# Karsten Kroon

Karsten Kroon (born 29 January 1976) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for Tinkoff, a UCI ProTeam. He retired at the end of the 2014 season.

## Career

Born in Dalen, Kroon showed his talent as an amateur by winning the professional Ronde van Drenthe in 1996. He joined the Rabobank youth squad in 1997 and won a number of amateur races in two years. In 1999, he moved to the senior squad. His few wins included stage 8, on Bastille Day, of the 2002 Tour de France. Kroon and his teammate, Erik Dekker, finished in a seven-man group, and Kroon won a stage in his first Tour de France with the help of the more experienced Dekker. Kroon led the mountains classification in each of the three Grand Tours, though his lead did not last to the end.
On 10 August 2005 he said that, until 2007, he was to ride for Saxo Bank. He wanted more freedom. "I've never said that I want to be leader," he told Cyclingnews.com, "I only want to get chances". In March and April 2006, he was joint team captain in ProTour races. He finished in the top ten of Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour of Flanders. He helped Fränk Schleck win the Amstel Gold Race by disrupting the chase when Schleck attacked; Kroon finished fourth. Kroon finally finished on the podium, in La Flèche Wallonne, third in front of Schleck. He also came second in the 2009 Amstel Gold Race, just behind Serguei Ivanov.
In 2010, Kroon joined BMC Racing Team, but returned to Team Saxo Bank for the 2012 season.

### Doping

On 24 April 2018, it was reported that Kroon had confessed to doping for "a short period during my career". He added: "I was a professional cyclist in a very difficult time and I have a lot of respect for my colleagues who resisted the temptation to use doping."

## Major results
### 1996

    1st Ronde van Drenthe

### 1997

    1st Vlaamse Pijl
    1st Stage 2 Circuit Franco-Belge

### 1998

    1st Overall Ster der Beloften
       1st Stage 2
    Vuelta a Navarra
       1st Stages 2 & 3
    1st Stage 6 Circuit des Mines
    1st Stage 2 Vuelta a León

### 1999

    10th Clásica de Almería

### 2000

    4th DAB Classic
    7th Dwars door Gendringen
    Held Mountain jersey for 13 days Giro d'Italia

### 2001

    1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
    3rd Sparkassen Giro Bochum
    9th Brabantse Pijl
    Held King of the Mountains jersey, Vuelta a España

### 2002

    1st Stage 8 Tour de France

### 2003

    1st Stage 5 Tour du Poitou-Charentes

### 2004

    1st Rund um den Henninger Turm

### 2005

    5th Brabantse Pijl
    9th Omloop Het Volk
    Held King of the Mountains Jersey for Stage 6, Tour de France

### 2006

    3-Länder-Tour
       1st Stages 2 & 5
    3rd La Flèche Wallonne
    4th Amstel Gold Race
    8th Tour of Flanders

### 2007

    4th Tour of Flanders

### 2008

    1st Stage 2 Vuelta a Castilla y León
    1st Stage 5 Sachsen-Tour
    1st Rund um den Henninger Turm
    5th Giro di Lombardia
    9th Amstel Gold Race

### 2009

    2nd Amstel Gold Race
    2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm
    4th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
    5th Brabantse Pijl

### 2010

    1st RaboRonde Heerlen
    9th Amstel Gold Race

### 2012

    5th Overall Tour de l'Eurometropole

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Giro d'Italia | 103 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF |
| Tour de France | — | — | 146 | — | 115 | 135 | — | — | — | — | 138 | — | 143 | — |
| Vuelta a España | — | 107 | — | 100 | — | — | — | 52 | 72 | 76 | — | DNF | — | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |