Thomas Lövkvist life and biography

Thomas Lövkvist born on 4 april 1984 in Visby (Gotland) , Sweden. He became the youngest Swedish professional road bicycle road racer.

CAREER

As a junior, Lövkvist was the European mountain bike champion. Aged 19 he won the individual time trial and the overall classification of the Circuit des ardennes. Lövkvist also finished sixth and wore the leader's jersey in the 2003. Following this results he turned professional for the French team Francaise de jeux in 2004.
Française des Jeux (2004-–2007)

Lövkvist first professional season turned out to be a very successful one. The week after turning 20 he won the last stage circuit de sarthe.

Lövkvist began the 2005 season with a 12th place in Paris-nice. He made his debut in the Tour de France as the youngest rider at the age of 21. He also finished 4th in the Tour of pologne and 14th in the Deutschland tour. He was later named the Swedish Cyclist of the Year. In 2006 he became the Swedish National Road Race champion and was once again the youngest rider of the Tour de france

In 2007 he finished second in the Criterium international after winning the concluding time trial. He also competed in the Tour de France and later finished second in the 14th stage of the Vuelta , the best stage result for a Swede in the Vuelta since 1982. At the age of 23 he had finished his second Grand tour of the season and the fourth of his career. Note that Lövkvist was the UCI protour rider with most competition days (84) in 2007 and he only abandoned in the last stage of Paris-Nice. He was also the third rider who covered more competition kilometers in the ProTour.

Team Columbia (2008–-)

Lövkvist joined the T-mobile for the 2008 season, later known as Team highroad and Team colombia. Lövkvist won the best young rider classification and finished third in the Tirreno-Adriatico. His improvement in stage races became clear after he finished fifth in the Tour de suisse, ahead of his team leader Kim Kirchen. Lövkvist also took the white jersey from Romain Feillu in the first time trial of the 2008 Tour de france .

In 2009 he finished 5th at the Tour of Californië behind Levi leipheimer and then won the Monte Paschi Eroica very strongly.

Palmares:

2003
1st Overall Circuit des Ardennes

2004
1st Sweden National Time Trial Championshion
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Circuit de la Sarthe
1st Stage 4
2nd Paris-Camenbert
2nd Overall, Tour de l'Avenir
1st Stage 10

2005
4th Overall Tour of Poland
5th Overall Tour Méditerranéen

2006
1st Sweden National Road Race Championships

2007
1st Stage 3 (ITT), Critérium International
2nd Stage 14, Vuelta a España

2008
2nd Overall, Deutschland Tour
1st Jersey green.svg Points Classification
1st Jersey white.svg Young Rider Classification
3rd Overall, Tirreno-Adriatico
3rd Cantons d'Argovie
5th Coppa Bernocchi
5th Overall, Tour de Suisse
8th Monte Paschi Eroica
9th Overall, Tour of Catalonia
41st, Overall, Tour de France
Held Jersey white.svg Young Rider Classification from Stages 4-8
12th, UCI Road World Championships

2009
1st Monte Paschi Eroica
1st Stage 5, Sachsen Tour
4th Overall, Tirreno-Adriatico
1st Jersey white.svg Young Rider Classification
5th Overall, Tour of California
6th Flèche Wallonne
25th Overall Giro d'Italia
1st Stage 1 TTT
Jersey pink.svg Maglia Rosa for Stages 5
Jersey white.svg Maglia Bianca stages 5-15

2010
2nd Strade Bianche

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