Rein Taaramäe

Rein Taaramäe (born 24 April 1987) is an Estonian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam.

Cofidis (2008–14)
Taaramäe turned professional in 2008 for after riding for the team as a stagiaire in late 2007 and winning a stage at the Circuit des Ardennes early in the season. In 2008 he won two stages of the Grand Prix du Portugal and a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Taaramäe competed in the road race and the road time trial.

In 2009 he finished third at the Tour de Romandie and eighth at the Tour de Suisse. Taaramäe won both the Estonian National Road Race Championships and the Estonian National Time Trial Championships. He also won the Tour de l'Ain after winning the last stage to Col du Grand Colombier. In 2010 he finished seventh at the Paris-Nice and third at the Volta a Catalunya.

In 2011, Taaramäe finished 11th overall in the Tour de France. On Stage 14 of the Vuelta a España Taaramae and breakaway companion David de la Fuente were the last two riders of a 17-man breakaway, but with 2 km to go de la Fuente dropped back to pace teammate Juan José Cobo up the climb allowing Taaramäe to solo to his first ever Grand Tour stage win. He ultimately withdrew from the race prior to its conclusion in Madrid.

Astana (2015)
In August 2014 general manager Alexander Vinokourov announced that Taaramäe had signed a one-year contract with the team for the 2015 season.

2015 began well for Taaramäe with the victory at the Vuelta a Murcia. Hopes were high with Grand Tours in mind, especially the Tour de France. At the race, Taaramäe was meant to help Vincenzo Nibali in the mountains. Unfortunately Taaramäe was forced to abandon the race during stage 11 due to illness. After the disappointing Tour, Taaramäe went on to win in style back-to-back in the Vuelta a Burgos and the Arctic Race of Norway in August.

Team Katusha (2016–17)
At the end of August 2015, Taaramäe signed an initial one-year deal with. He was named in the start list for the 2016 Giro d'Italia. He won the 20th stage of the race, becoming the first Estonian to win a stage in the Giro. After a short vacation at home in Estonia, Taaramäe went to win the overall at the Tour of Slovenia, together with a stage win on Stage 2.

Direct Énergie (2018–20)
In his first season with the team, he placed highly at the Vuelta a Aragón (fourth overall; later promoted to third after Jaime Rosón's disqualification) and the Tour de l'Ain (third overall), before being selected for the Tour de France for the first time since 2015. He formed part of the breakaway on the tenth stage, ultimately finishing third – his team's best stage finish of the race – behind Julian Alaphilippe and Ion Izagirre. He finished outside the time limit two days later, ending his race. In September, Taaramäe took four top-four results – second-place finishes at the Coppa Ugo Agostoni and the Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie, third at the Tour du Doubs, and fourth at the Famenne Ardenne Classic.

The following year, he finished second overall at the Tour du Rwanda; he had finished second on the third stage behind Merhawi Kudus, and maintained this position for the remainder of the race. He finished third overall at both the Vuelta a Aragón and Tour de l'Ain, and added a further third-place finish at the inaugural Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge. Later in June, he won his fourth Estonian National Time Trial Championships, his first win in the race since 2012.

In 2020, Taaramäe won the mountains classification at the Tour du Rwanda, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic-enforced suspension of racing.

Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux (2021–present)
In September 2020, Taaramäe signed a two-year contract to ride with the team, later renamed, from the 2021 season.

He was involved in breakaways at Paris–Nice, the Volta a Catalunya, the Tour de Romandie, and the Giro d'Italia; at the Giro d'Italia, he recorded a ninth-place finish on stage four, having just remained clear of a group containing some of the race favourites. He won the Estonian National Time Trial Championships for the fifth time in June, and then finished third overall at the Czech Cycling Tour, with two third-place stage finishes. At the Vuelta a España, Taaramäe made an eight-man breakaway on the third stage of the race. With around 3 km remaining of the stage, which concluded with a summit finish at Picón Blanco, Taaramäe attacked and soloed to the stage victory. He also assumed the lead of both the mountains and general classifications, becoming the second Estonian rider to lead a Grand Tour, after Jaan Kirsipuu at the 1999 Tour de France. He held the race lead until the fifth stage after a crash, and also rode in support of teammate Odd Christian Eiking, when he held the overall lead later in the race. Taaramäe later signed a one-year contract extension with the team, until the end of the 2023 season.

After an eighth-place finish at the 2022 Tour of Oman, Taaramäe made the breakaway on the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia, finishing third on the stage. He remained third overall for several days, before losing nearly fifteen minutes on the ninth stage, a summit finish at Blockhaus in the Maiella massif. He worked as a domestique for climbers Jan Hirt and Domenico Pozzovivo later in the race, with both finishing inside the top-ten placings in the general classification. He again won the Estonian National Time Trial Championships, and took a further third-place Grand Tour stage finish, on stage eight of the Vuelta a España.

He started his 2023 season in Oman, recording a fourth-place overall finish at the Tour of Oman, having been dropped on the final climb to Jebel Akhdar.

Personal life
He is married to Hanna; at the 2022 Estonian National Time Trial Championships, both won their respective national titles.

Major results
Source:


 * 2005
 * 3rd Overall Course de la Paix Juniors


 * 2006
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
 * 1st GP Ouest–France Espoirs
 * 1st Stage 1 Kreiz Breizh Elites


 * 2007
 * 2nd Silver medal europe.svg Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
 * 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
 * 2nd Les Boucles du Sud-Ardèche
 * 3rd Overall Kreiz Breizh Elites
 * 3rd Paris–Troyes
 * 5th Overall Circuit des Ardennes
 * 1st Stage 4
 * 5th Boucle de l'Artois


 * 2008
 * 1st Stage 6 (ITT) Tour de l'Avenir
 * 3rd Overall Grand Prix du Portugal
 * 1st Stages 2 & 3
 * 8th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
 * 9th Tartu GP


 * 2009
 * National Road Championships
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Road race
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour de l'Ain
 * 1st Stage 5
 * 1st Jersey red.svg Mountains classification, Tour of the Basque Country
 * 3rd Overall Tour de Romandie
 * 8th Overall Tour de Suisse


 * 2010
 * 3rd Overall Volta a Catalunya
 * 7th Overall Paris–Nice
 * 9th Overall Route du Sud
 * 9th Trofeo Inca


 * 2011
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial, National Road Championships
 * 1st Stage 14 Vuelta a España
 * 3rd Overall Critérium International
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
 * 4th Overall Paris–Nice
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
 * 5th Tartu GP
 * 8th Overall Volta ao Algarve
 * 10th Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe


 * 2012
 * National Road Championships
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial
 * 3rd Road race
 * 2nd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
 * 3rd Overall Étoile de Bessèges
 * 6th Tallinn–Tartu GP
 * 8th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes


 * 2013
 * National Road Championships
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Road race
 * 2nd Time trial
 * 3rd Cholet-Pays de Loire


 * 2014
 * 1st Tour du Doubs
 * 2nd Overall Tour of Turkey
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 6th Overall Tour du Limousin
 * 8th Overall Étoile de Bessèges


 * 2015
 * 1st Jersey violet.svg Overall Vuelta a Burgos
 * 1st Stage 2 (TTT)
 * 1st Jersey blue.svg Overall Arctic Race of Norway
 * 1st Vuelta a Murcia
 * 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 6th Overall Volta ao Algarve


 * 2016
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Overall Tour of Slovenia
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 1st Stage 20 Giro d'Italia


 * 2017
 * 3rd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 9th Overall Tour of Guangxi


 * 2018
 * 2nd Coppa Ugo Agostoni
 * 2nd Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie
 * 3rd Overall Vuelta a Aragón
 * 3rd Overall Tour de l'Ain
 * 3rd Tour du Doubs
 * 4th Famenne Ardenne Classic


 * 2019
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial, National Road Championships
 * 2nd Overall Tour du Rwanda
 * 3rd Overall Tour de l'Ain
 * 3rd Overall Vuelta a Aragón
 * 3rd Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge


 * 2020
 * 1st Jersey orange.svg Mountains classification, Tour du Rwanda


 * 2021
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial, National Road Championships
 * Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stage 3
 * Held Jersey red.svg after Stages 3–4
 * Held Jersey blue polkadot.svg after Stages 3–6
 * 3rd Overall Czech Cycling Tour


 * 2022
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial, National Road Championships
 * 8th Overall Tour of Oman


 * 2023
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial, National Road Championships
 * 4th Overall Tour of Oman


 * 2024
 * 1st MaillotEstonia.PNG Time trial, National Road Championships