Rein Taaramäe (born 24 April 1987) is an Estonian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Continental team .
Career Cofidis (2008–14) Taaramäe turned professional in 2008 for 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 the Grand Prix du Portugal and a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, 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 Estonian National Road Race Championships and the Estonian National Time Trial Championships. He also won the Tour de l'Ain after winning the last stage to Col du Grand Colombier. In 2010 he finished seventh at the Paris-Nice and third at the Volta a Catalunya.
In 2011, Taaramäe finished 11th overall in the Tour de France. On Stage 14 of the Vuelta a España Taaramae and breakaway companion David de la Fuente were the last two riders of a 17-man breakaway, but with to go de la Fuente dropped back to pace teammate Juan José Cobo up the climb allowing Taaramäe to solo to his first ever Grand Tour stage win. He ultimately withdrew from the race prior to its conclusion in Madrid.
Astana (2015) In August 2014 general manager Alexander Vinokourov announced that Taaramäe had signed a one-year contract with the team for the 2015 season.
2015 began well for Taaramäe with the victory at the Vuelta a Murcia. Hopes were high with Grand Tours in mind, especially the Tour de France. At the race, Taaramäe was meant to help Vincenzo 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 in the Vuelta a Burgos and the Arctic Race of Norway in August.
Team Katusha (2016–17) At the end of August 2015, Taaramäe signed an initial one-year deal with . He was named in the start list for the 2016 Giro d'Italia. He won the 20th stage of the race, becoming the first Estonian to win a stage in the Giro. After a short vacation at home in Estonia, Taaramäe went to win the overall at the Tour of Slovenia, together with a stage win on Stage 2.
Direct Énergie (2018–20) In his first season with the team, he placed highly at the Vuelta a Aragón (fourth overall; later promoted to third after Jaime Rosón's disqualification) and the Tour de l'Ain (third overall), before being selected for the Tour de France for the first time since 2015. He formed part of the breakaway on the tenth stage, ultimately finishing third – his team's best stage finish of the race – behind Julian Alaphilippe and Ion Izagirre. He finished outside the time limit two days later, ending his race. In September, Taaramäe took four top-four results – second-place finishes at the Coppa Ugo Agostoni and the Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie, third at the Tour du Doubs, and fourth at the Famenne Ardenne Classic.
The following year, he finished second overall at the Tour du Rwanda; he had finished second on the third stage behind Merhawi Kudus, and maintained this position for the remainder of the race. He finished third overall at both the Vuelta a Aragón and Tour de l'Ain, and added a further third-place finish at the inaugural Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge. Later in June, he won his fourth Estonian National Time Trial Championships, his first win in the race since 2012.
In 2020, Taaramäe won the mountains classification at the Tour du Rwanda, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic-enforced suspension of racing.
Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux (2021–2024) In September 2020, Taaramäe signed a two-year contract to ride with the team, later renamed , from the 2021 season.
He was involved in breakaways at Paris–Nice, the Volta a Catalunya, the Tour de Romandie, and the Giro d'Italia; at the Giro d'Italia, he recorded a ninth-place finish on stage four, having just remained clear of a group containing some of the race favourites. He won the Estonian National Time Trial Championships for the fifth time in June, and then finished third overall at the Czech Cycling Tour, with two third-place stage finishes. At the Vuelta a España, Taaramäe made an eight-man breakaway on the third stage of the race. With around remaining of the stage, which concluded with a summit finish at Picón Blanco, Taaramäe attacked and soloed to the stage victory. He also assumed the lead of both the mountains and general classifications, becoming the second Estonian rider to lead a Grand Tour, after Jaan Kirsipuu at the 1999 Tour de France. He held the race lead until the fifth stage after a crash, and also rode in support of teammate Odd Christian Eiking, when he held the overall lead later in the race. Taaramäe later signed a one-year contract extension with the team, until the end of the 2023 season.
After an eighth-place finish at the 2022 Tour of Oman, Taaramäe made the breakaway on the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia, finishing third on the stage. He remained third overall for several days, before losing nearly fifteen minutes on the ninth stage, a summit finish at Blockhaus in the Maiella massif. He worked as a domestique for climbers Jan Hirt and Domenico Pozzovivo later in the race, with both finishing inside the top-ten placings in the general classification. He again won the Estonian National Time Trial Championships, and took a further third-place Grand Tour stage finish, on stage eight of the Vuelta a España.
He started his 2023 season in Oman, recording a fourth-place overall finish at the Tour of Oman, having been dropped on the final climb to Jebel Akhdar.
In 2025 season, he moved to a Japanese continental team .
Personal life He is married to Hanna; at the 2022 Estonian National Time Trial Championships, both won their respective national titles.
Major results Source:
2005 3rd Overall Course de la Paix Juniors 2006 1st Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships 1st GP Ouest–France Espoirs 1st Stage 1 Kreiz Breizh Elites 2007 2nd Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships 2nd Les Boucles du Sud-Ardèche 3rd Overall Kreiz Breizh Elites 3rd Paris–Troyes 5th Overall Circuit des Ardennes 1st Stage 4 5th Boucle de l'Artois 2008 1st Stage 6 (ITT) Tour de l'Avenir 3rd Overall Grand Prix du Portugal 1st Stages 2 & 3 8th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe 9th Tartu GP 2009 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 1st Road race 1st Overall Tour de l'Ain 1st Stage 5 1st Mountains classification, Tour of the Basque Country 3rd Overall Tour de Romandie 8th Overall Tour de Suisse 2010 3rd Overall Volta a Catalunya 7th Overall Paris–Nice 9th Overall Route du Sud 9th Trofeo Inca 2011 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 1st Stage 14 Vuelta a España 3rd Overall Critérium International 1st Young rider classification 4th Overall Paris–Nice 1st Young rider classification 5th Tartu GP 8th Overall Volta ao Algarve 10th Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe 2012 National Road Championships 1st Time trial 3rd Road race 2nd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 3rd Overall Étoile de Bessèges 6th Tallinn–Tartu GP 8th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes 2013 National Road Championships 1st Road race 2nd Time trial 3rd Cholet-Pays de Loire 2014 1st Tour du Doubs 2nd Overall Tour of Turkey 1st Stage 3 6th Overall Tour du Limousin 8th Overall Étoile de Bessèges 2015 1st Overall Vuelta a Burgos 1st Stage 2 (TTT) 1st Overall Arctic Race of Norway 1st Vuelta a Murcia 2nd Road race, National Road Championships 6th Overall Volta ao Algarve 2016 1st Overall Tour of Slovenia 1st Stage 2 1st Stage 20 Giro d'Italia 2017 3rd Road race, National Road Championships 9th Overall Tour of Guangxi 2018 2nd Coppa Ugo Agostoni 2nd Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie 3rd Overall Vuelta a Aragón 3rd Overall Tour de l'Ain 3rd Tour du Doubs 4th Famenne Ardenne Classic 2019 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 2nd Overall Tour du Rwanda 3rd Overall Tour de l'Ain 3rd Overall Vuelta a Aragón 3rd Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge 2020 1st Mountains classification, Tour du Rwanda 2021 1st Time trial, National Road Championships Vuelta a España 1st Stage 3 Held after Stages 3–4 Held after Stages 3–6 3rd Overall Czech Cycling Tour 2022 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 8th Overall Tour of Oman 2023 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 4th Overall Tour of Oman 2024 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 2025 1st Time trial, National Road Championships 1st Grand Prix Ordu 3rd Overall Tour of Sharjah 4th Overall Tour of Mersin 2nd Overall Tour de Kyushu 2026 1st Overall Tour of Sharjah
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Grand Tour 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Giro d'Italia——————— 29———— 51 46 DNF— Tour de France— DNF 11 36 102 88 DNF—— DNF 66————— Vuelta a España 74— DNF———— DNF 147——— 55— DNF DNF
+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish
References
External links
Rein Taaramäe's blog
Palmarès by cyclingbase.com Taaramae believes in top 10 placing at Tour de France Cyclingnews.com story in March 2011 Taaramae comes of age, still makes mistakes Cyclingnews.com story in March 2010