Niki Terpstra

Background

Niki Terpstra was born on 18 May 1984 in Beverwijk in the Netherlands.

Career

He is the brother of fellow racing cyclist Mike Terpstra. He was part of the silver medal winning team in the team pursuit in the 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, together with Levi Heimans, Jens Mouris and Peter Schep. With a 4th place in the Three Days of de Panne followed by a 14th place at the 2008 Tour of Flanders, young Terpstra showed signs of considerable talent.

In 2012, Terpstra took a prestigious victory at the Dwars door Vlaanderen, winning in solo fashion after being on the attack all day.

He detached himself from the break on the Oude Kwaremont with Jelle Wallays of Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator. He dropped Wallays on the Paterberg and finished the race with an advantage of 47 seconds over Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel.

Terpstra continued his good form in the classics, placing fifth in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, winning the Dwars door Vlaanderen for the second time in his career, and placing sixth in the Tour of Flanders. At the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Terpstra made the decisive breakaway of four riders with teammates Tom Boonen and Stijn Vandenbergh, along with Ian Stannard (Team Sky).

After Stannard closed down a Boonen attack in the closing stages Terpstra tried to counterattack, but Vandenbergh closed the gap, allowing Stannard to attack with only Terpstra able to follow.

Stannard went on to beat Terpstra in the sprint finish. In March Terpstra had some success, first by getting the second position in the Ronde van Zeeland Seaports. In his next race, the Tour of Flanders, he broke away from the peloton with Alexander Kristoff 30 kilometers from the finish but couldn"t beat Kristoff in the final sprint, completing the race in second place.

Road racing Track Monuments Results Timeline.

Achievements

• DNF = Did not finish. - = Did not compete.

Views

In 2015, Terpstra defended his Tour of Qatar title, holding the race lead after winning the individual time trial on Stage 3.