Yaroslav Popovych

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Yaroslav Popovych (Ярослав Попович) (born in Drohobych, Ukraine on January 4, 1980) is a cyclist with the UCI ProTour Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, and considered as a possible successor to Lance Armstrong as team leader. The Ukrainian turned pro in 2002 and has delivered some strong showings, most notably in the Giro d'Italia where he finished third in 2003 and fifth in 2004. The former U-23 World champion has further illustrated his potential by winning the white jersey of the 2005 Tour de France as the top young rider in the event. Popovych's best victory to date was in winning the 2005 Volta a Catalunya. Popovych, along with the rest of the Discovery team, won stage four of the Team Time Trial in the 2005 Tour. In the 2006 Tour de France, Popovych was considered one the Discovery Channel team's four leaders, along with Jose Azevedo, Paolo Savoldelli and George Hincapie. However, no rider on the team had a good Tour Popovych won stage 12 by attacking his fellow break-away compatriots Alessandro Ballan, Óscar Freire and Christophe le Mével.

[edit] Results

2007

• 1st, Stage 5, Paris-Nice

2006

• 25th, Overall, Tour de France
  • 1st, Stage 12
• 3rd, Overall, Tour de Georgia
  • 1st, Stage 2
  • 3rd, Stage 5
  • 2nd, Overall, Sprint Classification
• 17th, Overall, Vuelta a Castilla y León
  • 1st, Stage 2 (ITT

2005

• 1st, Overall, Volta a Catalunya
• 3rd, Stage 2, Paris-Nice
• 2nd, Stage 7, Dauphiné Libéré
• 12th, Overall, Tour de France
  • 1st, Best Young Rider Classification (Maillot blanc)

2004

• 5th, Overall, Giro d'Italia
  • 3 days in maglia rosa
• 1st, Trophee Giacotelli

2003

• 3rd, Overall, Giro d'Italia

2002

• 12th, Overall, Giro d'Italia

2001

• 1st, U23 World Road Race Cycling Championship

Riders on Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Ivan Basso | Fumiyuki Beppu | Volodymyr Bileka | Janez Brajkovič | Alberto Contador | Antonio Cruz | Steve Cummings | Tom Danielson | John Devine | Stijn Devolder | Vladimir Gusev | George Hincapie | Levi Leipheimer | Fuyu Li | Trent Lowe | Egoi Martínez | Jason McCartney | Gianni Meersman | Uroš Murn | Benjamín Noval | Pavel Padrnos | Sérgio Paulinho | Yaroslav Popovych | José Luis Rubiera | Tomas Vaitkus | Jurgen Van Goolen | Brian Vandborg |  Matt White
Manager
Johan Bruyneel