Bernhard Eisel

Bernhard Eisel

Eisel, Düsseldorf, Tour de France, 2017.
Personal information
Full name	Bernhard Eisel
Nickname	Bernie
Born	(1981-02-17) 17 February 1981 (age 43) Voitsberg, Austria
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	78 kg (172 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist Road captain
Amateur teams
-	Rinascita Ormelle
-	Gli Amici Piave
Professional teams
2001–2002	Mapei–Quick-Step
2003–2006	FDJeux.com
2007–2011	T-Mobile Team
2012–2015	Team Sky[1][2]
2016–2019	Team Dimension Data[3]
Major wins
Grand Tours Vuelta a España 1 TTT stage (2010) One-day races and Classics Gent–Wevelgem (2010) Paris–Bourges (2008)

Bernhard Eisel (born 17 February 1981) is an Austrian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2019 for the Mapei–Quick-Step, Française des Jeux, HTC–Highroad, Team Sky and Team Dimension Data teams. Following his retirement, he worked as an analyst and presenter for Eurosport and the Global Cycling Network (GCN),^[4] before joining Bora–Hansgrohe as a directeur sportif in 2022.^[5]

Born in Voitsberg, Eisel won his first race when he was 11 years old, since then he has won many races. When he was 17, he moved to Italy to race for the team Rinascita Ormelle, based in Treviso. After that he moved to Gli Amici Piave, the team of Moreno Argentin. In 2001 he joined the team Mapei–Quick-Step and became a professional cyclist, from 2003 on he joined FDJeux.com.

In 2007, Eisel changed to T-Mobile Team. Eisel enjoyed a successful first season with his main victory coming on Stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve. Eisel established himself as the right-hand man of sprinter and teammate Mark Cavendish, protecting him throughout the flats and mountain stages^[6] and forming part of the HTC lead out train that saw Cavendish take many notable victories in the Tour de France and other races. Eisel also had opportunities to ride for himself, mainly in the classics. He won Paris–Bourges in 2008 and Gent–Wevelgem in 2010, and in 2011, Eisel recorded his best placing in a monument by finishing seventh in Paris–Roubaix. Eisel was appointed as a member of the inaugural UCI Athletes' Commission in 2011.^[7]

Following the announcement that HTC–Highroad would fold at the end of 2011, Eisel joined Mark Cavendish in moving to Team Sky.^[1] After Cavendish announced he would cut his three-year deal with the team short to move to Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, Eisel announced he would stay with Team Sky until the end of the 2015 season.^[8]

On 28 September 2015, Sky announced that Eisel would be among the riders leaving the team at the end of the year, following four seasons with the team.^[9] The following day it was announced that he had joined Cavendish (and Mark Renshaw, their former teammate at HTC) in signing for MTN–Qhubeka – to be renamed as Team Dimension Data.^[10]

On 14 January 2020 he announced his retirement from professional racing. Shortly afterwards he took up a role as a presenter, reporter and commentator for Eurosport and Global Cycling Network (GCN).^[4][11] In November 2021 Bora–Hansgrohe announced that Eisel would join them as a directeur sportif from the 2022 season.^[5]

Grand Tour	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Giro d'Italia	63	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	152	—	138	143	—	—
Tour de France	—	131	143	107	121	144	150	155	160	146	—	126	—	171	153
Vuelta a España	—	—	DNF	DNF	—	—	—	DNF	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bernhard Eisel.

• Official website
• Bernhard Eisel at UCI
• Bernhard Eisel at Cycling Archives (archived)
• Bernhard Eisel at ProCyclingStats
• Bernhard Eisel at Cycling Quotient
• Bernhard Eisel at CycleBase
• Bernhard Eisel profile at Team Sky