Tjarco Cuppens

TJARCO CUPPENS
Professional Cyclist

As a child Tjarco was already interested in cycling. He started racing when he was 15 years old.

After some good years he joined the Belgium squad DCM Cycling Team. In 1999 and 2000 he made a lot of progression. He won 6 road races under which GP Fina in Fayt-le-Franc and the 1st stage of the FBD Milk Rás in Ireland, he gained also 25 top three places. At the end of the season he received an offer to become stagiair with the Belgium professional team Flanders-Prefetex.

Flanders-Prefetex offered Tjarco a pro contract for the 2001 season. In 2001 Tjarco immediately got selected for the big Belgian classics like, Omloop Het Volk, E3-Prijs, Gent-Wevelgem, Grote Scheldeprijs and Paris-Brussels. His best result in his first pro year was a 2nd place in the Dernycriterium the Ridderronde of Maastricht. For 2002 Tjarco signed for the German pro team ComNet-Senges. For this team he won between 2002 and 2004 seven races. In 2003 there was an inferior period, when he had a bad crash during a race because of a broken stem and Tjarco broke his kneecap.

In 2005 he changed to the Belgium Amateur team Diametal-Colnago, which was the satellite team of the professional team Landbouwkrediet-Colnago. Tjarco won four races. Also 2006, racing for Team PZ Racing, was a successful year with six victories. That year Tjarco became in St.Johann (Austria), World Champion Amateurs Road Race ! Also in 2007 he raced for Team PZ Racing and gained seven victories. He won the Championship of South-Netherlands Time Trail. Also he gain two second places during stages in the Tour of Taiwan.

In 2008 and 2009 Tjarco raced for the new Dutch squad PPL-Belisol he won during these two year 15 races. For the fourth time in a row he won the District Championship of Limburg as also the semi-classics GP Marc Angel in Luxembourg and GP Cammaerts in Belgium. Also he  won the 3rd stage of Rás Mumhan in Ireland and the General Sprint Classification in the Fleche du Sud in Luxembourg.

For the season 2010 Tjarco signed again a pro contract with the Luxembourg Continental Team Differdange The first half of this season was destroyed because of a heavily infected graze from a crash. He still gained two victories. Later that year Tjarco started in the Tour of China and finished three times top-ten in stages. Here he met his new friend Lee Rodgers, who informed him about Extreme Endurance. Tjarco tested the Xendurance tablets during the Tour of China and was immediately enthusiastic. Since then Tjarco is a frequent user of Xendurance. For 2011 Tjarco decided to sign for the new Taiwanese Continental Team Fuji-Cyclingtime.com. Together with Xendurance, he won in total six races under which the 1st stage of the Tour of East-Taiwan and the Börger Frühjahrspreis in Germany and for the fifth time in his career he came District Champion of Limburg. Tjarco admits that you still have to do hard training to get good results, but Extreme Endurance is a product he will keep until the end of his career, he said. With Xendurance you just can train harder and I feel my recovery is faster, which is crucial in stage races. Also for 2012 Tjarco will stay with the Fuji Team, however the team will move to Singapore. Tjarco is very motivated to race a good season in 2012.