Jaan Kirsipuu

Jaan Kirsipuu
Personal information
Full nameJaan Kirsipuu
Born (1969-07-17) 17 July 1969 (age 55)
Tartu, Estonia
Team information
Current teamVoltas–Tartu 2024 by CCN
DisciplineRoad
Role
Rider typeSprinter
Amateur teams
1990–1991Dijon OC
1992AC Boulogne-Billancourt
2007–2008CFC–Ruutmeeter
2009Geofco–Jartazi
Professional teams
1992–2004Chazal–Vanille et Mûre
2005–2006Crédit Agricole
2009LeTua Cycling Team
2010–2012CKT TMIT–Champion System
Managerial teams
2008Rietumu Banka–Riga
2013–2014Astana
2020–Tartu2024–BalticChainCycling.com
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
4 individual stage wins (1999, 2001, 2002, 2004)
Vuelta a España
1 individual stage win (1998)

One-day races and Classics

Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne (2002)

Jaan Kirsipuu (born 17 July 1969 in Tartu) is an Estonian former road bicycle racer, who currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team Voltas–Tartu 2024 by CCN.[1]

He spent the majority of his career riding under the management of Vincent Lavenu, initially joining Lavenu's Chazal–Vanille et Mûre team as a stagiaire and staying with the squad in its various incarnations for 12 years, taking a total of 124 race wins for the team.[2] Kirsipuu initially retired at the end of the 2006, but participated in the 2007 Estonian championship, becoming time trial champion for the sixth time. In 2008 he was the manager of Latvian UCI Continental cycling team Rietumu Banka–Riga. In 2009 he joined LeTua Cycling Team. During his career, Kirsipuu got 115 professional wins and another 62 wins from criteriums and other non-professional races. He retired again in 2012, and became a sporting director with the Astana team.

At his peak he was one of Estonia's top athletes and the first Estonian rider to win a stage in the Tour de France. He dropped out of the Tour de France 12 times,[3] which is the record.[citation needed] In spite of this, he won multiple stages and wore the yellow jersey for six days in 1999. This made him the only rider from Estonia to lead any of the three Grand Tours until Rein Taaramäe led the Vuelta for two days in 2021.[4]

  1. ^ "Tartu2024 BalticChainCycling.com". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  2. ^ "Vincent Lavenu's cycling dream team". cyclingnews.com. 29 November 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  3. ^ Historique du Tour de France Archived 2010-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Letour.fr (1969-07-17). Retrieved on 2012-07-09.
  4. ^ "Veteran Rein Taaramäe Wins Stage 3 on Pico Blancon to Take Red Jersey". Eurosport by Felix Lowe. 16 August 2021.