Born in Sint-Truiden, Wellens rode as a junior for the Avia Cycling Team alongside the likes of Dylan Teuns and Gijs Van Hoecke,[6] before riding for two-and-half seasons with the Davo–Lotto development team. He won the young rider classification at the 2012 Circuit des Ardennes,[7] prior to turning professional in the middle of that season, joining the Lotto–Belisol team.[8]
Lotto–Belisol (2012–2022)
2012–2014
Wellens made his début with the Lotto–Belisol team at the 2012 GP José Dubois, where he finished eighth; he later made his first appearances on the UCI World Tour, by competing in the Canadian pair of races in Quebec and Montreal, attempting to bridge to each race's breakaway during the respective events.[9][10] Wellens performed strongly in the season-ending Tour of Beijing, finishing each of the race's stages inside the top 25 placings– taking a best of fifth on the final stage– en route to a final overall finish of tenth,[11][12] and second to Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank rider Rafał Majka in the young rider classification.[13]
In his first full season with the team in 2013, Wellens recorded his best overall finish at the Tour de Wallonie, where he finished in eighth place.[14] He also finished second in both the mountains and young rider classifications, losing out on the latter on countback to compatriot Olivier Chevalier.[14]
In May 2014, and having finished second to Kristof Vandewalle in the Belgian National Time Trial Championships,[15] Wellens made his Grand Tour début at the Giro d'Italia. During the race, he recorded two second-place stage finishes – on stage six behind overall leader Michael Matthews at Monte Cassino, and stage seventeen behind Stefano Pirazzi in Vittorio Veneto.[16] After another second-place finish in the general classification, to Philippe Gilbert, at June's Ster ZLM Toer,[16] Wellens took his first professional victories at the Eneco Tour in August. On the sixth stage, Wellens attacked with around 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) remaining and ultimately soloed to the win in Aywaille, almost a minute clear of his nearest rival.[17][18] Having assumed the race leader's white jersey, Wellens maintained his seven-second race lead through the final stage for the overall victory.[19] Before the end of the season, Wellens recorded further high placings at the GP Ouest-France (sixth) and the Giro di Lombardia (fourth).[16][20]
2015
Wellens started the season with finishes of tenth in the Trofeo Andratx–Mirador d'Es Colomer and second in the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana one-day races held as part of the Vuelta a Mallorca,[21][22] and also finished tenth overall at Paris–Nice.[23] Wellens made his first start at the Tour de France, but he later described his race performance as "really bad".[24] During stage six of August's Eneco Tour, Wellens attacked on the Côte Saint-Roch, then won nine seconds in the sprints in the golden kilometre. The main group was not able to chase Wellens down and his lead extended during the downhill run into Houffalize; he won the stage by 49 seconds ahead of Greg Van Avermaet, with Simon Geschke third.[25] Wellens moved into the overall lead, 1' 03" ahead of Van Avermaet, with Wilco Kelderman dropping to third.[25] Wellens defended his lead on the final stage to win his second successive Eneco Tour.[26] The following month, Wellens won his first one-day race as a professional, winning the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in a sprint against Adam Yates, after the duo broke clear of the field in the closing stages.[27]
Wellens won the final stage of Paris–Nice; having been a part of the day's breakaway, Wellens was its last survivor and remained clear until the final climb of Col d'Èze, where he was caught by Richie Porte and Alberto Contador.[28] The trio worked together on the descent, as Porte and Contador were chasing the general classification victory, but Wellens ultimately won the sprint on the Promenade des Anglais.[29] Having placed in the top ten at the Amstel Gold Race,[30] Wellens won the sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia, attacking from the breakaway, that he had earlier bridged across to, with around 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) remaining before the finish in Roccaraso – for his first Grand Tour stage win.[31]
A second-place finish to Philippe Gilbert at the Belgian National Road Race Championships followed,[32] before he took another solo victory, winning the fifth stage of the 2016 Tour de Pologne into Zakopane after a 35-kilometre (22-mile) solo move in driving rain.[33] Wellens ultimately won the stage by almost 4 minutes, while further back, a total of 85 riders abandoned the race.[34] With the penultimate stage cancelled due to bad weather,[35] Wellens ultimately won the race by more than four minutes, also winning the sprints and mountains classifications.[36] He was later selected to ride for Belgium in the road race and the time trial at the Rio Olympics.[37]
2017
Wellens took three early-season victories in Spain, as he won the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana and Trofeo Andratx–Mirador d'Es Colomer one-day races – part of the Vuelta a Mallorca – on consecutive days in January,[38][39] before winning the final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía from a small lead group the following month.[40] At Strade Bianche, Wellens was one of four riders that went clear of the field with around 25 kilometres (16 miles) remaining, but was ultimately beaten to the finish in Siena by Michał Kwiatkowski and Greg Van Avermaet.[41] Wellens abandoned the Tour de France during stage 15, because of heat and pollen allergies which he refused to treat with a therapeutic use exemption (TUE), which he does not approve to use.[42] Despite having asthma, Wellens does not use an inhaler and likened such usage to "cheating".[43]
Wellens won the penultimate stage of the BinckBank Tour into Houffalize,[44] getting the better of Tom Dumoulin in a sprint à deux. He was unable to overturn his four-second pre-stage deficit to Dumoulin on the final stage, with Dumoulin ultimately prevailing by seventeen seconds in the general classification.[45] After a fifth-place finish at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, Wellens won the Grand Prix de Wallonie after a 16-kilometre (9.9-mile) solo move from a lead group of around twenty riders that had formed in the windy conditions.[46] He completed the season with seven victories in total, as he added a stage win and the general classification victory at the inaugural Tour of Guangxi.[47]
His first victory of the 2018 season came at the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, winning the race for the second year in a row.[48] At the Vuelta a Andalucía, Wellens won stage 4 and took the lead of the overall standings, by beating Mikel Landa on the cobbled climb of Alcalá de los Gazules.[49] He held the lead through the final individual time trial in Barbate, taking the overall victory by eight seconds from Wout Poels.[50] He then finished fifth overall at Paris–Nice, winning the points classification as a result of five top-ten stage finishes across the eight-stage race.[51] At Brabantse Pijl, Wellens attacked with around 8 kilometres (5.0 miles) remaining before the finish in Overijse, ultimately soloing to victory by nine seconds over a group of six riders.[52] He concluded the spring classics portion of the season with top-ten finishes at the Amstel Gold Race (sixth) and La Flèche Wallonne (seventh).[53][54]
Wellens won the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia,[55] winning on an uphill finish in Caltagirone on Sicily, for his second career stage victory at the race. He ultimately had to withdraw from the race prior to the final rest day due to illness.[56] Later in the season, Wellens won the second stage of the Tour de Wallonie into Namur, taking the overall lead in the process.[57] Having lost the lead to Quinten Hermans by three seconds prior to the final stage,[58] Wellens was able to gain the time back at intermediate sprints, and took the race victory on countback from Hermans.[59] He then recorded third-place finishes at the BinckBank Tour and the Bretagne Classic Ouest-France,[60][61] and also finished in fifth place at Il Lombardia – after which he cycled a 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) journey back to Belgium with teammate Thomas De Gendt, following his seven-win season.[62]
2019
Wellens started the 2019 season with a block of racing in Spain, starting at the Vuelta a Mallorca one-day races – where he finished fifth in the Trofeo Ses Salines, second in the Trofeo Andratx–Lloseta, before taking a third consecutive victory in the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana.[63] He then took two stage victories at the Vuelta a Andalucía, including winning on the cobbled climb of Alcalá de los Gazules for the second year in succession.[64][65] After this, he recorded third-place finishes at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in March,[66]Brabantse Pijl in April,[67] and June's Tour of Belgium, where he also won the individual time trial on stage three.[68][69]
At the Tour de France, Wellens took the lead in the mountains classification following the third stage, having attacked from a five-rider lead group with around 45 kilometres (28 miles) remaining.[70] He held the mountains classification lead until stage 17 – having featured in multiple further breakaways – ceding the jersey to Romain Bardet,[71] who would go on to win the jersey. Following the Tour de France, Wellens finished third overall at the BinckBank Tour; having won the fourth stage to take the race lead,[72] Wellens lost more than 40 seconds on the final stage into Geraardsbergen, and dropped behind Laurens De Plus and Oliver Naesen in the general classification.[73] Wellens recorded four more top-ten finishes before the end of the season, but no podium results.
With the Vuelta a Mallorca races postponed to late-spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain,[78] Wellens started his 2021 season racing in France, making several attacks in a sixth-place finish at the Grand Prix La Marseillaise.[79] In his next start, at the Étoile de Bessèges, Wellens won the third stage with a 16-kilometre (9.9-mile) solo attack to take the race lead,[80] and ultimately held on to the general classification lead for the remainder of the race.[81] Over the remainder of the season, Wellens took three top-ten overall finishes in UCI World Tour stage races: seventh at Tirreno–Adriatico,[82] sixth at the Tour de Pologne,[83] and fourth at the renamed Benelux Tour.[84]
Wellens took his fourth victory at the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana in January 2022, winning a small group sprint.[85] Having finished in the top ten placings in two of the other Vuelta a Mallorca races, Wellens also took a second-place finish at the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior, behind Alexey Lutsenko.[86] He then won the second stage of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var, beating Nairo Quintana to the line in La Turbie to take the leader's jersey.[87] Quintana would go on to win the race on the final day, while Wellens finished 90 seconds behind – but this was still good enough to finish in second overall.[88] Before the end of the spring, Wellens had also recorded top-ten finishes at Strade Bianche (eighth),[89] and Brabantse Pijl (ninth), having been relegated from the podium of the latter due to an irregular sprint.[90] His best result for the remainder of the season was a second-place overall finish at the Tour of Belgium, finishing in the same time as race winner Mauro Schmid – having been denied bonus seconds at intermediate sprint points by Schmid's Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team teammate Yves Lampaert impeding him, a move for which Lampaert was disqualified for.[91]
After a decade with Lotto–Soudal, Wellens joined UAE Team Emirates on a two-year contract from the 2023 season.[92] Wellens started his season with a block of racing in Spain, recording his first podium finish with the team: a third-place result at the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior in February.[93] The following week, he took his first win, taking the third stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía – which finished at Alcalá de los Gazules, on a cobbled climb where Wellens had previously won in 2018 and 2019.[93] He was part of the lead group at Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, finishing in fifth position, before his season was impacted by injuries suffered in a mass crash at the Tour of Flanders, breaking his collarbone in four places.[94] Having missed the Tour de France as a result,[95] Wellens took one further victory during the season – the general classification at the Renewi Tour,[93] winning the race for a record third time.
In the early part of 2024, Wellens recorded six top-five finishes without any victories, his best result being a runner-up finish to Wout van Aert at February's Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne from a three-rider sprint.[96] Following a third-place finish at Brabantse Pijl in April,[97] Wellens signed a one-year contract extension with UAE Team Emirates, until the end of the 2025 season.[98] In June, Wellens won his first national title at elite level, when he won the Belgian National Time Trial Championships in Binche, finishing nine seconds ahead of Alec Segaert.[99] He rode in support of Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France, but found individual success in some of the UCI World Tour races that followed the Tour de France. He won the second stage, an individual time trial, at the Tour de Pologne,[100] before taking a fourth overall victory at the Renewi Tour, taking the leader's jersey from Segaert on the final day.[101]
↑ "Tim Wellens Vuelta a Espana". FloBikes. FloSports. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2024. The 2020 Vuelta a Espana will be Tim Wellens' first time racing at La Vuelta.
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