Michael Boogerd

Michael Boogerd is a Dutch former professional road cyclist, born in The Hague, who was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch riders in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with his Rabobank teammate Erik Dekker and the female cyclist Leontien van Moorsel. He began his professional career in 1994 with WordPerfect, a team that became Novell and then Rabobank in 1996, and he stayed with it for his entire career. A specialist in hilly classics and mountain stages, he won the Amstel Gold Race and Paris-Nice, took Tour de France stages in 1996 and 2002, finished fifth overall in the 1998 Tour de France, and was Dutch champion in 1997, 1998 and 2006.