Tyler Farrar

Tyler Farrar (born June 2, 1984) is an American former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2017 for the , and squads.
Farrar's achievements include winning the 2009 Circuit Franco-Belge and the 2009 and 2010 Vattenfall Cyclassics. In Grand Tours, Farrar has won six individual stages, as well as assisting in two team time trial wins.
Cycling career
Farrar started racing at 13, and rode for in 2003, in 2004, and in 2006 and 2007. In April 2006, he crashed near the finish of the Circuit de la Sarthe, which resulted in a broken collarbone, causing him to miss most of the season. For the 2008 season, he transferred to .
He has won stages in the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, Tour de France, Three Days of De Panne, and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. He wore the yellow jersey on stage three of the 2008 Tour of California after winning intermediate sprint points during stage two.
Until the end of his career in 2017, Farrar lived in the Belgian city of Ghent, where he was made an honorary citizen in 2012. He was fluent in Dutch and was popular in Flanders.
In May 2011, Farrar withdrew from the Giro d'Italia as a mark of respect for his friend and training partner Wouter Weylandt, who was killed in an accident during the race. This tragedy occurred on stage 3 and on stage 4 the teams agreed not to race at all as they completed the entire stage at a steady pace with each team taking ten kilometers at the front with no attacks being made and the peloton staying together the entire time. Three kilometres from the finish Weylandt's eight teammates on Team Leopard-Trek came to the front and were also joined by Farrar, even though he was riding for Garmin-Cervelo. The nine riders rode together side by side as the rest of the peloton stayed back and as they approached the finish they did so arm in arm for the final fifty or so meters, all crossing the line together. The entire Leopard-Trek team and Farrar bowed out of the race following this tribute to their fallen teammate.
On July 4, 2011, Farrar won his first Tour de France stage, Stage 3 from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon, becoming the first American to win a stage of the Tour on the Fourth of July. It would be ten years before another American would win a Tour de France stage.
Farrar crashed four times in the 2012 Tour de France, including a sprint-finish crash, after which he stormed the team bus to confront Tom Veelers, whom he blamed for the incident. He later took his first two wins of the season at the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge. In the opening stage of that race, Farrar arrived in Telluride with a field of 57 riders and won a reduced bunch sprint at the finish. Afterwards, he stated that he was surprised to have survived the mountainous terrain to be able to contend for the sprint. Farrar won again in the fifth stage of the race, dedicating the win to his former Madison partner Mike Creed, who had been raising money for the victims of the Waldo Canyon fires. Due to his two wins he consolidated enough points to win the green jersey. Later in the season, Farrar crashed heavily during the first stage of the Tour of Britain, reportedly suffering a concussion. In October, Farrar was given clearance to train by the team doctor, Prentice Steffen, who stated: "The health of the athlete is always our top priority."
Farrar has a reputation for causing or being involved in crashes. Alessandro Petacchi noted that Farrar had crashed 18 times in the 2013-2014 seasons, commenting "There is probably a reason for this". Farrar denies using reckless or uncoordinated tactics, and ascribed most of his numerous crashes to "realities of modern cycling".
After seven years with , Farrar signed with for the 2015 and 2016 seasons and again for the 2017 season. After riding in the 2017 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, Farrar announced his retirement from competition.
When Farrar took the stage victory in the 2011 Tour de France it gave him a stage win in all three grand tours. Tyler Hamilton is the only other American to have accomplished this.
Post-cycling
After retiring from cycle racing, Farrar became a firefighter in Kirkland, Washington, as part of the City of Kirkland Fire Department.
Major results
2001
10th Time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships
2002
1st Overall Tour de l'Abitibi
1st Stage 4
2003
9th Ronde van Vlaanderen U23
2004
1st Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
1st Stage 7 Tour de l'Avenir
2nd Criterium, National Road Championships
9th Paris–Tours Espoirs
10th La Côte Picarde
2005
1st Criterium, National Road Championships
1st Stage 4 Ronde de l'Isard
1st Stage 2 Tour de l'Avenir
2nd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
2nd Grand Prix de Waregem
5th Wachovia Classic
10th Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
2006
5th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
5th Grand Prix de Rennes
2007
GP CTT Correios de Portugal
1st Points classification
1st Stage 2
9th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
2008
1st Overall Tour of the Bahamas
1st Points classification
1st Stages 2 & 3
1st Stage 1 Tour du Poitou-Charentes
1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de Georgia
4th Univest Grand Prix
5th Paris–Tours
6th Philadelphia International Championship
8th Lehigh Valley Classic
9th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
2009
1st Overall Tour de Wallonie-Picarde
1st Points classification
1st Stages 1 & 2
1st Overall Delta Tour Zeeland
1st Points classification
1st Prologue
1st Vattenfall Cyclassics
Eneco Tour
1st Stages 1, 2 & 4
1st Stage 3 Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 11 Vuelta a España
2010
1st Overall Delta Tour Zeeland
1st Points classification
1st Vattenfall Cyclassics
1st Scheldeprijs
Giro d'Italia
1st Stages 2 & 10
Vuelta a España
1st Stages 5 & 21
1st Stage 3 Three Days of De Panne
2nd GP Ouest–France
3rd Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
5th Tour of Flanders
6th Coppa Bernocchi
9th Gent–Wevelgem
10th UCI World Ranking
2011
1st Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
1st Trofeo Cala Millor
Tour de France
1st Stages 2 (TTT) & 3
1st Stage 2 Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 2 Ster ZLM Toer
3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen
3rd Gent–Wevelgem
4th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
10th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
2012
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
1st Points classification
1st Stages 1 & 5
1st Stage 4 (TTT) Giro d'Italia
1st Stage 2 (TTT) Tour of Utah
2nd Overall Tour of Qatar
1st Stage 2 (TTT)
2nd Scheldeprijs
5th Overall Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen
2013
1st Stage 4 Tour of California
2nd Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
2nd Trofeo Campos–Santanyí–Ses Salines
3rd Overall Tour de l'Eurométropole
1st Stage 3
4th Paris–Tours
6th Scheldeprijs
2014
Tour of Beijing
1st Points classification
1st Stage 3
2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen
2nd Scheldeprijs
4th Vattenfall Cyclassics
8th Overall Tour de l'Eurométropole
8th E3 Harelbeke
10th Overall Ster ZLM Toer
1st Points classification
2015
9th Scheldeprijs
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Endorsements
Farrar appears in the opening titles of ITV London morning weather forecasts. The forecasts are sponsored by Transitions Lenses who also sponsor Farrar's cycling team. In 2010, Transition Lenses featured Farrar in its online advertisements.
References
External links
Cyclingnews.com: An interview with Tyler Farrar
Team profile
VeloNews.com: Interview with Farrar after his 2010 Giro d'Italia stage 2 win
1984 births
American male cyclists
Living people
Sportspeople from Wenatchee, Washington
American Giro d'Italia stage winners
American Vuelta a España stage winners
American Tour de France stage winners
Cyclists from Washington (state)
Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Olympic cyclists for the United States
2011 Tour de France stage winners
21st-century American firefighters