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Born in 1986 in Belgium, Thomas De Gendt is a professional rider who has been a member of the Lotto Soudal cycling team since 2015. We take a look at the history of his professional career, his record of achievements and his main victories. Zoom in on Thomas De Gendt, the Flemish non-conformist baroudeur.
Who is Thomas De Gendt?
While he describes himself as a climber-baroudeur, Thomas De Gendt is primarily a breakaway specialist. A stage winner in all three grand tours, this atypical rider loves to break away from the nervousness of the peloton to go for solo victories. Originally from Saint-Nicolas, the Flandrien started cycling at a very early age. At the age of ten, he already participated in his first cycling races! His amateur career is punctuated with successes, so much so that in 2008, Thomas De Gendt is considered one of the best Belgian hopefuls.
Professional cycling career
In 2009, he turned professional with the Topsport Vlaaderen-Mercator team. He displays an offensive behavior that allows him to distinguish himself in particular in the Tour of Britain. Thanks to his 600 km of cumulative breakaways, Thomas finished at the top of the general classification and won intermediate sprints. In 2011, he moved to the Vacansoleil-DCM team and took part in UCI World Tour races including the Tour de France. At the key for the young Belgian cyclist: a 6th position on the stage of Alpe d'Huez and a 4th place in the time trial of Grenoble. The 2012 season is the Giro d'Italia. Thomas De Gendt indeed climbs to the third step of the podium in the Giro, partly thanks to his stage win on the mythical Stelvio climb. He also participated in the Vuelta.
Scout at Lotto Soudal
After a season as a teammate at Omega Pharma-Quick Step, the Flemish baroudeur joined the Lotto Soudal team in 2015, his current team. The successes came one after another in solo breakaways. After winning the 2015 Paris-Nice polka dot jersey, a feat he repeated in 2019, Thomas De Gendt won the Mont Ventoux climb in the 2016 Tour de France. The following year, he claimed stage 19 of the Tour of Spain, becoming stage winner in all three grand tours. In 2018, the Fleming won a stage in the Tour of Catalonia and the Tour de Romandie. He was also crowned the first Belgian in history to win the Mountain Grand Prix of the Vuelta! Nothing seems to stop Thomas, who challenges himself in 2019 to compete in all three grand tours in the same season. In fact, he has been named the most combative rider at the 2020 Giro. When he's not attacking from the start, Thomas De Gendt rides with panache in the peloton to support his teammates Caleb Ewan, Philippe Gilbert, John Degenkolb and Tim Wellens.
