Sylwester Szmyd

Sylwester Szmyd (born 2 March 1978) is a Polish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016.

Born in Bydgoszcz, Szmyd competed as a climber who served as a leader in smaller stage races, and as a strong mountain domestique for his team leaders in the Grand Tours. He completed all of the 23 Grand Tours that he started during his career.

Professional career
In 2009, Szmyd scored the first victory of his career when he crossed the finish line atop the Mont Ventoux during the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. He had broken away with Alejandro Valverde and the pair finished together. Szmyd said afterward that he was so used to sacrifice himself as a domestique for his captains that his legs almost buckled in the last corner when he realized he would win.

In the 2012 Giro del Trentino, Szmyd was allowed to race for himself and placed well on the final two stages of the race, which were mountainous. In stage 3, he came in second place after tackling a very steep climb, the Punta Veleno (8.5 km at an average 15% gradient). The finish line was situated 1.5 km after the summit. On the last stage to the Pordoi Pass, Szmyd finished in fourth position at the altitude finish, securing his third place in the overall classification. Snow was falling as he, race winner Domenico Pozzovivo and Damiano Cunego  were accepting their awards on the podium.

He participated in the Giro d'Italia a couple of weeks later, riding in support of his leader Ivan Basso. He set the pace for the lead group numerous times in the hilly stages and managed a 28th general classification spot.

Szmyd left his team of four years at the end of the 2012 season, and joined the  on a two-year contract, from the 2013 season onwards. In December 2014 Szmyd announced he was joining the Polish team on a one-year deal for 2015, after expressing dissatisfaction about his time at Movistar, where he was only selected for a Grand Tour once during his two years with the team.

Major results

 * 1999
 * 4th Overall Ronde de l'Isard


 * 2000
 * 2nd GP Capodarco


 * 2001
 * 6th Overall Tour de Pologne
 * 9th Gran Premio de Llodio


 * 2002
 * 3rd Gran Premio Fred Mengoni
 * 6th Schynberg-Rundfahrt


 * 2003
 * 8th Overall Giro del Trentino


 * 2004
 * 2nd GP Triberg-Schwarzwald
 * 4th Japan Cup


 * 2005
 * 7th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano


 * 2006
 * 5th Japan Cup
 * 6th Overall Giro del Trentino
 * 9th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
 * 10th Overall Tour de Romandie


 * 2007
 * 2nd Overall Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda
 * 7th Giro dell'Emilia
 * 9th Overall Tour de Romandie


 * 2008
 * 5th Giro dell'Appennino
 * 8th Overall Giro del Trentino
 * 8th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 9th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali


 * 2009
 * 1st Stage 5 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 7th Overall Tour de Pologne


 * 2010
 * 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Giro d'Italia
 * 6th Overall Tour de Pologne
 * 10th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné


 * 2012
 * 3rd Overall Giro del Trentino
 * 7th Overall Tour de Romandie


 * 2013
 * 9th Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid


 * 2014
 * 3rd Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León


 * 2015
 * 3rd Overall Tour of Croatia