Leigh Howard

Leigh Howard (born 18 October 1989) is an Australian professional racing cyclist. He qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in both the Men's Madison and Men's Team Pursuit. Howard was part of the Men's team pursuit together with Kelland O'Brien, Sam Weisford and Alexander Porter. They secured a bronze medal after overlapping New Zealand who had crashed. Howard also competed in the Men's Madison where the team finished fifth with a time of 3:48.448 and therefore did not qualify for the final.
Career
Born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, Howard now resides in Waurn Ponds, Victoria. He began cycling competitively at the age of 10 and first represented Australia in 2005 at the age of 16. Howard is an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, and initially trained as an automobile electrician.
Howard won the bronze medal in the omnium event at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. He went on to take several medals in round 2 and 4 of the 2008–09 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics. In 2009, he again won a medal in the omnium at the World Championships, this time taking gold, he also took the silver medal in both the madison and team pursuit. Howard also had success on the road in 2009, winning stages 1 and 3 of the Tour of Japan.
Howard become a professional rider in 2010 with . In his first professional race with team HTC Columbia, Howard won the fourth stage of the Tour of Oman. Impressively, Howard finished ahead of Daniele Bennati, Tom Boonen and Tyler Farrar on the stage. After two years with the team, Howard moved to for the 2012 season. In November 2015 announced that Howard would join them for the 2016 season, with a role as part of the sprint train for Matteo Pelucchi.
Howard last rode for UCI Continental team .
Major results
Road
2006
3rd Time trial, National Junior Championships
2007
Tour of Tasmania
1st Stages 1, 4 & 7
2008
1st Overall Tour of the Murray River
1st Stages 5 & 13
1st Coppa Colli Briantei Internazionale
Tour of Gippsland
1st Stages 6 & 8
Tour of Tasmania
1st Stages 1 & 8
1st Stage 2 Australian Cycling Grand Prix
10th Overall Tour de Berlin
1st Stage 2
2009
1st Overall Tour of Gippsland
1st Stages 2, 3, 6 & 9
1st Overall Okolo Slovenska
1st Classic Astico – Brenta
Tour of Japan
1st Points classification
1st Stages 1, 3 & 7
1st Stage 1 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
4th Circuito del Porto
8th Giro del Belvedere
2010 (2 pro wins)
1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
1st Stage 4 Tour of Oman
1st Sprints classification, Bayern–Rundfahrt
2011 (1)
1st Stage 5 Ster Elektrotoer
3rd Trofeo Cala Millor
4th Grand Prix de Denain
2012 (1)
1st Stage 2 (TTT) Eneco Tour
3rd Overall Tour of Britain
1st Stage 2
2013 (2)
1st Trofeo Campos–Santanyí–Ses Salines
1st Trofeo Platja de Muro
8th Vuelta a La Rioja
2014
5th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie
7th Overall Tour of Alberta
2015
6th RideLondon–Surrey Classic
2016 (2)
1st Clásica de Almería
1st Stage 1 Tour des Fjords
2nd Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Track
2006
1st Team pursuit, UCI World Junior Championships
National Junior Championships
1st Scratch
2nd Kilo
2nd Madison (with Alex Smyth)
2nd Team pursuit
3rd Individual pursuit
2007
UCI World Junior Championships
1st Team pursuit
2nd Madison (with Glenn O'Shea)
3rd Individual pursuit
National Junior Championships
1st Kilo
1st Omnium
1st Individual pursuit
UIV Cup
1st Amsterdam
1st Dortmund
3rd Madison, National Championships (with Travis Meyer)
2008
National Championships
1st Madison (with Glenn O'Shea)
1st Scratch
1st Team pursuit
2nd Individual pursuit
UIV Cup
1st Amsterdam
1st Munich
2nd Omnium, UCI World Championships
2nd Scratch, UCI World Cup Classics, Melbourne
2009
UCI World Championships
1st Omnium
2nd Madison (with Cameron Meyer)
2nd Team pursuit
UCI World Cup Classics, Beijing
1st Team pursuit
1st Madison (with Glenn O'Shea)
National Championships
2nd Team pursuit
3rd Individual pursuit
2010
UCI World Championships
1st Madison (with Cameron Meyer)
2nd Omnium
UCI World Cup Classics
1st Team pursuit, Beijing
1st Team pursuit, Melbourne
1st Madison, Melbourne (with Cameron Meyer)
2011
1st Madison, UCI World Championships (with Cameron Meyer)
1st Madison, Oceania Championships (with Cameron Meyer)
1st Madison, National Championships (with Glenn O'Shea)
2nd Six Days of Berlin (with Cameron Meyer)
2012
1st Six Days of Berlin (with Cameron Meyer)
2018
1st Team pursuit, Commonwealth Games
Oceania Championships
1st Team pursuit
2nd Omnium
National Championships
1st Team pursuit
2nd Madison (with Jordan Kerby)
UCI World Cup
1st Team pursuit, Berlin
2nd Scratch, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
3rd Madison, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (with Kelland O'Brien)
2nd Six Days of London (with Kelland O'Brien)
2019
1st Team pursuit, UCI World Championships
National Championships
1st Madison (with Glenn O'Shea)
1st Team pursuit
UCI World Cup
1st Team pursuit, Brisbane
2nd Team pursuit, Cambridge
3rd Madison, Glasgow (with Sam Welsford)
2nd Scratch, Oceania Championships
2020
3rd Madison, National Championships (with Sam Welsford)
2021
1st Madison, National Championships (with Glenn O'Shea)
3rd Team pursuit, Olympic Games
See also
Cycling in Geelong
References
External links
Leigh Howard – Biography at the Australian Institute of Sport website
1989 births
Living people
Australian male cyclists
UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men)
Cyclists from Victoria (state)
Australian Institute of Sport cyclists
Cyclists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia
Australian track cyclists
Olympic cyclists for Australia
Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for Australia
Olympic medalists in cycling
20th-century Australian people
21st-century Australian people
Sportspeople from Geelong
Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Sportsmen from Victoria (state)