Felix Gall

Felix Gall
Gall at the 2019 Rund um Köln
Personal information
Born (1998-02-27) 27 February 1998 (age 26)
Nußdorf-Debant, Tyrol, Austria
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Weight66 kg (146 lb)[1]
Team information
Current teamDecathlon–AG2R La Mondiale
DisciplineRoad
RoleClimber
Amateur team
2012–2016RC ARBÖ Tom Tailor RBK Wörgl[1]
Professional teams
2017–2019Development Team Sunweb
2020–2021Team Sunweb[2][3]
2022–AG2R Citroën Team
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
1 individual stage (2023)
Medal record
Representing  Austria
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Richmond Junior road race

Felix Gall (born 27 February 1998) is an Austrian professional cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale.[4]

Career

Junior career

Gall in 2016

Gall was born in Nußdorf-Debant, Tyrol, Austria. Since childhood, Gall practiced various sports such as climbing, tennis, skiing, and taekwondo. Through schoolmates who participated in triathlon, he got into cycling.[5][6]

In 2015, Gall became the Austrian junior champion in road racing. In the autumn of that year, he competed at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia, United States, and won the title of junior world champion in road racing.[7][8] Upon his return from the United States, he was welcomed by around 1,000 people in his hometown. He received a cycling scholarship, a driver's license course, and a new racing bike.[9]

In 2016, Gall won the junior competition Trofeo Dorigo Porte, and the following year, he received a contract with Development Team Sunweb. In 2018, he won the Austrian National Road Race Championships in the under-23 category.[10] In March 2019, he achieved his first success in an elite race by winning the second stage and the general classification of the Istrian Spring Trophy.[11]

AG2R Citroën Team

After three years in the development team and two years in the WorldTour squad of Team Sunweb/DSM, Gall announced in 2021 that he would move to the AG2R Citroën Team the following year.[12] Originally, his contract with DSM was supposed to run for another year, but due to ongoing tensions between different riders and the team management, Gall terminated his contract at the end of 2021.[13]

2022

In 2022, Gall, as part of the AG2R Citroën Team, achieved sixth place in the overall classification of the Tour of the Alps.[14] He was then named in the startlist for the 2022 Giro d'Italia, his first Grand Tour.[15]

2023

Gall (right) riding with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar at the 2023 Tour de France

On 9 June 2023, Gall extended with AG2R Citroën Team through 2025.[16] He improved his results in 2023, completing the Ardèche Classic in 6th, Tirreno–Adriatico as 16th overall, 9th in GP Miguel Induráin, 10th in Tour of the Basque Country (along with four top-10 stage finishes), second in opening stage of Tour of the Alpes (where he crashed later in the race) and finally second place in highly-conquested Mercan'Tour Classic.[16][17][18] In the 2023 Tour de Suisse, he finished 8th overall in the general classification and fourth in the mountains classification. In the process, he won Stage 4 — his first victory as a pro — and finished second in stage 3.[19]

He was named in the AG2R Citroën Team's startlist for the 2023 Tour de France, marking his first ever participation in the race.[20] For the first time in his career he wore a classification jersey after getting involved in the breakaway on stage 5, and earning enough points to take the lead in the mountains classification after being the first to crest the summit of the Col du Soudet.[21] On 17 July 2023, Gall won Stage 17, the Queen Stage, of the 2023 Tour de France.[22]

2024

Gall rode in the 2024 Tour de France, finishing 14th overall. He also rode in the 2024 Vuelta a España, mainly as a domestique to teammate Ben O’Connor who finished runner-up in the race. Gall held a top-10 position in the GC through stage 14 before cracking and finishing in 29th overall.[23]

Major results

2015
1st Road race, UCI Junior Road World Championships
National Junior Road Championships
1st Road race
2nd Time trial
4th Overall Oberösterreich Juniorenrundfahrt
4th Time trial, UEC European Junior Road Championships
8th Overall GP Général Patton
2016
1st Trofeo Guido Dorigo
3rd Overall Tour du Pays de Vaud
6th G.P. Sportivi Sovilla
9th Overall Course de la Paix Juniors
2018
1st Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
4th Overall Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc
1st Young rider classification
6th Overall Grand Prix Priessnitz spa
2019
1st Overall Istrian Spring Trophy
1st Stage 2
9th Overall Circuit des Ardennes
2022
5th Trofeo Pollença–Port d'Andratx
6th Overall Tour of the Alps
10th Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana
2023 (2 pro wins)
2nd Mercan'Tour Classic
6th Overall Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var
6th Faun-Ardèche Classic
8th Overall Tour de France
1st Stage 17
Held after Stage 5
Combativity award Stage 17
8th Overall Tour de Suisse
1st Stage 4
9th Overall Tour of the Alps
9th GP Miguel Induráin
10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country
2024
4th Faun-Ardèche Classic
5th Classic Grand Besançon Doubs
9th Overall Paris–Nice
10th Overall Tour de Suisse

General classification results timeline

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour 2021 2022 2023 2024
Giro d'Italia 50
Tour de France 8 14
Vuelta a España 29
Major stage race general classification results
Race 2021 2022 2023 2024
Paris–Nice 9
Tirreno–Adriatico 16
Volta a Catalunya
Tour of the Basque Country 85 12 10 DNF
Tour de Romandie 32
Critérium du Dauphiné 22
Tour de Suisse 8 10
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish
IP Race in Progress

References

  1. ^ a b c "Felix Gall". Equipe cycliste AG2R CITROËN TEAM (in French). Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Team Sunweb". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Team DSM". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  4. ^ "AG2R Citroën Team". UCI. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Gall Felix oeterreichs erster Radweltmeister". Regionalsport (in German). Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  6. ^ Scheiber, Claudia (13 June 2012). "Osttiroler Triathleten wieder erfolgreich". MeinBezirk (in German). Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Gall wins junior men's world championship road race". Velo. 26 September 2015. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  8. ^ Scheiber, Claudia (30 September 2015). "Felix Gall holt WM-Gold". MeinBezirk (in German). Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  9. ^ Scheiber, Claudia (2 October 2015). "Nußdorf-Debant feierte seinen Weltmeister". MeinBezirk (in German). Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  10. ^ "2018 Österr. StaatsmeisterInnen & MeisterInnen". Austrian Cycling Federation (in German). 9 May 2018. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  11. ^ "Osttiroler Gall gewinnt Spring Trophy in Istrien". ÖRF (in German). 17 March 2019. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  12. ^ "Ex-Junioren-Weltmeister Gall ab 2022 für Radprofiteam AG2R unterwegs". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). 19 August 2021. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  13. ^ "Streit zwischen Team DSM und Ilan Van Wilder landet vor Gericht". cyclingmagazine (in German). 28 October 2021. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  14. ^ Ryan, Barry (22 April 2022). "Tour of the Alps: Pinot surges to stage 5 win as Bardet grabs overall title". Cyclingnews. Archived from the original on 8 January 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  15. ^ Michl, George (6 May 2022). "Radrennsport: Felix Gall stellt sich zum ersten Mal dem Giro d'Italia". Kleine Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  16. ^ a b "Felix Gall extends with AG2R Citroën Team through 2025". CyclingUpToDate. 9 June 2023. Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  17. ^ "Itzulia Basque Country: Felix Gall tenth". AG2R CITROËN TEAM. 8 April 2023. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  18. ^ "Radsport: Gall kommt erstem Profisieg immer näher". LAOLA1 (in German). 30 May 2023. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  19. ^ McGrath, Andy (14 June 2023). "Tour de Suisse: Felix Gall grabs GC lead with solo victory on stage 4". Cyclingnews. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  20. ^ Canales, Romain Perez (26 June 2023). "Tour de France 2023 (July 1 to 23) - AG2R CITROËN TEAM cycling team". AG2R CITROËN TEAM. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  21. ^ Glendenning, Barry (5 July 2023). "Tour de France: Hindley wins stage five as Vingegaard deals major blow to Pogacar – as it happened". the Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  22. ^ "Felix Gall, the third winning debutant - Tour de France 2023". www.letour.fr. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  23. ^ "Profil of Felix GALL - DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE TEAM - La Vuelta 2024". www.lavuelta.es. Retrieved 2024-10-05.