# Borut Božič

Borut Božič (born 8 August 1980) is a Slovenian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2018 for the Perutnina Ptuj, Team LPR, Cycle Collstrop, Vacansoleil–DCM, Astana, Cofidis and Bahrain–Merida teams.
Considered a sprinter in the mold of Óscar Freire, Božič's career highlights include winning the 2007 Tour de Wallonie, victory in the first stage of the 2009 Tour de Pologne (plus two days in the leader's jersey), winning the sixth stage of the 2009 Vuelta a España, and winning stage five of the 2011 Tour de Suisse. Božič worked as a directeur sportif for the Bahrain–Merida team up to October 2019 but in that month was issued with a 2-year ban for his links to the doping ring uncovered by Operation Aderlass.

## Early and personal life

Born in Idrija, Božič got his start in cycling at age 10, despite growing up in a family with no connection to the sport. Though his friends cycled, his dad was a football player – so he looked to his compatriot Valter Bonca for inspiration. Božič is married to Klemintina, with whom he has a son, Sas. The family resides in Idrija, Slovenia. During the first three years of his career, Božič also trained for skiing, though by age 24 he realized he could make a living as a professional cyclist.

## Professional career

Božič turned professional in 2004 with Perutnina Ptuj. He moved to the Italian Team LPR in 2007, but left for Belgian squad Cycle Collstrop in 2008. Božič's most successful season to date was 2009, his first with Vacansoleil, which he finished by taking third place in the Paris–Tours classic behind winner Philippe Gilbert and runner-up Tom Boonen. Božič escaped with the two Belgians with 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) to go, at the base of the Côte de l'Epan after an attack from Gilbert's teammate Greg Van Avermaet. Having led the trio into the final 300 metres (980 feet) on the Avenue du Grammont, Božič attempted to contest the sprint, but he was gapped by Gilbert with 150 metres (490 feet) to the line, and cut short his effort. He also won stage six of the Vuelta a España.
After extending his contract with Vacansoleil through 2011, Božič was able to train calmly during the winter, and he resumed his winning ways in 2010. Božič claimed stages 1 and 2 of the Étoile de Bessèges in France, and placed second on the third. He started the fourth stage as leader of the general classification, but lost over 20 minutes to eventual race winner Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis). Nevertheless, Božič's consistency was rewarded with overall victory in the points classification, where he finished with 79 points, four more than the runner-up Niko Eeckhout of Belgium (An Post–Sean Kelly). Božič's next result of merit was a 12th-place in the 204-kilometre (127-mile) East Flanders classic, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he arrived in the first chase group, 18 seconds in arrears of eventual race winner Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky). Unfortunately, the 2010 season was ultimately a quiet one for Božič, and he did not score a major victory.
In 2011, a frustrated Božič continued racing a similar program to years past, but he crashed out of May's Giro d'Italia and saw his progress disrupted. Taking into account their rider's two falls in Italy and general lack of results, the team reworked Božič's schedule and conceptualized an alternative approach according to Vacansoleil's sports director Jean-Paul van Poppel, who explained:
"Due to the crashes Božič couldn't follow up to a start in the Giro and get the results he was aiming for in the season. However, after the Giro we made plans with Božič. We decided he would firstly compete in the Tour of Luxembourg to build him up for races and then we agreed the Tour of Switzerland was a race that would help him get some good results in the Tour de France. The plan is coming together nicely."
Božič finally returned to the winner's circle on the UCI World Tour with a dramatic and emotional victory in the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse. There, Božič crossed the finish line in tears after having countered a daring move by his Italian teammate Marco Marcato in the final kilometre, winning ahead of Spain's Óscar Freire, with the Slovak Peter Sagan of Liquigas–Cannondale in third.
Wiping the tears from his eyes while giving an interview immediately following his win, Božič told the press that he could not believe he had triumphed after such a long gap without a major victory:
"My last [big] win was in 2009, a stage in the Tour of Spain and even today I hadn't expected to do so well. I told my teammate Marcato to attack in the last kilometre because I felt a bit rough and that, if he couldn't make it, I'd try for the sprint. We were lucky it all worked out. I've had a very difficult last six months, no wins and never really feeling good on the bike. Today I thought it wasn't my day either but, with 50 meters to go, I got on Freire's back wheel, then got past him at the last possible moment."
Božič's win gave added impetus to his push for a coveted spot on Vacansoleil's Tour de France roster, and he ultimately made his first start at the race, taking four top-ten stage finishes.
Božič joined Astana for the 2012 season. In October 2015 Cofidis announced that Božič would be part of their squad for 2016.

## Major results

Source:

### 2002

    1st Stage 5b Grand Prix Guillaume Tell
    10th Coppa San Geo

### 2003

    8th Gran Premio Industrie del Marmo
    10th Circuito del Porto

### 2004

    Tour of Slovenia
       1st Stages 2 & 3
    1st Stage 6 Tour de Serbie
    3rd Overall Jadranska Magistrala
       1st Stage 2
    3rd Omloop van de Vlaamse Scheldeboorden
    5th Grand Prix de Denain

### 2005

    1st Overall Jadranska Magistrala
       1st Stage 1
    1st Stage 3 Tour de l'Avenir
    2nd Poreč Trophy
    8th Overall Circuit des Ardennes
    8th GP Kranj

### 2006

    1st Overall Jadranska Magistrala
       1st Prologue
    Vuelta a Cuba
       1st Stages 4, 11b & 13
    Tour of Slovenia
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    Olympia's Tour
       1st Stages 2, 3 & 8
    2nd Overall Circuit des Ardennes
       1st Stage 1
    3rd Poreč Trophy
    10th Trofeo Zsšdi

### 2007

    1st Overall Tour de Wallonie
    1st GP Kranj
    1st Stage 3 Tour of Ireland
    4th Tour de Rijke

### 2008

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Stage 5 Étoile de Bessèges
    1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Andalucía
    6th Overall Delta Tour Zeeland
       1st Stage 3
    6th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
    9th Paris–Brussels
    10th Scheldeprijs

### 2009

    1st Stage 6 Vuelta a España
    Tour of Belgium
       1st Stages 2 & 3
    1st Stage 1 Tour de Pologne
    1st Stage 1 Tour du Limousin
    3rd Overall Ster Elektrotoer
    3rd Paris–Tours
    5th Overall Tour de Picardie
    6th Overall Three Days of De Panne
    6th Hel van het Mergelland
    9th Paris–Bourges

### 2010

    Étoile de Bessèges
       1st Stages 1 & 2
    2nd Overall Tour of Britain
       1st Stage 7
    3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
    6th Overall Tour de Picardie

### 2011

    1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse
    3rd Vattenfall Cyclassics
    4th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    6th London–Surrey Cycle Classic
    6th Paris–Bruxelles
    7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
    9th Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen

### 2012

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    2nd Clásica de Almería
    6th GP Stad Zottegem
    8th GP Ouest–France
    8th Grand Prix Pino Cerami
    10th Vattenfall Cyclassics

### 2013

    2nd Gent–Wevelgem
    2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen
    5th Grand Prix de Fourmies
    9th GP Ouest–France

### 2014

    3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen
    7th E3 Harelbeke

### 2015

    3rd Road race, National Road Championships

### 2016

    5th Route Adélie

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | DNF | — | — | 124 | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | — | 136 | 129 | — | — | — | DNF | 160 |
| Vuelta a España | 102 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |