Christian Vande Velde

Christian Vande Velde (born May 22, 1976) is a retired American professional road racing cyclist of Belgian descent, who rode professionally between 1998 and 2013.

Vande Velde competed for the, , and squads.

With 's team time trial win, Vande Velde became the first American to wear the pink jersey as leader of the general classification since Andrew Hampsten in 1988.

Vande Velde started his Grand Tour career by participating in the 1998 Vuelta a España, where he assisted Lance Armstrong, to a fourth-place finish.

Vande Velde twice rode on the Tour de France team that brought Lance Armstrong to victory, in 1999, and 2001.

In the 1999 Tour de France, Vande Velde was for a time the leader of the young rider classification; he did not compete, however, in the 2000 Tour de France.

Vande Velde moved to in 2004, and switched to in 2005.

During this time, he worked as a domestique, riding in support of varying team captains, even though the 2005 season saw Vande Velde taking chances of his own.

In one instance, Vande Velde was a breakaway participant on the fourth stage of the Eneco Tour.

The breakaway, however, was eventually hampered when the peloton was led on a false route, meaning the breakaway riders had to wait for the peloton to get back on track, at which time the gap between the break and the peloton was reduced from six to four minutes with 43 kilometres to go.

At the 2006 Tour de Luxembourg, Vande Velde showed impressive performances in the mountains, which secured him first overall in the general classification.

In the 2006 Tour de France, he was a domestique on for team captains Carlos Sastre and Fränk Schleck.

Vande Velde was the best of the climbers in the team apart from Sastre and Schleck, whom he supported in the high mountain stages.

On Stage 16, he pulled for most of the early slopes of the Col de la Croix de Fer, after which, team-mates Sastre and Schleck attacked to put then race leader Floyd Landis under pressure.

On Stage 17, to Morzine, he again pulled for most of the day along with team-mates Jens Voigt, Matthias Kessler, and Serhiy Honchar from the.

Vande Velde finished the 2008 Tour de France in fourth place, 3'05" behind the winner Carlos Sastre, and seventeenth in the Olympic Road Race. In the 2009 Tour de France, Vande Velde finished seventh in the overall standings.

Vande Velde won the 2008 Tour of Missouri.

Coincidentally, in 2009 he was forced out of the Giro after a crash, also on stage three.

Vande Velde crashed out of the 2010 Giro d'Italia on the third stage with a suspected clavicle break.

Vande Velde withdrew from the 2010 Tour de France upon completing the second stage, with two broken ribs.

The crash was caused by oil leaking from a fallen television motorcycle.

During the 2011 Tour de France, Vande Velde assisted Tom Danielson to a top ten finish, and was an integral part of 's first place in the team classification.

Vande Velde finished a close second at the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, which was ultimately won by Levi Leipheimer.

In the 2012 Giro d'Italia, Vande Velde was instrumental to the victory of his leader Ryder Hesjedal, protecting him in the mountain stages.

He also was Hesjedal's roommate during the Giro, and shared his thoughts about the race, and his teammate in an interview with Velo News, where he stated that winning the Giro was "surreal".

Suffering various crashes during the first week, Vande Velde, however, finished second in the fifteenth stage of the 2012 Tour de France, losing in a sprint to the finish to Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo.

NBC Sports commentator Phil Liggett stated that amongst fans, Vande Velde was considered the most popular rider.

In the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Vande Velde put in an impressive performance in the last stage's individual time trial, finishing second to Taylor Phinney of by ten seconds.

With that run, he took the leader's jersey off the shoulders of 's Levi Leipheimer, and stepped atop the overall classification podium.

In a September 2012, online forum post, Garmin-Sharp team manager and owner Jonathan Vaughters stated that Vande Velde had used blood doping products to increase red blood cell production.

On October 10, 2012, it was announced by USADA that he would be suspended for six months for admissions of doping during his time with the US Postal Cycling Team.

During Vande Velde's first race of the season, the 2013 Volta a Catalunya, Vande Velde crashed out with a metacarpal fracture.

Vande Velde started the 2013 Giro d'Italia hoping to assist teammate Ryder Hesjedal in a repeat victory, however, Hesjedal withdrew following stage twelve.

After Hesjedal's departure, Vande Velde struggled through the race, and finished hundred-tenth overall.

Following his disappointing Giro, Vande Velde rode the 2013 Tour de France, but withdrew on stage seven due to sustained injuries from stage five.

After the Tour de France, Vande Velde attempted to defend his USA Pro Cycling Challenge title, however, he rode a quiet race, and finished twenty-second overall.

Vande Velde's strongest performance during the race was on stage five, when he placed ninth in the uphill individual time trial.

Vande Velde retired from professional cycling at the conclusion of the 2013 UCI World Team Time Trial Championships.

He has been a cycling analyst for NBC Sports since 2014.

He is the son of cyclist John Vande Velde.