Daniel Lloyd
Daniel Lloyd in 2010
Personal information
Full nameDaniel William Llewellyn Lloyd
NicknameThe Boss
Born (1980-08-11) 11 August 1980
Christchurch, England, United Kingdom
Team information
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Assistant directeur sportif
Professional teams
2003Team endurasport.com
2004–2005Flanders
2006Giant Asia Racing Team
2007DFL-Cyclingnews
2008An Post–M.Donnelly–Grant Thornton–Sean Kelly
2009–2010Cervélo TestTeam
2011Garmin–Cervélo
2012Team IG–Sigma Sport

Daniel Lloyd (born 11 August 1980[1]) is a retired English professional road racing cyclist and current commentator and presenter from Christchurch, Dorset.[2][3]

Lloyd's professional victories include the Vuelta a Extremadura overall in 2008 and stages of Tour of Siam and Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2006.

He has said that his favourite race is the Tour of Flanders, one of the two major Cobbled Classics, or Strade Bianche,[4][5] and that the highlights of his cycling career were reaching the Champs-Élysées in the 2010 Tour de France and riding in the 2009 Tour of Qatar, which was his first race with the Cervélo TestTeam.[6]

Career

Lloyd started cycling competitively as a mountain bike racer in his early teens, and won the Southern Area Mountain Bike Championships as a junior. He started competing in road races at around the same time and would later focus on this discipline.[7]

Lloyd was active in the professional peloton from 2001 to 2012, with his most successful years coming between 2006 and 2009. After competing for Endurasport, Flanders - Afin.com and Giant Asia Racing Team in his early years as a professional, in 2007 Lloyd signed a contract with DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed for whom he rode for one year.[8] He was a member of the Irish An Post–M.Donnelly–Grant Thornton–Sean Kelly team in 2008.

In 2009 he joined the Cervélo TestTeam (CTT), and was one of seven riders to move to Garmin–Cervélo when CTT folded at the end of 2010. After his contract expired at the end of 2011, he signed for the British Team IG–Sigma Sport.[9] In November 2012, Lloyd announced his retirement from professional cycling, and became assistant directeur sportif at IG-Sigma Sport.[10]

Race wins

Lloyd was the general classification winner of the 2008 Vuelta a Extremadura, his only overall victory in a professional stage race. The race was first held as an amateur event in 1987 and was uprated to professional status on the UCI Europe Tour in 2005. His An Post–M.Donnelly–Grant Thornton–Sean Kelly team started strongly with victory in the opening 22.4 km team time trial around Mérida, the only victory of Lloyd's career in that discipline. Lloyd finished in the top 20 on each of the remaining four stages which proved enough to seal overall victory by 36 seconds.[11]

His other professional wins came while riding for Giant Asia Racing Team in 2006 during minor stage races in Asia. He started his season in January at the Tour of Siam, winning the final stage around Phuket by 36 seconds ahead of teammate Kuan Hua Lai. He returned to Asia and the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China in July, winning stage 4 on his way to 4th place overall.[12]

Grand Tour participation

Lloyd contested a Grand Tour on three occasions, completing the race each time. He rode in the Giro d'Italia twice, finishing 109th in 2009[13] and 103rd in 2010.[14]

In his sole Tour de France appearance in 2010, Lloyd finished 164th of the 170 riders who completed the race, over four hours behind initial winner Alberto Contador. He would later be upgraded several places after multiple riders were excluded from the results, including Contador which saw Andy Schleck declared the official victor.[15] He finished 22nd on stage 11 from Sisteron to Bourg-lès-Valence, his highest placing in any individual Grand Tour stage.[16]

British National Championships

Lloyd competed in seven editions of the road race at the British National Championships, with second-place finishes in 2007 and 2009.

In 2007, he rode the last 70km in a two-rider breakaway with David Millar. Millar, riding in the national championships for the first time since his doping suspension, would ultimately prevail in the sprint to the line. He finished 4th in the 2008 race, stating that he was in "balls of tears" and that this race was his "biggest disappointment" given his confidence that he could win the title after getting in the breakaway.[17] In the 2009 edition, Lloyd chased down future Tour de France winners Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in the latter part of the race, ultimately dropping Wiggins and finishing ahead of Froome and Peter Kennaugh but losing out to Kristian House in the final sprint.[18]

Other races

After winning a stage and finishing 4th overall in the 2006 race for Giant Asia, Lloyd returned to the Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2007 representing DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed. He featured in the top 20 on each of the nine stages, finishing second overall behind Giro d'Italia stage winner Gabriele Missaglia.[19]

Leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Lloyd expressed a desire to be selected for the British Olympic road race team,[20] and put together a series of strong results which led to him being considered for selection.[21] However, he was not included in the final squad.

In 2009, Lloyd made his sole appearance in the road race at the UCI World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Part of a nine-strong team, he was one of seven British riders not to finish the race.[22] He also rode in four monument races, with a best finish of 45th at the Tour of Flanders in 2009, and finished 9th at the 2009 edition of Strade Bianchi.

He participated in the Tour of Britain five times, with a best overall finish of 10th in 2011. This was the last notable result of his career, and the 2012 edition of the race was his final outing as a professional cyclist.

Retirement

Lloyd now works as a broadcaster for Global Cycling Network (GCN), often in partnership with Eurosport.[23] He has also served as the international English finish line commentator for the Giro d'Italia.[24]

Lloyd is the lead presenter for GCN's news and race preview shows. He has used this platform to voice his opinion on cycling matters, for example regarding whether only amateur and unsigned riders should be eligible to compete in the men's under-23 road race at the UCI World Championships. As of 2022 the event is also open to professionals who meet the age criteria, with Lloyd opining that contracted riders should only be eligible for the elite road race event.[25]

He also combines commentary and in-studio punditry during GCN and Eurosport coverage of Grand Tour and other major races alongside Orla Chennaoui, Adam Blythe, Robbie McEwen, Sean Kelly, Dani Christmas and others.

Major results

2006
1st Stage 7 Tour of Siam
4th Overall Tour of Qinghai Lake
1st Stage 4
4th Overall Tour d'Indonesia
2007
2nd Overall Tour of Qinghai Lake
2nd Road race, National Road Championships
2008
1st Overall Vuelta a Extremadura
1st Stage 1 (TTT)
4th Overall Volta Ciclista da Ascension
4th Road race, National Road Championships
6th Overall Cinturón Ciclista a Mallorca
9th Grand Prix Pino Cerami
2009
2nd Road race, National Road Championships
4th Overall Tour of Qatar
9th Monte Paschi Strade Bianche
2011
10th Overall Tour of Britain

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour 2009 2010
A pink jersey Giro d'Italia 109 103
A yellow jersey Tour de France — 161
A red jersey Vuelta a España — —
Legend
— Did not compete

References

  1. ↑ "Team's database, Cyclingnews". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
  2. ↑ Global Cycling Network (1 November 2014), Daniel Lloyd – Meet The GCN Presenters, retrieved 26 July 2017
  3. ↑ "Daniel Lloyd". Global Cycling Network. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Global Cycling Network (1 November 2014), Daniel Lloyd – Meet The GCN Presenters, retrieved 25 July 2017
  5. ↑ "Dan Lloyd talks about his Tour of Flanders ride – Cycling Weekly". Cycling Weekly. 6 April 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  6. ↑ EssentiallyCycling (17 October 2021), It's The Loss Of Goals – Professional Cyclist Laments About Hard Life After Retirement, retrieved 10 September 2022
  7. ↑ Global Cycling Network (1 November 2014), Daniel Lloyd – Meet The GCN Presenters, retrieved 25 July 2017
  8. ↑ "DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed". www.procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  9. ↑ "Daniel Lloyd to Team IG–Sigma Sport for 2012". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  10. ↑ Scott, George (22 November 2012). "Daniel Lloyd moves into team management". RoadCyclingUK. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  11. ↑ procyclingstats (31 December 2012), Daniel Lloyd, retrieved 20 August 2022
  12. ↑ procyclingstats (31 December 2012), Daniel Lloyd, retrieved 20 August 2022
  13. ↑ procyclingstats (31 December 2012), Daniel Lloyd, retrieved 20 August 2022
  14. ↑ procyclingstats (31 December 2012), Daniel Lloyd, retrieved 20 August 2022
  15. ↑ letour.fr (25 July 2010), Tour de France - 2010, archived from the original on 8 August 2010, retrieved 20 August 2022
  16. ↑ procyclingstats (31 December 2012), Daniel Lloyd, retrieved 20 August 2022
  17. ↑ Global Cycling Network (1 November 2014), Daniel Lloyd – Meet The GCN Presenters, retrieved 25 July 2017
  18. ↑ British Cycling (28 June 2009), 2009 National Men's Road Race Champs, retrieved 10 September 2022
  19. ↑ procyclingstats (31 December 2012), Daniel Lloyd, retrieved 20 August 2022
  20. ↑ Neovite2 (2007), neovite colostrum, retrieved 10 September 2022{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ↑ Bournemouth Echo (4 July 2008), fourth-place-gives-lloyds-beijing-hopes-a-boost, retrieved 10 September 2022
  22. ↑ procyclingstats (31 December 2012), Daniel Lloyd, retrieved 20 August 2022
  23. ↑ Kelly, Cillian. "Hard roads and stepping stones". An Post. Archived from the original on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  24. ↑ Global Cycling Network (20 May 2016), A Day In The Life Of A Cycling Commentator | Giro D'Italia 2016, retrieved 23 July 2017
  25. ↑ Global Cycling Network (26 September 2022), GCN Racing News Show, retrieved 26 September 2022
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