Leigh Howard

Leigh Howard (born 18 October 1989) is an Australian professional racing cyclist. He qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in both the Men's Madison and Men's Team Pursuit. Howard was part of the Men's team pursuit together with Kelland O'Brien, Sam Weisford and Alexander Porter. They secured a bronze medal after overlapping New Zealand who had crashed. Howard also competed in the Men's Madison where the team finished fifth with a time of 3:48.448 and therefore did not qualify for the final.[2]

For the British novelist, see Lee Howard (journalist).

Leigh Howard
Howard in 2018
Personal information
Full nameLeigh Howard
Born (1989-10-18) 18 October 1989
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight70 kg (154 lb)
Team information
Disciplines
  • Road
  • Track
RoleRider
Rider typeSprinter
Amateur teams
0Geelong CC
2009Australian Institute of Sport
2009Team Toshiba
Professional teams
2010–2011Team HTC–Columbia
2012–2015GreenEDGE[1]
2016IAM Cycling
2017Aqua Blue Sport
2018–2019ACA–Ride Sunshine Coast
Medal record
Men's track cycling
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place2020 TokyoTeam pursuit
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2009 PruszkówOmnium
Gold medal – first place2010 BallerupMadison
Gold medal – first place2011 ApeldoornMadison
Gold medal – first place2019 PruszkówTeam pursuit
Silver medal – second place2008 ManchesterOmnium
Silver medal – second place2010 BallerupOmnium
Silver medal – second place2009 PruszkówMadison
Silver medal – second place2009 PruszkówTeam pursuit
Bronze medal – third place2012 MelbourneMadison
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place2018 Gold CoastTeam pursuit

Career

Born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, Howard now resides in Waurn Ponds, Victoria.[3] He began cycling competitively at the age of 10 and first represented Australia in 2005 at the age of 16.[3] Howard is an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, and initially trained as an automobile electrician.[3]

Howard won the bronze medal in the omnium event at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. He went on to take several medals in round 2 and 4 of the 2008–09 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics. In 2009, he again won a medal in the omnium at the World Championships, this time taking gold, he also took the silver medal in both the madison and team pursuit.[3] Howard also had success on the road in 2009, winning stages 1 and 3 of the Tour of Japan.

Howard become a professional rider in 2010 with Team HTC–Columbia.[4] In his first professional race with team HTC Columbia, Howard won the fourth stage of the Tour of Oman. Impressively, Howard finished ahead of Daniele Bennati, Tom Boonen and Tyler Farrar on the stage. After two years with the team, Howard moved to GreenEDGE for the 2012 season.[1] In November 2015 IAM Cycling announced that Howard would join them for the 2016 season, with a role as part of the sprint train for Matteo Pelucchi.[5]

Howard last rode for UCI Continental team Pro Racing Sunshine Coast.[6]

Major results

Road
2006
3rd Time trial, National Junior Championships
2007
Tour of Tasmania
1st Stages 1, 4 & 7
2008
1st Overall Tour of the Murray River
1st Stages 5 & 13
1st Coppa Colli Briantei Internazionale
Tour of Gippsland
1st Stages 6 & 8
Tour of Tasmania
1st Stages 1 & 8
1st Stage 2 Australian Cycling Grand Prix
10th Overall Tour de Berlin
1st Stage 2
2009
1st Overall Tour of Gippsland
1st Stages 2, 3, 6 & 9
1st Overall Okolo Slovenska
1st Classic Astico – Brenta
Tour of Japan
1st Points classification
1st Stages 1, 3 & 7
1st Stage 1 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
4th Circuito del Porto
8th Giro del Belvedere
2010
1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
1st Stage 4 Tour of Oman
1st Sprints classification, Bayern–Rundfahrt
2011
1st Stage 5 Ster Elektrotoer
3rd Trofeo Cala Millor
4th Grand Prix de Denain
2012
1st Stage 2 (TTT) Eneco Tour
3rd Overall Tour of Britain
1st Stage 2
2013
1st Trofeo Campos–Santanyí–Ses Salines
1st Trofeo Platja de Muro
8th Vuelta a La Rioja
2014
5th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie
7th Overall Tour of Alberta
2015
6th RideLondon–Surrey Classic
2016
1st Clásica de Almería
1st Stage 1 Tour des Fjords
2nd Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Grand Tour 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
A pink jersey Giro d'Italia — — DNF — — DNF
A yellow jersey Tour de France — — — — — 172
A red jersey Vuelta a España 152 — 142 — — —
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Track
2007
UIV Cup
1st Amsterdam
1st Dortmund
2008
National Championships
1st Team pursuit
1st Scratch
UIV Cup
1st Amsterdam
1st Munich
2009
1st Omnium, UCI World Championships
2010
1st Madison (with Cameron Meyer), UCI World Championships
2011
1st Madison (with Cameron Meyer), UCI World Championships
2018
1st Team pursuit, Commonwealth Games
2nd Six Days of London (with Kelland O'Brien)
2021
3rd Team pursuit, Olympic Games

See also

References
  1. "GreenEdge snares Howard". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  2. "Leigh HOWARD". Olympics.com. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  3. "Rider profiles: Leigh Howard". Cycling Australia. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012.
  4. ProCycling, Issue 133, January 2010, p. 63
  5. "Leigh Howard, Vegard Stake Laengen and Oliver Naesen confirmed for IAM Cycling". cyclingnews.com. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  6. "Australian Cycling Academy team focused on nurturing young talent". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2018. Former WorldTour rider Leigh Howard will captain the team which also includes current team pursuit world champions Sam Welsford and Kelland O'Brien on a 13-rider roster.
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