Niko Eeckhout
Niko Eeckhout is a Belgian former road racing cyclist who rode professionally between 1992 and 2013. He was the 2005–2006 UCI Europe Tour Series Champion and won the 2006 Belgian National Cycling Championship Road Race. After retiring from racing he became a coach, initially with his final professional team.
Career
Born in Izegem, Eeckhout started his career in 1993 riding for the small Collstrop-team. He immediately started winning minor Belgian races like the Championship of Flanders and the Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde. In 1997 and 1998 he rode for, and then rode two years for Palmans. Eeckhout had a breakthrough season when he transferred to Lotto-Adecco in 2001, winning 11 races, including Dwars door Vlaanderen and the GP van Steenbergen.Eeckhout struggled through the next two seasons and at the end of 2004 his contract with Lotto-Adecco ended and he needed to find a new team. He signed with the Belgian squad Chocolade Jacques and found his second youth. He started the 2005 season by winning Dwars door Vlaanderen, and went on to win major races including the Grand Prix d'Isbergues and a stage of the Three Days of De Panne.
In 2006 he continued his winning form, taking the Three Days of West-Flanders. In June 2006 he won the biggest race in his career, the Belgian National Road Championship in Antwerp by beating Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert. Eeckhout had another great season in 2006, winning 12 races, including the 2005-2006 UCI Europe Tour.
In the peloton he earned the nickname "Rambo" for being particularly tough during hard races in severe conditions.
Eeckhout joined in 2009 and won five races in his first season with the team. The thirty-eight year old said this would be his last professional team and that he had already discussed moving into management with team boss Sean Kelly and general manager Kurt Bogaerts. He also brought new sponsors, with the construction and truck repair companies owned by his brothers giving financial and logistical support to the team.
Eeckhout followed up the team's 2008 general classification success at the Vuelta a Extremadura with two stage victories at the Spanish race, and took a stage and the points jersey at Rás Tailteann. He also scored one-day race wins at Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem and Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen, as well as a second-place finish at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
He spent five seasons racing with the Irish team and took a further five wins including Schaal Sels and Omloop der Kempen in 2012, both achieved at the age of forty-one. In 2013 he had two podium results and retired at the end of the season aged forty-three. As planned when he joined the team in 2009, he remained with the squad as a directeur sportif.
Major achievements
;1992;1993
;1994
;1995
;1996
;1997
;1998
;1999
;2000
;2001
;2002
;2003
;2004
;2005
;2006
;2007
;2008
;2009
;2010
;2011
;2012
;2013