Zbigniew Spruch (born 13 December 1965 in Kożuchów) is a Polish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the Tour de Pologne in 1995[1] and placed second at the 2000 UCI Road World Championships. Spruch had was a professional cyclist for 12 year's, starting at the Lampre–Colnago team in 1992 with a two year stint at Mapei–GB for 1997 & 1998. He then finished his career back at the newly founded Lampre–Daikin squad. Spruch only achieved three professional wins in his career but amassed over 120 amateur victories.[2]
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Zbigniew Spruch | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 13 December 1965 Kożuchów, Poland | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 68 kg (150 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||
| Current team | Retired | ||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||
| 1992–1996 | Lampre–Colnago | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Mapei–GB | ||||||||||||||
| 1999–2003 | Lampre–Daikin | ||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||
| Stage races | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
editSpurch won the Overall at the 1995 Tour de Pologne, however at the time the race was for amateurs unlike in the 2020's where it is a UCI WorldTour event.[3] At the 1999 Tirreno–Adriatico Spruch came close to his third professional win when favorites for the stage Nicola Minali and Mario Cipollini crashed in the final 75 metres. Unfortunately Spruch was edged out by Steven de Jongh.[4]
The Biggest non-victory of Spurch's career was finishing second at the Road race of the 2000 UCI Road World Championships. Spurch was in the final bunch chasing down Michele Bartoli who had attacked with less than 1km to go. The bunch caught Bartoli just before the line with Spruch tucked in behind Romāns Vainšteins, he could not sprint past the Latvian who took gold.[5][6]
Major results
edit- 1987
- 9th Overall Olympia's Tour
- 10th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1988
- 1st Stage 3 Peace Race
- 1st Stage 5 Niedersachsen Rundfahrt
- 1989
- 1st Stage 2 Peace Race
- 1st Stages 4 & 6 Niedersachsen Rundfahrt
- 6th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st Stages 3 & 5
- 1990
- 1st Stage 7 Vuelta a Cuba
- 2nd Overall Tour of Małopolska
- 1st Stage 2
- 1991
- 1st Memorial Grundmanna I Wizowskiego
- 3rd Overall Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
- 5th Overall Tour of Małopolska
- 7th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st Stages 2, 3 & 4
- 1992
- 6th Trofeo Laigueglia
- 8th Giro di Campania
- 9th Giro del Piemonte
- 1993
- 5th Overall KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde
- 6th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st
Points classification
- 1st
- 1994
- 2nd Trofeo Pantalica
- 3rd Paris-Tours
- 6th Gent-Wevelgem
- 7th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1995 (1 Pro win)
- 1st
Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stage 2
- 1st
- 4th Overall 4 Jours de Dunkerque
- 5th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre
- 1st Stage 1
- 6th Gent-Wevelgem
- 1996
- 9th Road race, Olympic Games
- 1997
- 2nd Overall Étoile de Bessèges
- 1998 (2)
- 1st Stage 5 Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda
- 5th Overall Tirreno-Adriatico
- 7th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st
Points classification - 1st Stage 1
- 1st
- 1999
- 2nd Gent–Wevelgem
- 3rd Milan-San Remo
- 5th Tour of Flanders
- 9th Scheldeprijs
- 2000
- 2nd
Road race, UCI Road World Championships - 4th Milan-San Remo
- 7th Overall KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde
- 7th Paris-Tours
- 8th Amstel Gold Race
- 9th Tour of Flanders
- 2001
- 10th Paris-Tours
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
editSource:[9]
| Grand Tour | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
|
47 | — | 66 | DNF | 47 | 100 | 72 | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France
|
— | DNF | — | — | DNF | — | — | DNF | — | — | — |
/ Vuelta a España
|
— | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | DNF |
Monuments results timeline
editSource:[10]
| Monument | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | 37 | 48 | 14 | 23 | 113 | 63 | — | 3 | 4 | — | 98 | 59 |
| Tour of Flanders | — | 40 | 15 | 71 | 63 | DNF | — | 5 | 9 | — | 38 | 37 |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — | — | — | — | 51 | — | 14 | 15 | — | 15 | DNF |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | — | 47 | — | — | — | 12 | 15 | — | — | DNF |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
References
edit- ^ a b "Tour de Pologne". Cycling Archives. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ^ "Historia Kolarstwa Zbigniew Spruch, Aktulaności rowerowe". www.erowery.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Tour de Pologne past winners". cyclingnews.com. 15 July 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Cycling: Minali injured in multiple crash". Indipendant. 17 March 1999. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Latvian cyclist sprints to world title". www.baltictimes.com. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ Stokes, Shane (3 October 2019). "Pedersen's surprise win adds him to a line of dark horse world champions". Velo. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Zbigniew Spruch". FirstCycling.com. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Zbigniew Spruch". www.procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Grand tour results for Zbigniew Spruch". www.procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Results in monument classics for Zbigniew Spruch". www.procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
External links
edit- Zbigniew Spruch at Cycling Archives (archived)
- Zbigniew Spruch at ProCyclingStats
- Zbigniew Spruch at CycleBase
- Zbigniew Spruch at Olympedia
