23 Facts About Louis Meintjes

Louis Meintjes won the South African National Road Race Championships in 2014, and has finished 8th overall in the Tour de France, on 3 occasions in 2016,2017 and 2022.

Louis Meintjes has finished 10th overall at the 2015 Vuelta a Espana, and won a stage at the 2022 Vuelta a Espana.

Louis Meintjes is widely known for his unorthodox climbing style, as he very often takes the last place of the peloton way before the pace gets hard for him, and overtakes riders as they drop throughout the climb, often remaining with the leaders' group until late in the stages.

Louis Meintjes had an impressive 2014 season where he rode his first grand tour, the Vuelta a Espana.

In March 2015, Louis Meintjes won the final stage of the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, securing him the overall victory as well.

Louis Meintjes was named in the start list for the Tour de France.

Louis Meintjes finished fifth on the mountain stage to Plateau de Beille before exiting the Tour due to illness.

Louis Meintjes started the 2016 season riding the Tour Down Under and finished 16th overall, and 5th in the young rider classification.

Louis Meintjes was sitting in 9th place overall after the 10th stage, but lost time in the following stage in the crosswinds.

Louis Meintjes recovered during the mountain time trial on stage 18, regaining his 9th place.

Louis Meintjes finished with the favourites on the next stage, achieving 8th place in Paris.

Louis Meintjes was dropped before the last climb but he bridged the gap before sprinting to 7th place at Copacabana Beach.

Louis Meintjes finished 6th overall at the Tour of the Basque Country, and two months later he finished 8th overall at the Criterium du Dauphine.

At the Tour de France, Louis Meintjes was team leader for UAE Team Emirates, and slowly made his way into top 10 in the second week, as he finished 5th on stage 12 to Peyragudes.

Louis Meintjes moved up further two positions in the final week, and finished 8th overall for the second time in his career at the Tour.

Louis Meintjes returned to his former team, Team Dimension Data, for the 2018 season.

Louis Meintjes was named in the startlist for the 2018 Giro d'Italia.

Louis Meintjes struggled at the Vuelta a Espana, and he would go on to finish 58th overall.

Louis Meintjes finished in 6th place in the 2022 Criterium du Dauphine, his best result in a stage race in five years.

Louis Meintjes climbed to 13th place overall after this stage and two days later he got involved in another breakaway; finishing over +11:00 ahead of the GC favourites and moving into 7th place overall, jumping ahead of Gaudu, Pidcock and Enric Mas.

Louis Meintjes survived the finishes at Peyragudes and Hautacam as the race crossed the Pyrenees; and had a realistic chance at finishing top 5 overall going into the final time trial.

Louis Meintjes ended up 8th after having a tough day in the ITT, this made for the third time in his career he finished top 10, all of them 8th place, and the first since 2017.

At the 2022 Vuelta a Espana, Louis Meintjes won Stage 9, which was his first ever Grand Tour stage win.