Oliver Naesen

Oliver Naesen (born 16 September 1990) is a Belgian professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Considered a specialist of the one-day classics, he won the 2017 Belgian National Road Race Championships, as well as the Bretagne Classic in 2016 and 2018. He is the brother of fellow racing cyclist Lawrence Naesen.
Career
2014–2016
Naesen turned professional in August 2014 as a stagiaire with the team, before joining in 2015 and Swiss UCI WorldTeam in 2016.
He made his Grand Tour debut at the 2016 Tour de France, in which he was awarded the combativity award on the fourth stage. He made a spectacular crash in the last corner of the stage 18 mountain time trial, but finished his maiden Tour in 83rd position overall.
Weeks after the Tour de France, he won the Bretagne Classic; his first victory in a UCI World Tour race. In September, he finished second in the general classification of the 2016 Eneco Tour after a strong performance in the final stage to Geraardsbergen. His results earned him a selection for the World Championship road race in Qatar, in which he finished 23rd.
AG2R La Mondiale (2017–present)
Following the discontinuation of the IAM Cycling team, Naesen signed a two-year contract with French team . In the spring of 2017, he confirmed his status as a classics talent with top-10 finishes in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, E3 Harelbeke and Gent–Wevelgem. In the Tour of Flanders, he was in a three-man chase group behind Philippe Gilbert, when Peter Sagan, leading the group, crashed on Oude Kwaremont and brought down Naesen and Greg Van Avermaet. Naesen and Sagan broke their bike frames, preventing them from defending their podium positions, and Naesen ultimately finished 23rd. In Summer, he won the 2017 Belgian National Road Race Championships in Antwerp, before competing in his second Tour de France.
In 2018, he finished 11th at the Tour of Flanders and 12th in Paris–Roubaix. In August, he won the Bretagne Classic Ouest–France for the second time in three years.
Major results
2013
10th Grote Prijs Stad Geel
2014
3rd Memorial Van Coningsloo
4th Ronde van Limburg
6th Binche–Chimay–Binche
6th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad U23
8th Gooikse Pijl
9th Handzame Classic
10th Druivenkoers Overijse
10th Internationale Wielertrofee Jong Maar Moedig
10th Flèche Ardennaise
2015 (1 pro win)
1st Polynormande
1st Gooikse Pijl
2nd Schaal Sels
3rd Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem
3rd Omloop van het Waasland
5th Druivenkoers Overijse
6th Overall Tour de Luxembourg
1st Young rider classification
7th Overall Tour of Belgium
10th Le Samyn
10th Tour de Vendée
2016 (1)
1st Bretagne Classic
1st GP Lucien Van Impe
2nd Overall Eneco Tour
2nd Tour de l'Eurométropole
10th Binche–Chimay–Binche
Combativity award Stage 4 Tour de France
2017 (1)
1st Road race, National Road Championships
3rd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
3rd E3 Harelbeke
5th Overall BinckBank Tour
6th Paris–Tours
6th Dwars door Vlaanderen
6th Tour de l'Eurométropole
7th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
8th Overall Tour of Belgium
8th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
10th London–Surrey Classic
10th Binche–Chimay–Binche
2018 (1)
1st Bretagne Classic
3rd Eschborn–Frankfurt
3rd Binche–Chimay–Binche
3rd Tour de l'Eurométropole
4th E3 Harelbeke
4th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
4th Paris–Tours
6th Gent–Wevelgem
9th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
2019 (1)
2nd Overall BinckBank Tour
1st Stage 7
2nd Milan–San Remo
2nd Binche–Chimay–Binche
3rd Gent–Wevelgem
3rd Paris–Tours
7th Tour of Flanders
8th E3 Binckbank Classic
8th London–Surrey Classic
10th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
10th EuroEyes Cyclassics
2020
7th Tour of Flanders
7th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
10th Overall Tour de Wallonie
2021
4th E3 Saxo Bank Classic
7th Tro-Bro Léon
2022
2nd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
3rd Famenne Ardenne Classic
4th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
7th Bretagne Classic
8th Primus Classic
2023
9th Famenne Ardenne Classic
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Classics results timeline
Major championships timeline
References
External links
1990 births
Living people
Belgian male cyclists
Sportspeople from Ostend
Cyclists from West Flanders