Jos van Emden (born 18 February 1985) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2023 for the, the and. During his career, Van Emden's specialty was in individual time trials, with 11 of his 14 professional victories coming in the discipline – including 3 victories in the Dutch National Time Trial Championships and a stage win at the 2017 Giro d'Italia. He was also part of the Dutch team that won the inaugural World Championships mixed team relay event, held in Yorkshire in 2019. Following his retirement at the end of the 2023 season, Van Emden became a directeur sportif with UCI Women's WorldTeam.

Career

Born in Schiedam, Van Emden started racing at UCI level in 2005 with the. During his second year, he took eight victories in his first season with the – two overall stage race victories along with stage wins across five races – and finished seventh in the under-23 road race at the 2006 UCI Road World Championships. The next year, he achieved his first professional victory when he won the Münsterland Giro. After three further victories in 2008, Van Emden was promoted to the main team before the end of the season. His debut in a Grand Tour came in 2009, when he took part in the Giro d'Italia. One year later, he finished ninth in two different stages of that same race, and achieved two time-trial victories in one week, winning the prologues of the Delta Tour Zeeland and the Ster Elektrotoer. Later that year, he was the winner of the Dutch National Time Trial Championships. He repeated his prologue victory at the Delta Tour Zeeland in 2011, and he also finished in fifth place overall at UCI World Tour race, the Eneco Tour. Van Emden's next victory came at the 2013 Münsterland Giro, joining Marcel Kittel as a two-time winner of the race, having broken clear from a lead group in the closing kilometres. Van Emden made international headlines when he proposed to his girlfriend during the second time trial stage of the 2014 Giro d'Italia. After she accepted, he finished the stage 120th out of 156 starters. His best results during the 2014 season were third-place finishes in the Dutch National Time Trial Championships and the Arnhem–Veenendaal Classic. In 2015, Van Emden finished second in the time trial stage of the Tour of California, sitting in the leader's hot seat all day before being beaten by Peter Sagan. Two months later, Van Emden participated in his first Tour de France; he finished fifth in the opening time trial that took place in his home country. His biggest victory at that time came when he won the time trial stage of the Eneco Tour, subsequently gaining the right to wear the leader's jersey. In 2016, Van Emden again won the opening time trial stage of the now-renamed Ster ZLM Toer, ultimately finishing the race in third place overall. He finished second in the Dutch National Time Trial Championships, more than half a minute down on race winner Tom Dumoulin. After riding the Giro d'Italia in the spring, Van Emden made his first start at the Vuelta a España, but failed to finish the race. He finished the season with an eighth-place finish in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Qatar. In 2017, Van Emden beat Silvan Dillier to the line to win Dwars door West-Vlaanderen in March, before taking his first Grand Tour stage victory at the Giro d'Italia in May, winning the final 29.3 km individual time trial stage between the Monza Circuit and Milan. Later in the season, he placed fifth in the time trial at the UEC European Road Championships in Denmark. The following year, he was part of the squad that won the team time trial at the Tour of Britain, and he finished second in individual time trial stages at Tirreno–Adriatico and the Critérium du Dauphiné. Van Emden took his third prologue victory at the again-renamed ZLM Tour in 2019, and the following week, he won the Dutch National Time Trial Championships for the second time. Later in the season, Van Emden was part of the Dutch team that won the inaugural World Championships mixed team relay event, held in Yorkshire, and finished the season with a victory in the Chrono des Nations. In 2021, Van Emden took further medals in the mixed team relay at both the World Championships (silver) and the European Championships (bronze), with his final professional victory coming with his third Dutch national time trial title in June 2023. In August 2023, Van Emden announced his retirement from the sport as of the end of the season, and became a directeur sportif with UCI Women's WorldTeam.

Major results

Source:

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Major championship results