Robbie McEwen

Robbie McEwen (born 24 June 1972) is an Australian former professional road cyclist. McEwen is a three-time winner of the Tour de France points classification and, at the peak of his career, was considered the world's fastest sprinter.

He last rode for on the UCI World Tour.

A former Australian BMX champion, McEwen switched to road cycling in 1990 at 18 years of age. He raced as a professional from 1996 until 2012.

McEwen retired from the World Tour after riding the 2012 Tour of California and is now a cycling broadcast commentator on the Tour Down Under, the Tour de France, and the Giro d’Italia.

Career
McEwen was born in Brisbane. After four years of moving through the regional, state and national levels of cycling, he started at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra under road cycling coach Heiko Salzwedel. The first signs of his sprinting prowess on the international stage were at the Peace Race, winning three stages for the Australian national team.

McEwen competed in the road race at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games (23rd) and the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games (19th). He was also included on the Australian team for the 1994 UCI Road Cycling World Championship in Italy, and the 2002 UCI Road Cycling World Championship in Belgium, where he won a silver medal. McEwen was again selected for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games (11th) as part of the road race team.

McEwen was named 2002 Australian Cyclist of the Year, 2002 Male Road Cyclist of the Year and 1999 Male Road Cyclist of the Year. After spending 16 seasons racing for foreign teams (Dutch: Rabobank & Farm Frites; Belgian: Lotto; Russian: Katusha; USA: RadioShack), McEwen signed for the new Australian team in September 2011 after it gained a ProTeam licence for the 2012 season.

Tour de France
McEwen participated in the Tour de France on 12 occasions: 1997 (117th), 1998 (89th), 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. Over the years, he has won 12 stages. In 1999, McEwen won the final stage sprint in Paris on the Champs-Élysées. In 2002, McEwen won stage 3 (Metz–Reims) and stage 20 (Melun–Paris). In 2004, McEwen won stages 3 and 9. In 2005, McEwen won stage 5 to Montargis, stage 7 to Karlsruhe in Germany, and stage 13 to Montpellier. In 2006, McEwen won stages 2, 4 and 6 to Esch-sur-Alzette, St Quentin and Vitré respectively.

He started the 2007 Tour with a victorious sprint on stage 1 to Canterbury. The stage win was seen as remarkable as he had crashed with 20 km to go. He injured his knee and wrist but with the help of his team he clawed his way back to the bunch to win the sprint by over a bike length. The injuries he sustained from this crash did not prevent him from continuing but eventually he was forced out of the race when the Tour entered the Mountains, his knee injury became worse and he failed to finish stage eight within the time limit.

In 2002, McEwen became the first Australian to win the Tour de France points classification. By 2006, McEwen had won the Tour de France green points jersey three times in this race – in 2002, 2004 and, again, in 2006 – defeating rivals such as fellow Australians Baden Cooke and Stuart O'Grady, and international competitors like Erik Zabel of Germany, Tom Boonen of Belgium and Thor Hushovd of Norway.

McEwen's first win in the 2002 Tour de France saw him win the green jersey from German legend Erik Zabel, with O’Grady third and Cooke fourth. In 2004, McEwen won the points classification for a second time, defeating Hushovd and Erik Zabel. McEwen had fractured two transverse process (vertebrae) in a mass pile up on stage 6 and continued the race in extreme pain, making his stage 9 win in Guéret all the more remarkable.

McEwen won his third and final Points classification in the 2006 Tour de France, this time with Zabel second and Hushovd third.

In 2012, he announced that the Tour of California would be the last professional race of his career. He struggled to reach the finishing line of the mountain stages in the gruppetto. He humorously said after his arrival on the final stage in Los Angeles: "This was a good race to pick as my last because I suffered so much this week I won't miss it." He was awarded the "Most Courageous Rider" jersey at the end of the race to commemorate his last day of professional cycling. After retiring from racing, McEwen remained with Orica–GreenEDGE as a technical adviser and sprint coach.

Commentating
In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, Robbie McEwen commentated on the Tour de France's world feed in English, alongside fellow Australian Matthew Keenan.

In 2021 he featured on SBS Australia's coverage of a number of cycling races, but his contract was not renewed for 2022.

He commentated on the Santos Festival of Cycling for the 7 Network Australia, and joined GCN (Global Cycling Network) in March 2022.

McEwen co-hosted the Seven Network broadcast of the 2023 & 2024 Santos Men’s Tour Down Under used by Peacock in the US alongside Anna Meares and Phil Liggett. He then went on to feature on Eurosport's coverage of the 2024 Tour de France as both a pundit on The Breakaway and as a race commentator.

Sprinting style
McEwen was known as a particularly cunning and tactical sprinter. Where many teams would use lead-out trains to secure a stage win for their selected sprinter, McEwen achieved many of his victories either with one lead-out man, or often none at all, by aggressively and intelligently positioning himself within the peloton in the final kilometres.

Fellow Australian cyclist Stuart O'Grady considers McEwen to be "one of the fastest, most powerful accelerators the planet has ever seen".

Personal life
McEwen lives in Australia with his Belgian wife, Angélique Pattyn, his son, Ewan, and his daughters, Elena and Claudia. In 2011, McEwen published an autobiography entitled 'One Way Road'. McEwen lived for many years in the Belgian town of Everbeek and is fluent in Dutch.

Major results

 * 1994
 * Peace Race
 * 1st Stages 3, 6b & 9
 * 1st Stage 1 Tour de l'Avenir


 * 1995
 * 1st Stage 4 Regio-Tour
 * 1st Stage 6 Tour de l'Avenir


 * 1996
 * 1st Luk-Cup Bühl
 * 1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Murcia
 * 1st Stage 2 Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
 * 1st Stage 3b Regio-Tour
 * 1st Stage 4 Tour de l'Avenir
 * 4th Overall Herald Sun Tour
 * 1st Stages 1b, 8b & 10b


 * 1997
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Geelong Bay Classic Series
 * 1st Stages 1, 2 & 4
 * Ronde van Nederland
 * 1st Stages 2 & 3a
 * 1st Stage 2 Four Days of Dunkirk
 * 1st Stage 3 Tour de Luxembourg
 * 4th Trofeo Alcúdia
 * 5th GP Stad Zottegem
 * 10th Overall Danmark Rundt


 * 1998
 * 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a Andalucía
 * 1st Stage 5 Geelong Bay Classic Series
 * 9th Overall Ronde van Nederland
 * 1st Stages 3a & 5


 * 1999
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Geelong Bay Classic Series
 * 1st Stages 1, 4 & 5
 * 1st Stage 20 Tour de France
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de Luxembourg
 * 1st Stage 1a Route du Sud
 * Herald Sun Tour
 * 1st Stages 3 & 6
 * 2nd Trofeo Luis Puig
 * 4th Dwars door Gendringen
 * 9th Overall Ronde van Nederland
 * 1st Stage 2


 * 2000
 * 1st Trofeo Alcúdia
 * 1st Stage 6 Tour Down Under


 * 2001
 * 1st Trofeo Calvià
 * Herald Sun Tour
 * 1st Stages 3 & 4 (ITT)
 * International Uniqa Classic
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2 & 3
 * 1st Stage 2 Ronde van Nederland
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour Méditerranéen
 * 8th Overall Tour de Wallonie
 * 1st Stage 4
 * 8th Nokere Koerse


 * 2002
 * 1st MaillotAustralia.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * 1st Jersey orange.svg Overall Étoile de Bessèges
 * 1st Stage 1
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
 * 1st Stages 2 & 3
 * 1st Scheldeprijs
 * 1st Paris–Brussels
 * 1st Delta Profronde
 * 1st RaboRonde Heerlen
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 3 & 20
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 4 & 10
 * Paris–Nice
 * 1st Stages 2 & 7
 * Tour Down Under
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1, 3, 4 & 6
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Road race, UCI Road World Championships
 * 2nd GP Rik Van Steenbergen
 * 3rd Tour du Haut Var
 * 3rd Veenendaal–Veenendaal
 * 4th Omloop Het Volk


 * 2003
 * 1st Dwars door Vlaanderen
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 4 & 11
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 3 Tour Down Under
 * 1st Stage 4 Étoile de Bessèges
 * 3rd Veenendaal–Veenendaal
 * 4th Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 6th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 7th Delta Profronde
 * Tour de France
 * Held Jersey green.svg after Stages 1–5, 18 & 19


 * 2004
 * 1st Gouden Pijl
 * 1st Memorial Samyn-Fayt-le-Franc
 * 1st Profronde van Oostvoorne
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2 & 9
 * Held Jersey yellow.svg after Stage 3
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 5
 * Held Jersey violet.svg after Stage 5
 * Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stages 2 & 4
 * 2nd Overall Tour Down Under
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 4
 * 2nd Overall Tour of Qatar
 * 2nd Scheldeprijs
 * 2nd Delta Profronde
 * 2nd Veenendaal–Veenendaal
 * 4th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 8th Sparkassen Giro Bochum


 * 2005
 * 1st MaillotAustralia.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Bay Classic
 * 1st Stages 1 & 4
 * 1st Paris–Brussels
 * 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stages 5, 7 & 13
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 2, 6 & 10
 * Held Jersey pink.svg after Stage 2
 * Held Jersey violet.svg after Stages 2–3, 6 & 10–12
 * Tour Down Under
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1, 2 & 6
 * 1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 5 Tour of Qatar
 * 1st Stage 4 Niedersachsen Rundfahrt
 * 3rd Grand Prix d'Isbergues
 * 4th Paris–Tours


 * 2006
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Grande Prémio Internacional Costa Azul
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 1
 * 1st Paris–Brussels
 * 1st Down Under Classic
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2, 4 & 6
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 2, 4 & 6
 * Held Jersey violet.svg after Stages 4–12
 * 1st Stage 1 Tour de Romandie
 * 1st Stage 7 Herald Sun Tour
 * 2nd Overall Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 2nd Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen
 * 3rd Overall Tour Down Under
 * 4th Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 5th Road race, UCI Road World Championships


 * 2007
 * 1st Paris–Brussels
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stage 1
 * Held Jersey green.svg after Stage 1
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 2
 * Held Jersey violet.svg after Stages 2 & 4
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de Romandie
 * 1st Stage 1 Tirreno–Adriatico
 * 1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 5 Tour Down Under
 * 1st Stage 3 Jayco Bay Classic
 * 1st Stage 3 Eneco Tour
 * 2nd Scheldeprijs
 * 3rd Schaal Sels
 * 4th Milan–San Remo
 * 6th Gent–Wevelgem
 * 6th Paris–Tours
 * 8th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
 * 9th Omloop Het Volk


 * 2008
 * 1st Vattenfall Cyclassics
 * 1st Paris–Brussels
 * Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stages 3 & 4
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de Romandie
 * 3rd Scheldeprijs
 * 6th Paris–Tours


 * 2009
 * 1st Down Under Classic
 * 1st Trofeo Cala Millor
 * 1st Stage 3 Tour de Picardie


 * 2010
 * 1st Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
 * 1st Stage 1 Eneco Tour
 * 2nd Scheldeprijs
 * 2nd Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen
 * 4th Overall Tour Down Under
 * 6th Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 7th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens


 * 2011
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour de Wallonie-Picarde
 * 1st Stages 1 & 4
 * 1st Stage 4 Tour de Wallonie
 * 2nd Tour de Mumbai
 * 4th Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
 * 5th Scheldeprijs
 * 8th Grand Prix de Fourmies

Recognition
In 2015, he was an inaugural Cycling Australia Hall of Fame inductee. In 2019, inducted into Sport Australia Hall of Fame.