# Iljo Keisse

Iljo Keisse (born 21 December 1982) is a Belgian former racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2005 to 2022. Keisse races on the track and on the road, specializing himself until recently in riding six-day races. He notably has won the Six Days of Ghent seven times and reached the podium a total of 12 times.

## Biography

Keisse was born in Ghent. Together with his teammate Matthew Gilmore, he won three Six-day races in 2005–2006: Grenoble, Ghent and Hasselt. After his victory in the 2008 Six Days of Ghent, both his A and B samples tested positive for cathine and a diuretic which has been used to mask the presence of doping agents. He was fired by his team Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator on 11 January 2009. He joined the John Saey-Deschacht-Hyundai team in May 2009.
On 2 November 2009, Keisse was cleared of any wrongdoing, with investigators finding that the positives were not the result of intentional doping and likely resulted from a contaminated dietary supplement. On 7 July 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency and reinstated Keisse's ban. He is credited for the 11 months he already sat out, meaning he was eligible to return to competition in August 2011. In November, the CAS' decision was overturned by the Belgian Court of Appeals, allowing Keisse to ride the 2010 Six Days of Ghent. Keisse remained banned in Belgium until 27 January 2012, but re-signed with Omega Pharma–Quick-Step for the 2012 season.
On 28 April 2012, Keisse won Stage 7 of the Tour of Turkey in dramatic fashion. After leaving the rest of a seven-man breakaway, Keisse crashed on the final corner. He remounted his bike, realized his chain was off, restrung it, and held off the chasing peloton by three bike lengths in a sprint for the line. The first chasers were given the same time as his. This was the first professional win of his career and his last for over two years. His next victory was in the Châteauroux Classic in August 2014. Another win came in 2015, at the Ronde van Zeeland Seaports; he won this race from a group of three Etixx–Quick-Step riders who had escaped earlier. In the Giro d'Italia, Keisse won the last stage in Milan, upsetting the sprinters' plans. He got clear with Orica–GreenEDGE's Luke Durbridge and outsprinted him for the victory.
Keisse announced during the 2022 season that he would retire and that his final race would be the Gent Six. Racing alongside Jasper De Buyst, he finished during his 18th and final appearance 3rd.

## Major results
### Road
#### 2004

    1st Stage 6 Tour du Loir-et-Cher
    5th Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux

#### 2005

    9th Bruxelles–Ingooigem

#### 2006

    4th Flèche Hesbignonne
    6th Overall Tour of Britain
    9th Overall Tour de Wallonie

#### 2007

    1st Textielprijs Vichte
    3rd Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
    7th Halle–Ingooigem
    8th Omloop van het Waasland

#### 2008

    1st Textielprijs Vichte
    4th GP Briek Schotte

#### 2011

    10th Dutch Food Valley Classic

#### 2012

    1st Stage 7 Tour of Turkey

#### 2013

    1st Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde
    3rd Münsterland Giro

#### 2014

    1st Châteauroux Classic
    2nd GP Briek Schotte

#### 2015

    1st Ronde van Zeeland Seaports
    1st Profronde Deurne
    1st Stage 21 Giro d'Italia
    1st Stage 1 (TTT) Czech Cycling Tour
    Combativity award Stage 5 Vuelta a España

#### 2017

    1st Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde
    1st Textielprijs Vichte
    3rd Le Samyn
    3rd Halle–Ingooigem
    10th Dwars door West-Vlaanderen

#### 2020

    2nd Road race, National Championships

#### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Giro d'Italia | 159 | 139 | 145 | — | 144 | — | — | 122 | 121 |
| Tour de France | — | — | — | 139 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | 148 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |
| IP | In progress |

### Track
#### 2004

    2nd Six Days of Ghent (with Andreas Beikirch)
    2nd Six Days of Fiorenzuola (with Franco Marvulli)
    3rd Six Days of Grenoble (with Wouter Van Mechelen)

#### 2005

    1st Madison, UEC European Championships (with Matthew Gilmore)
    1st Six Days of Fiorenzuola (with Matthew Gilmore)
    1st Six Days of Grenoble (with Matthew Gilmore)
    1st Six Days of Ghent (with Matthew Gilmore)
    3rd Madison, UCI World Championships (with Matthew Gilmore)
    3rd Six Days of Amsterdam (with Matthew Gilmore)
    3rd Six Days of Bremen (with Marco Villa)

#### 2006

    1st Derny, UEC European Championships
    1st Points race, National Championships
    1st Six Days of Hasselt (with Matthew Gilmore)
    2nd Six Days of Stuttgart (with Robert Bartko & Leif Lampater)
    2nd Six Days of Zürich (with Robert Bartko)
    2nd Six Days of Rotterdam (with Matthew Gilmore)
    2nd Six Days of Munich (with Franco Marvulli)

#### 2007

    1st Six Days of Rotterdam (with Robert Bartko)
    1st Six Days of Ghent (with Robert Bartko)
    1st Six Days of Amsterdam (with Robert Bartko)
    2nd Points race, UCI World Championships
    2nd Six Days of Maastricht (with Marco Villa)
    2nd Six Days of Zürich (with Robert Bartko)
    2nd Six Days of Munich (with Franco Marvulli)
    2nd Six Days of Hasselt (with Marco Villa)
    3rd Six Days of Bremen (with Robert Bartko)

#### 2008

    1st Madison, UEC European Championships (with Kenny De Ketele)
    National Championships
       1st Points race
       1st Madison (with Kenny De Ketele)
    1st Six Days of Stuttgart (with Robert Bartko & Leif Lampater)
    1st Six Days of Bremen (with Robert Bartko)
    1st Six Days of Ghent (with Robert Bartko)
    1st Six Days of Munich (with Robert Bartko)
    2nd Six Days of Zürich (with Robert Bartko)
    2nd Six Days of Hasselt (with Kenny De Ketele)
    2nd Six Days of Fiorenzuola (with Franco Marvulli)
    3rd Six Days of Amsterdam (with Robert Bartko)
    3rd Six Days of Copenhagen (with Danny Stam)
    3rd Six Days of Rotterdam (with Robert Bartko)

#### 2009

    National Championships
       1st Points race
       1st Madison (with Kenny De Ketele)
    2nd Six Days of Ghent (with Roger Kluge)
    3rd Six Days of Grenoble (with Gianni Meersman)

#### 2010

    1st Six Days of Ghent (with Peter Schep)
    1st Six Days of Rotterdam (with Danny Stam)
    2nd Six Days of Bremen (with Robert Bartko)
    2nd Six Days of Copenhagen (with Robert Bartko)

#### 2011

    1st Madison, UEC European Championships (with Kenny De Ketele)
    National Championships
       1st Derny
       1st Madison (with Gert-Jan Van Immerseel)
       1st Scratch
    1st Six Days of Amsterdam (with Niki Terpstra)
    1st Six Days of Grenoble (with Morgan Kneisky)
    1st Six Days of Zürich (with Franco Marvulli)

#### 2012

    1st Six Days of Ghent (with Glenn O'Shea)
    1st Six Days of Grenoble (with Kenny De Ketele)
    1st Six Days of Copenhagen (with Marc Hester)
    2nd Six Days of Amsterdam (with Niki Terpstra)
    3rd Six Days of Bremen (with Leif Lampater)
    3rd Six Days of Berlin (with Kenny De Ketele)

#### 2013

    1st Six Days of Rotterdam (with Niki Terpstra)
    1st Six Days of Zürich (with Silvan Dillier)
    2nd Six Days of Ghent (with Wim Stroetinga)
    3rd Six Days of Grenoble (with Jasper De Buyst)

#### 2014

    National Championships
       1st Madison (with Jasper De Buyst)
       1st Scratch
    1st Six Days of Rotterdam (with Niki Terpstra)
    1st Six Days of Zürich (with Mark Cavendish)
    2nd Six Days of Ghent (with Mark Cavendish)

#### 2015

    1st Six Days of Ghent (with Michael Mørkøv)
    1st Six Days of Rotterdam (with Niki Terpstra)
    1st Revolution Round 2 (with Andy Tennant)
    1st Revolution Round 3 (with Wim Stroetinga)
       1st Points race
       1st Team elimination
    3rd Six Days of London (with Gijs Van Hoecke)

#### 2016

    2nd Overall Revolution Champions League
    3rd Six Days of Ghent (with Elia Viviani)

#### 2017

    1st Six Days of Bremen (with Marcel Kalz)

#### 2018

    1st Six Days of Ghent (with Elia Viviani)

#### 2019

    1st Six Days of Bremen (with Jasper De Buyst)

#### 2022

    3rd Six Days of Ghent (with Jasper De Buyst)

#### Six Days results timeline

| Race | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Six Days of Amsterdam | 10 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | | 1 | 2 | | | NH | | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued |
| Six Days of Bremen | | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | | | | 1 | | 1 | | NH | NH |
| Six Days of Ghent | 2 | 1 | Can | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | | 1 | | NH | | 3 |
| Six Days of Grenoble | 3 | 1 | | | | 3 | | 1 | 1 | 3 | | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued |
| Six Days of Rotterdam | NH | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | | 1 | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | NH | |
| Six Days of Zürich | NH | NH | 2 | 2 | 2 | | 4 | 1 | | 1 | 1 | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued | Race discontinued |