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Luke Rowe

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For the New Zealand footballer, see Luke Rowe (footballer).

Luke Rowe
Rowe, Gent. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2023.
Personal information
Full nameLuke Rowe
Born (1990-03-10) 10 March 1990 (age 34)
Cardiff, Wales
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight72 kg (159 lb; 11 st 5 lb)
Team information
Current teamIneos Grenadiers
Disciplines
  • Road
  • Track
RoleRider
Rider type
  • Classics specialist
  • Road captain
Rouleur
Amateur teams
0Maindy Flyers
0Cardiff Ajax CC
2006Glendene CC / Bike Trax
2007–2011Recycling.co.uk
Professional team
2012–Team Sky[1][2]

Luke Rowe (born 10 March 1990) is a Welsh racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.[3]

Biography

[edit]

Born in Cardiff, Rowe began racing at a young age, initially riding with his parents on a tandem. He began to enjoy cycling and became a member of the Maindy Flyers, based at Maindy Centre. As a junior, he was a member of British Cycling's Olympic Development Programme,[4] His father, Courtney Rowe, coaches the Paralympian Simon Richardson,[citation needed] while his brother Matthew Rowe and his sister-in-law Dani Rowe also competed professionally.

Track career

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Rowe made his European debut as a member of the team pursuit squad who took the gold medal at the 2007 UEC European Track Championships. He finished second in the 2008 European Road Race Championships, and won the Madison, along with Mark Christian, and the silver in the team pursuit at the 2008 European Track Championships.[5]

Team Sky / INEOS Grenadiers (2012–2024)

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Rowe (in gold) at the 2012 Tour of Britain, wearing the leader's jersey during the second stage. Rowe won the race's first stage; his first professional victory.

Rowe joined Team Sky for the 2012 season as a neo-pro, having signed a two-year deal.[6][7] He took his first professional victory in September 2012 by winning the opening stage of the Tour of Britain. Rowe made his Grand Tour debut at the 2013 Vuelta a España.[8]

Rowe represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, 2014,[9] and finished sixth in the road race, which was won by teammate Geraint Thomas. Rowe rode the 2014 Vuelta a España, and helped Chris Froome to finish second overall.[citation needed]

Rowe enjoyed a strong start to the 2015 season with fourth place at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and seventh overall at the Tour of Qatar.[10] Rowe then had a breakthrough classics campaign, placing ninth in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (which was won by teammate Ian Stannard, thirteenth in E3 Harelbeke (won by teammate Geraint Thomas) and an impressive eighth in Paris–Roubaix, ahead of Bradley Wiggins (18th) who was riding his final race for Sky.[11] He was selected in Sky's team for the Tour de France,[12][13] becoming the third Welsh rider to compete in the Tour after Colin Lewis and Geraint Thomas.[14]

By finishing in 167th place in the 2017 Tour de France, Rowe earned the unofficial "lanterne rouge", a recognition reserved for the last rider to finish. In August 2017, Rowe fractured the tibia and fibula in his right leg, when he jumped into shallow water while whitewater rafting at his brother's stag party in Prague.[15] Having feared he would be unlikely to race for up to a year,[16] Rowe returned to racing earlier than expected, in late February at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour,[17] having originally planned to return for the Commonwealth Games.

In February 2020, Rowe signed a new contract with Team Ineos, extending his contract with the team until the end of the 2023 season.[18]

In May 2024, Rowe announced his retirement from professional cycling.[19] He had signed a new two-year contract with the Ineos Grenadiers in October 2023, but had not raced since suffering a concussion in a crash at the E3 Saxo Classic in March 2024 and said that had been a factor in his decision.[19][20] He had expressed his dream to end his career at the Tour of Britain in September, however, this did not come to fruition.[21]

In October 2024 it was announced that Rowe would join Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale as Sporting Director from 1 January 2025.[22][23]

Major results

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Road

[edit]
2007
1st Points classification, Junior Tour of Wales
2008
2nd Road race, UEC European Junior Championships
2009
1st ZLM Tour
6th Coppa Colli Briantei Internazionale
2010
1st Gran Premio di Poggiana
3rd Gran Premio Industrie del Marmo
4th Gran Premio Palio del Recioto
5th Tour of Flanders U23
6th Overall Tour de Berlin
8th Trofeo Franco Balestra Memorial Metelli
9th Road race, Commonwealth Games
2011
1st ZLM Tour
1st Stage 7 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
5th Overall Tour de Normandie
8th La Côte Picarde
9th Overall Olympia's Tour
2012 (1 pro win)
1st Stage 1 Tour of Britain
2nd Duo Normand (with Alex Dowsett)
2013
National Championships
5th Road race
5th Time trial
9th Overall Tour of Qatar
2014
National Championships
4th Road race
4th Time trial
6th Road race, Commonwealth Games
2015
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tour de Romandie
4th Road race, National Championships
4th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
7th Overall Tour of Qatar
8th Paris–Roubaix
9th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
2016
4th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
5th Tour of Flanders
2017 (1)
1st Stage 2 Herald Sun Tour
3rd Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
5th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
6th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
2018
1st Stage 3 (TTT) Critérium du Dauphiné
1st Stage 1b (TTT) Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
2019
6th Dwars door Vlaanderen
6th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

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Grand Tour 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
A pink jersey Giro d'Italia Has not contested during his career
A yellow jersey Tour de France — — 136 151 167 128 DSQ 129 DNF 106
A red jersey Vuelta a España DNF 141 — — — — — — — —

Classics results timeline

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Monument 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Milan–San Remo — — — 130 91 98 146 103 — 118 85 148
Tour of Flanders — 93 62 50 5 120 DSQ 27 50 DNF — 95
Paris–Roubaix — 109 31 8 14 DNF DNF 32 NH 66 102 127
Liège–Bastogne–Liège DNF — — — — — — — — 134 — —
Giro di Lombardia Has not contested during his career
Classic 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad — 53 11 9 4 6 — — DNF — — 122
Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne — — 120 51 84 3 — — 63 — — DNF
E3 Harelbeke — 70 DNF 13 23 15 — 54 NH — 78 —
Gent–Wevelgem — 56 DNF DNF 22 DNF — 18 12 — DNF —
Dwars door Vlaanderen 64 36 66 — — — 22 6 NH — — —
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish
DSQ Disqualified
IP In progress
NH Not held

Track

[edit]
2007
1st Team pursuit, UEC European Junior Championships
1st Madison, National Championships (with Adam Blythe)
2008
UEC European Junior Championships
1st Madison (with Mark Christian)
2nd Team pursuit
1st Derny, National Championships
2009
2nd Madison, National Championships (with Geraint Thomas)
2010
1st Madison, National Championships (with Mark Christian)
2011
1st Madison, National Championships (with Peter Kennaugh)
2012
Revolution Series, Manchester
1st Australian pursuit
1st Scratch

References

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  1. ^ "Team Sky". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Team Ineos". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Ineos Grenadiers". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Luke Rowe Bio". British Cycling. Retrieved 10 September 2008. [dead link‍]
  5. ^ Andy Howell (16 September 2008). "Cycling: Young guns shine in Poland". Wales Online. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  6. ^ Owen, Gareth Rhys (5 September 2011). "Welshman Luke Rowe makes Team Sky switch". BBC Sport Wales. BBC. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Team Sky signs Rowe". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 5 September 2011. Archived from the original on 27 December 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  8. ^ "Vuelta a Espana: Luke Rowe sole Brit in Team Sky squad". BBC. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Commonwealth Games 2014: Olympic champion Geraint Thomas and world sprint star Becky James head up Welsh cycling team for Glasgow". Wales Online. 9 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014.
  10. ^ Griffiths, Gareth (13 February 2015). "Cardiff cyclist Luke Rowe claims seventh place final finish on Tour of Qatar for Team Sky". Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Luke Rowe: 8th in Roubaix a sign of things to come". 12 April 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  12. ^ Fotheringham, William (29 June 2015). "Tour de France: Luke Rowe among Froome's chaperones in Team Sky line-up". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  13. ^ "2015 Tour de France start list". Velo News. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  14. ^ "Tour de France 2015: Luke Rowe ecstatic at Tour selection". BBC. 29 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  15. ^ "Luke Rowe: Team Sky rider breaks leg on brother's stag party". BBC Sport. 8 August 2017. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  16. ^ "Team Sky's Luke Rowe 'could miss a year' after rafting leg break". BBC Sport. 9 August 2017. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  17. ^ "Rowe will return to racing with Team Sky at Abu Dhabi Tour". Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  18. ^ "Luke Rowe: Welsh cyclist signs Team Ineos contract extension". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  19. ^ a b "Luke Rowe announces retirement". Ineos Grenadiers. 3 May 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  20. ^ "Luke Rowe: Welsh cyclist signs new two-year Ineos Grenadiers contract". BBC. 31 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  21. ^ "Luke Rowe set to retire at end of 2024, as Geraint Thomas '95%' certain to retire in 2025". Cycling Weekly. 3 May 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Luke Rowe new sporting director from January 1, 2025". Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team. 7 October 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  23. ^ "Luke Rowe to leave Ineos Grenadiers, joins Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale as a sports director". Cycling Weekly. 7 October 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
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