# Theo Bos

Theo Bos (born 22 August 1983) is a Dutch former professional road and track cyclist. An Olympic silver medalist and five-time world champion, he is the brother of Olympic medalist in speed skating Jan Bos.
On 29 November 2021, he announced his retirement from professional cycling and took up the job of coach of the Chinese national track team.

## 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 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 career 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. 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. Five days later Bos was elected Dutch Sportsman of the year. Bos' record was beaten by Frenchman Kévin Sireau at the Moscow Grand Prix on 29 May 2009 with 9.65 seconds.
Starting August 2017, Bos started riding for BEAT Cycling Club. He is in a team with Matthijs Büchli and Roy van den Berg. In 2017 Bos won the Dutch Championships in the team sprint with Büchli and van den Berg. At the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn he won a bronze medal in the individual 1 km time trial.

### 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. 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. 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. Bos took his first win at World Tour level at the 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.
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. Subsequently, Bos confirmed that his condition was due to an extreme reaction to asthma medication.
Bos rode for the Pro Continental team MTN–Qhubeka in 2015 and 2016. 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."
   ""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. "
Following the 2015 Abu Dhabi Tour, where he did not finish stage 2, he had no further results at any major road events.

## Major results
### Track
#### 2001

    1st Kilo, UCI Juniors World Championships

#### 2002

    UEC European Under-23 Championships
       1st Keirin
       2nd Kilo
       2nd Sprint
    National Championships
       1st Keirin
       1st Sprint

#### 2003

    UEC European Under-23 Championships
       1st Kilo
       1st Sprint
       2nd Keirin
    National Championships
       1st Keirin
       1st Kilo
       1st Sprint
    2nd Kilo, UCI World Cup Classics, Moscow

#### 2004

    UCI World Championships
       1st Sprint
       3rd Kilo
    National Championships
       1st Keirin
       1st Sprint
    2004 UCI World Cup Classics
       1st Kilo, Moscow
       2nd Kilo, Manchester
       2nd Team sprint, Moscow
       3rd Sprint, Moscow
    2004–05 UCI World Cup Classics, Los Angeles
       1st Kilo
       1st Team sprint
    2nd Sprint, Olympic Games

#### 2005

    UCI World Championships
       1st Kilo
       2nd Team sprint
    2004–05 UCI World Cup Classics, Sydney
       1st Keirin
       1st Sprint
    2005–06 UCI World Cup Classics, Manchester
       1st Sprint
       2nd Team sprint

#### 2006

    UCI World Championships
       1st Keirin
       1st Sprint
    National Championships
       1st Keirin
       1st Sprint
    2005–06 UCI World Cup Classics, Sydney
       1st Keirin
       1st Team sprint
    2006–07 UCI World Cup Classics
       1st Keirin, Sydney
       1st Sprint, Moscow
       2nd Team sprint, Sydney
       2nd Team sprint, Moscow

#### 2007

    UCI World Championships
       1st Sprint
       2nd Keirin
    National Championships
       1st Keirin
       1st Sprint
    1st Masters of Sprint
    1st Rotterdam Sprint Cup

#### 2008

    3rd Team sprint, UCI World Championships

#### 2010

    1st Madison, National Championships (with Peter Schep)

#### 2011

    3rd Madison, UCI World Championships (with Peter Schep)

#### 2012

    2nd Kilo, National Championships

#### 2015

    National Championships
       1st Kilo
       1st Omnium
       1st Sprint

#### 2016

    2nd Kilo, UCI World Championships

#### 2017

    1st Team sprint, National Championships (with Matthijs Büchli and Roy van den Berg)
    2nd Team sprint, UCI World Championships
    2nd Team sprint, 2017–18 UCI World Cup, Manchester (with Matthijs Büchli and Roy van den Berg)

#### 2018

    2017–18 UCI World Cup, Minsk
       1st Team sprint (with Matthijs Büchli and Roy van den Berg)
       3rd Sprint
    2018–19 UCI World Cup
       2nd Team sprint, Milton
       3rd Keirin, London
       3rd Kilo, Berlin
    1st Team sprint, National Championships (with Matthijs Büchli and Roy van den Berg)
    3rd Kilo, UCI World Championships

#### 2019

    1st Keirin, 2018–19 UCI World Cup, Hong Kong
    2nd Kilo, UCI World Championships
    2nd Kilo, UEC European Championships

### Road
#### 2009

    1st Ronde van Noord-Holland
    1st Omloop der Kempen
    Olympia's Tour
       1st Prologue (TTT), Stages 1, 2 & 4
    3rd Ronde van Overijssel
    4th Beverbeek Classic

#### 2010

    1st Clásica de Almería
    Vuelta a Castilla y León
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1 & 2
    1st Stage 5 Vuelta a Murcia

#### 2011

    1st Tour de Rijke
    1st Dutch Food Valley Classic
    Tour of Oman
       1st Stages 1 & 3
    1st Stage 6 Danmark Rundt
    2nd Overall Delta Tour Zeeland
    6th Handzame Classic
    8th Scheldeprijs

#### 2012

    1st Dwars door Drenthe
    1st Dutch Food Valley Classic
    1st Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen
    Tour of Turkey
       1st Stages 1 & 8
    1st Stage 3 Eneco Tour
    1st Stage 2 World Ports Classic
    3rd Scheldeprijs

#### 2013

    Tour of Hainan
       1st Stages 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 & 9
    Tour de Langkawi
       1st Stages 1 & 2
    1st Stage 1 Critérium International
    1st Stage 2 Volta ao Algarve
    1st Stage 2 Ster ZLM Toer
    1st Stage 3 Tour of Norway
    8th Scheldeprijs
    9th Ronde van Zeeland Seaports

#### 2014

    1st Overall World Ports Classic
       1st Points classification
    1st Ronde van Zeeland Seaports
    Tour de Langkawi
       1st Stages 2, 7, 8 & 9
    1st Stage 3 Tour de Pologne
    1st Stage 4 Tour of Alberta
    2nd Handzame Classic
    3rd Overall Tour de l'Eurométropole
       1st Stage 3

#### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | DNF |
| Tour de France | — | — | — |
| Vuelta a España | DNF | — | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |