Roel Paulissen

Born and raised in Hasselt, Paulissen discovered and started cycling at the age of sixteen, when he purchased his first ever mountain bike. He took part in numerous regional and local races across Belgium, and soon joined the Ghislain Cycles Club by the following year. In the summer of 1994, Paulissen surprisingly earned his first trophy under the junior category at the Belgian Championships. Because of his exquisite talent and prowess in the sport, Paulissen offered a spot to train and race professionally for the Dutch team called the American Eagle two years later.

Paulissen officially made his international debut for Belgium at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he finished seventeenth in the inaugural men's cross-country race with a time of 2:33:53.[3]

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Paulissen could not match his best possible ride from Atlanta with a nineteenth-place effort in the same program, posting an official time of 2:16:54.[4]

In 2001, Paulissen became an elite professional rider by officially signing an exclusive, two-year sponsorship contract with Italy's Rainer Wurz MTB Team, and then capped off his season by mounting four top-ten finishes at the UCI World Cup series.[5] With a sudden departure of his teammate and Olympic silver medalist Filip Meirhaeghe because of a doping issue, Paulissen continued to refurnish and penetrate Belgium's cycling success by earning his first World Cup triumph in Houffalize, and a prestigious bronze medal in men's cross-country race at the 2003 UCI World Championships in Lugano, Switzerland.[6] Strong results landed him a place on the Siemens Mobile-Cannondale pro cycling team, followed by his short stint with Belgium's Jong Vlaanderen 2016 at the start of the 2004 season.

While competing for his third Belgian squad at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Paulissen scored a career-high, fourth place in the men's cross-country race with a time of 2:18:10, finishing just off the podium by more than a minute.[7][8] In that same year, Paulissen managed to earn another triumph on the second stage of the UCI World Cup series in Houffalize, and eventually edged out his teammate Meirhaeghe to take home the overall silver medal in the final round of the circuit.[9] In 2005, Paulissen took a year off from mountain biking after he was suddenly stricken with rib injuries, fever, and acute bronchitis that prompted his decision to skip from the World Cup series and the Belgian Championships.[10]

In 2006, Paulissen left his team Jong Vlaanderen 2016 for health reasons and long absence to join the Netherlands' Cannondale-Vredestein.[11] He also capped his successful season by collecting the bronze medal in men's marathon race at the UCI World Championships in Oisans, France.[12] A year later, Paulissen continued to flourish his ample success in mountain biking by reclaiming the Belgian national championship title, and later adding a silver to his career hardware at the UCI World Championships in Verviers, trailing behind Switzerland's Christoph Sauser by more than five minutes.[13]

Paulissen won his first Absa Cape Epic in 2005 with team member Bart Brentjens. He then came back again in 2007 with new partner Jakob Fuglsang, placing 2nd place overall. The team then competed in the marathon stage race again in 2008, this time claiming 1st place after 2 stage wins.

Paulissen started his 2008 season by defending the men's cross-country race title at the Belgian Championships and by taking part in the Roc d'Azur MTB Marathon tournament, where he registered two more triumphs in the process.[14] In July, Paulissen grabbed his first major success in men's marathon race at the UCI World Championships in Villabassa under a more controversial decision. With only 70 meters left to go, Paulissen held off a sprint duel match against Switzerland's Christoph Sauser for a spectacular finish, until they suddenly made contact with their handlebars and arms near the barrier and then both crashed. Being the first man up after hitting the tarmac hard, Paulissen reluctantly carried his broken bike towards the finish, while his rival Sauser remounted his lead to cross the line first, but ended his campaign with a protest. After the race, the UCI officials decided that Sauser was relegated to second place for riding "dangerously" in the sprint and instead Paulissen was declared the World champion with a time of 4:46:56. Following his controversial triumph, Paulissen admitted, "I am very happy with this success. Unfortunately, this great race in the area where I live ended this way, but I think the jury was right."[15]

Twelve years after his official Olympic debut, Paulissen qualified for his fourth Belgian squad, as a 32-year-old and a cycling team captain, in the men's cross-country race at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing by receiving one of the nation's three available berths for his team from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), based on his top-ten performance at the World Cup series, World Championships, and Mountain Biking World Series.[16] He successfully completed a 4.8-km sturdy, treacherous cross-country course with a nineteenth-place effort in 2:03:30, radically shortening his chances to climb the Olympic podium on his fourth bid.[17][18][19]

Paulissen started the 2009 season by claiming his tenth Belgian national championship title, and by signing an exclusive, two-year sponsorship contract with Germany's Cannondale Factory Racing pro team.[20] He also defended his men's marathon race title and rainbow jersey at the UCI World Championships in Graz, Austria with a time of 4:34:46, edging out the home nation's Alban Lakata on another tight, sprinted duel match by fifty-one seconds.[21]

On 16 July 2010 Paulissen had been overshadowed by a doping issue after he tested positive for a banned hormone substance clomiphene, mainly used to avert infertility problems. Breaching the team's clear anti-doping policies, Cannondale Factory Racing team had decided to end its sponsorship with Paulissen and consequently drop him off the roster. Moreover, he ordered a two-year suspension from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for failing the doping test, missing a chance to defend his Belgian national championship title and pursue for his fifth Olympic bid. With an immediate effect from an issue, Paulissen shortly and suddenly ended his sporting career.[2][22]

Having lifted a two-year doping suspension in November 2012, Paulissen announced his official comeback from a short retirement to join and ride for Italy's Torpado Surfing Shop Team at the start of the 2013 season.[23]