# Nick Nuyens

Nick Nuyens (born 5 May 1980) is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist who last rode for Garmin–Sharp in the UCI World Tour. His biggest wins included the semi-classics Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Omloop Het Volk, Paris–Brussels and the classic Tour of Flanders. He was a classics rider. His first wife was the Belgian multiple national champion, Evy Van Damme, with whom he had three children. In 2015 he married Lynn Peeters. He retired in 2015 after failing to secure a new contract.

## Career

The year 2011 was a good one for him, since he took the victory on two classics in Flanders. At the end of March, he prevailed in a sprint at the Dwars door Vlaanderen, after desperately trying to steer clear of the group in the last 20 kilometres (12 mi) of the race. Geraint Thomas of Team Sky finished second, while the lead group was a few seconds away. Two weeks later, Nuyens took one of the Monuments of cycling, the Tour of Flanders. After the Muur van Geraardsbergen, one of the big favourites, Fabian Cancellara, was caught by the bunch. Nuyens was part of the chasers that bridged to the leading group in the final kilometers, and a trio of riders were left to battle it out for the finish while another group was very close to them in the final meters. Nuyens got the better of Sylvain Chavanel (Quick-Step) and Cancellara in the three-man sprint. Nuyens said of his biggest win of his career: "It was only in the final 50 meters that I started to fully realize what was happening, that I was about to win this beautiful race."
Nuyens left Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank at the end of the 2012 season, and joined Garmin–Sharp on a three-year contract from the 2013 season onwards.
During the 2009 season he used a wood block under his saddle to prevent it from sagging in wet conditions.
Since 2017 Nuyens has been the general manager of the Vérandas Willems–Crelan cycling team, which is a road Pro Continental cycling team and one of the main Belgian cyclo-cross teams.

## Major results
### 2002

    1st Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
    1st Ronde Van Vlaanderen Beloften
    5th La Côte Picarde

### 2003

    1st Nationale Sluitingsprijs
    6th Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen
    7th Overall Uniqa Classic
    7th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli
    9th Overall Tour de Picardie

### 2004

    1st Overall Ster Elektrotoer
       1st Stage 3
    1st Paris–Brussels
    1st Grand Prix de Wallonie
    1st Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato
    3rd Overall Tour of Britain
    6th Overall Tour de l'Ain
    7th Overall Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen
       1st Young rider classification
    9th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
    9th Overall Tour de Picardie

### 2005

    1st Overall Tour of Britain
       1st Stages 1 & 5
    1st Omloop Het Volk
    1st Grand Prix de Wallonie
    2nd Overall Ster Elektrotoer
    2nd Druivenkoers Overijse
    5th Road race, National Road Championships
    6th Dwars door Vlaanderen
    7th Brabantse Pijl

### 2006

    1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
    1st Stage 3 Tour de Suisse
    2nd Grand Prix de Wallonie
    2nd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
    3rd Brabantse Pijl
    4th Overall Tour of Britain
    4th Vattenfall Cyclassics
    4th Tour du Haut Var
    7th Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen

### 2007

    1st Overall Étoile de Bessèges
       1st Stage 3
    1st Stage 1 Eneco Tour
    2nd Brabantse Pijl
    4th Road race, National Road Championships
    4th Omloop Het Volk
    7th Tour of Flanders
    8th Halle–Ingooigem

### 2008

    2nd Tour of Flanders
    2nd Omloop Het Volk
    8th Brabantse Pijl
    9th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
    10th Dwars door Vlaanderen

### 2009

    1st Grand Prix de Wallonie
    5th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
    7th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    8th Amstel Gold Race
    8th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne

### 2010

    1st Stage 5 Tour of Austria
    5th Road race, National Road Championships
    9th Overall Tour of Belgium

### 2011

    1st Tour of Flanders
    1st Dwars door Vlaanderen
    3rd Klasika Primavera

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Giro d'Italia | DNF | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | 121 | — |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | — | 78 | — | 127 | 161 | — | DNF |

### Classics results timeline

| Monument | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| Milan–San Remo | — | 176 | 162 | 122 | 44 | 20 | 32 | 61 | 70 | — | — | — |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | 21 | 17 | 7 | 2 | 15 | DNF | 1 | — | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — | 40 | 57 | DNF | 21 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | 129 | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 61 | — | — | — |
| Classic | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | 40 | — | 1 | 90 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 55 | — | — | 65 | 62 |
| Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne | — | — | DNF | 1 | 63 | DNF | 8 | DNF | — | — | NH | DNF |
| Dwars door Vlaanderen | 51 | — | 6 | 29 | 14 | 10 | 16 | 12 | 1 | — | — | 44 |
| E3 Harelbeke | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | DNF | 38 | — | DNF | 59 |
| Gent–Wevelgem | — | 22 | 34 | 23 | 23 | — | DNF | — | 39 | — | — | 116 |
| Brabantse Pijl | — | 36 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 8 | — | 22 | — | — | — | 51 |
| Amstel Gold Race | — | — | — | — | 121 | — | 8 | 25 | 27 | — | — | — |
| Paris–Tours | 85 | DNF | 78 | 29 | — | 24 | 18 | 155 | — | — | — | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |