006, Bos broke the world 200m track record during qualification rounds for the sprint at a World Cup meeting in Moscow. Bos clocked 9.772 seconds (after a computer initially had given him an unlikely 9.086 seconds) and beat the 11-year record held by Canadian Curt Harnett. Bos declared the 200m the "ultimate record" for track cyclists.^[4] Five days later Bos was elected Dutch Sportsman of the year. Bos's record was beaten by Frenchman Kévin Sireau at the Moscow Grand Prix on 29 May 2009 with 9.65 seconds.

Road cycling

On 19 April 2009, Bos was in a controversial crash in the final 800m of the final stage of the Tour of Turkey. Bos caused the crash of the eventual winner Daryl Impey by grabbing Impey's left shoulder with his right hand. Impey crashed to the left, into the barrier, next to Bos. Bos admitted pushing Impey. Bos claimed the reason for pushing Impey was because Impey was moving in on him while he was already close to the fence.^[5][6][7] Bos was disqualified and fined. On 1 May 2009 the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) said “Bos’s behavior undermined the image, reputation and interests of cycling”. Bos was charged with an infringement and was brought before a UCI disciplinary hearing in which he was found guilty of violating UCI regulations. Bos was subsequently suspended from professional racing from 15 August through 14 September 2009.

In the off season before 2010 Bos signed with the Cervélo TestTeam, that included former Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre. He was touted as another addition to their sprint team. He raced in many smaller races, and some large ones including Paris–Roubaix and the Vuelta a España. When the Cervelo Test Team folded in late 2010, Bos returned to the Rabobank team, where he raced as a Continental. His first triumph of 2011 came in the first stage of the Tour of Oman, beating Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish.

In 2012, he won the first and last stages of the Tour of Turkey. Both of these stages saw crashes in the finale, diminishing the number of sprinters Bos had to compete against.^[8] Bos took the first win of his career at the World Tour level on the 2012 Eneco Tour. On Stage 3 from Riemst to Genk, he edged John Degenkolb (Argos–Shimano) on the finish line in a bunch sprint to take the victory.^[9]

Bos was originally selected as a member of the Belkin squad for the 2013 Vuelta a España, however he was withdrawn before the start of the race after tests revealed he had low cortisol levels. A team statement noted that this was "an indication of sub-optimal health conditions", and that whilst low cortisol levels were not a barrier to competing in UCI World Tour races the team's medical staff and Bos had agreed to send him home.^[10] Subsequently Bos confirmed that his condition was due to an extreme reaction to asthma medication.^[11]

Bos will ride for the Pro Continental team MTN–Qhubeka from 2015 onwards.^[2] Bos said about Team MTN-Qhubeka "The team has a great culture, I want to win and we will work together to win, our success is the success of Africa." ^[12]

""The team races for a cause that is more than just winning races and that is Qhubeka, a social initiative where they aim to put children in Africa on bicycles. I really like this human element to the team. I hope I will be able to bring a fan base with me to the team that will bring new support to the Qhubeka initiative. "

— Theo Bos

Palmarès

Track

Road

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Giro	–	–	WD	–	–
Tour	–	–	–	–	–
Vuelta	WD	–	–	–	–

WD = Withdrew; IP = In Progress

See also

• List of Dutch Olympic cyclists

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Theo Bos.

• (Dutch) Official website
• Theo Bos profile on procyclingstats
• Pictures of the Kimera
• Cycling News Coverage of '09 Tour of Turkey
• Crash at '09 Tour of Turkey (in slow motion)

UCI Track Cycling World Champions – Men's sprint 1895: Robert Protin 1896: Paul Bourillon 1897: Willi Arend 1898: Georges Banker 1899: Marshall Taylor 1900: Edmond Jacquelin 1901–03: Thorvald Ellegaard 1904: Iver Lawson 1905: Gabriel Poulain 1906: Thorvald Ellegaard 1907: Emile Friol 1908: Thorvald Ellegaard 1909: Victor Dupre 1910: Emile Friol 1911: Thorvald Ellegaard 1912: Frank Louis Kramer 1913: Walter Rütt 1920: Bob Spears 1921–24: Piet Moeskops 1925: Ernst Kaufmann 1926: Piet Moeskops 1927–30: Lucien Michard 1931: Willy Hansen 1932–37: Jef Scherens 1938: Arie van Vliet 1939: Medal not awarded 1946: Jan Derksen 1947: Jef Scherens 1948: Arie van Vliet 1949–51: Reg Harris 1952: Oscar Plattner 1953: Arie van Vliet 1954: Reg Harris 1955–56: Antonio Maspes 1957: Jan Derksen 1958: Michel Rousseau 1959–62: Antonio Maspes 1963: Sante Gaiardoni 1964: Antonio Maspes 1965–66: Giuseppe Beghetto 1967: Patrick Sercu 1968: Giuseppe Beghetto 1969: Patrick Sercu 1970: Gordon Johnson 1971: Leijn Loevesijn 1972–73: Robert Van Lancker 1974: Peder Pedersen 1975–76: John Nicholson 1977–86: Koichi Nakano 1987: Nobuyuki Tawara 1988: Stephen Pate 1989: Claudio Golinelli 1990: Michael Hübner 1991: Carey Hall Medal not awarded 1992: Michael Hübner 1993: Gary Neiwand 1994: Marty Nothstein 1995: Darryn Hill 1996–98: Florian Rousseau 1999: Laurent Gané 2000: Jan van Eijden 2001: Arnaud Tournant 2002: Sean Eadie 2003: Laurent Gané 2004: Theo Bos 2005: René Wolff 2006–07: Theo Bos 2008: Chris Hoy 2009–10: Grégory Baugé 2011: Jason Kenny 2012: Grégory Baugé 2013: Stefan Bötticher 2014: François Pervis 2015: Grégory Baugé

UCI Track Cycling World Champions – Men's keirin 1980–81: Danny Clark 1982: Gordon Singleton 1983: Urs Freuler 1984: Robert Dill-Bundi 1985: Urs Freuler 1986: Michel Vaarten 1987: Harumi Honda 1988–89: Claudio Golinelli 1990–92: Michael Hübner 1993: Gary Neiwand 1994: Marty Nothstein 1995: Frédéric Magné 1996: Marty Nothstein 1997: Frédéric Magné 1998–99: Jens Fiedler 2000: Frédéric Magné 2001: Ryan Bayley 2002: Jobie Dajka 2003: Laurent Gané 2004: Jamie Staff 2005: Teun Mulder 2006: Theo Bos 2007–08: Chris Hoy 2009: Maximilian Levy 2010: Chris Hoy 2011: Shane Perkins 2012: Chris Hoy 2013: Jason Kenny 2014–15: François Pervis