Iljo Keisse


Iljo Keisse is a Belgian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam. Keisse races on the track and on the road, specializing himself until recently in riding six-day races. He notably has won the Six Days of Ghent seven times and reached the podium a total of 12 times.

Biography

Keisse was born in Ghent. Together with his teammate Matthew Gilmore, he won three Six-day races in 2005–2006: Grenoble, Ghent and Hasselt. After his victory in the 2008 Six Days of Ghent, both his A and B samples tested positive for cathine and a diuretic which has been used to mask the presence of doping agents. He was fired by his team on 11 January 2009.
He joined the John Saey-Deschacht-Hyundai team in May 2009.
On 2 November 2009, Keisse was cleared of any wrongdoing, with investigators finding that the positives were not the result of intentional doping and likely resulted from a contaminated dietary supplement. On 7 July 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency and reinstated Keisse's ban. He is credited for the 11 months he already sat out, meaning he was eligible to return to competition in August 2011. In November, the CAS' decision was overturned by the Belgian Court of Appeals, allowing Keisse to ride the 2010 Six Days of Ghent. Keisse remained banned in Belgium until 27 January 2012, but re-signed with for the 2012 season.
On 28 April 2012, Keisse won Stage 7 of the Tour of Turkey in dramatic fashion. After leaving the rest of a seven-man breakaway, Keisse crashed on the final corner. He remounted his bike, realized his chain was off, restrung it, and held off the chasing peloton by three bike lengths in a sprint for the line. The first chasers were given the same time as his. This was the first professional win of his career and his last for over two years. His next victory was in the Châteauroux Classic in August 2014. Another win came in 2015, at the Ronde van Zeeland Seaports; he won this race from a group of three riders who had escaped earlier. In the Giro d'Italia, Keisse won the last stage in Milan, upsetting the sprinters' plans. He got clear with 's Luke Durbridge and outsprinted him for the victory.

Major results

Track

;2004
;2005
;2006
;2007
;2008
;2009
;2010
;2011
;2012
;2013
;2014
;2015
;2016
;2017
;2018
;2019

Six Days results timeline

Road

;2004
;2005
;2006
;2007
;2008
;2011
;2012
;2013
;2014
;2015
;2017

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour20132014201520162017
Giro d'Italia159139145—144
Tour de France———139—
Vuelta a España——148——

—Did not compete
DNFDid not finish