Rein Taaramäe

Rein Taaramäe
	File:Rein Taaramäe - Critérium du Dauphiné 2012 - Prologue (cropped).jpg Taaramäe at the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné
Personal information
Full name	Rein Taaramäe
Nickname	Vader (from "reinuvader" – a Fox), Taarakas
Born	April 24, 1987 (age 37); Tartu, Estonia
Height	Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value).
Weight	67 kg (148 lb; 10.6 st)
Team information
Current team	Team Katusha–Alpecin
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	GC rider
Amateur team(s)
2007	Cofidis (stagiaire)
Professional team(s)
2008–2014	Cofidis
2015	Astana
2016–	Team Katusha–Alpecin
Major wins
	Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 1 individual stage (2016) Vuelta a España 1 individual stage (2011) Stage races Tour de l'Ain (2009) Vuelta a Burgos (2015) Arctic Race of Norway (2015) Single-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (2009, 2013) National Time Trial Championships (2009, 2011, 2012) Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia (2015)
	Infobox last updated on; 8 August 2015

Rein Taaramäe (born April 24, 1987 in Tartu) is an Estonian road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam cycling team Team Katusha–Alpecin.

Career

File:Tour de l'Ain 2009 - étape 4 - Rein Taaramae.jpg

Taaramäe at the 2009 Tour de l'Ain

Taaramäe turned professional in 2008 for Cofidis after riding for the team as a stagiaire in late 2007 and winning a stage at the Circuit des Ardennes early in the season. In 2008 he won two stages of Grand Prix du Portugal and a stage of Tour de l'Avenir. At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, Taaramäe competed in the road race and the road time trial.

In 2009 he finished third at the Tour de Romandie and eighth at the Tour de Suisse. Taaramäe won both the national road race and time trial championships.^[2] He also won Tour de l'Ain after winning the last stage to Col du Grand Colombier.^[3] In 2010 he finished seventh at the Paris-Nice and third at the Volta a Catalunya.

In 2011, Rein finished 11th overall in the 2011 Tour de France. On Stage 14 of the 2011 Vuelta a España Taaramae and breakaway companion David de la Fuente were the last two riders of a 17-man breakaway, but with 2 km to go de la Fuente dropped back to pace teammate Juan José Cobo up the climb allowing Taaramae to solo to his first ever Grand Tour stage win. He ultimately withdrew from the race prior to its conclusion in Madrid.

In August 2014 Astana Pro Team general manager Alexander Vinokourov announced that Taaramäe had signed a one-year contract with the team for the 2015 season.^[4]

2015 began well for Rein with the victory at Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia. Hopes were high with Grand Tours in mind, especially Le Tour. At 2015 Tour de France Taaramäe was meant to help Nibali in the mountains. Unfortunately Taaramäe was forced to abandon the race during stage 11 due to illness. After the disappointing Tour Taaramäe went on to win in style back-to-back 2015 Vuelta a Burgos and 2015 Arctic Race of Norway in August. Simultaneously rumors of Taaramäe leaving Astana started to emerge and at the end of August Taaramäe signed a one-year deal with Team Katusha.

He was named in the start list for the 2016 Giro d'Italia.^[5] He won the 20th stage of the race, becoming the first Estonian to win a stage in the Giro.^[6]