Environment and childhood are the biggest factors influencing the development of professional bicyclists. As for Fredrik Kessiakoff, both contributed in making him the champion he became later in life. As a child, he was intrigued by professional cycling and fell in love with the sport. He nurtured his career by training full-time. However, he could not train after school for much of the remaining years, as it would be dark where he lived. He solved that by skipping school to train instead. His career started with a mountain bike he bought at the age 14 years, in 1994. The next year, he began competing, and he ended up spending his life cycling, becoming one of the world’s best mountain bikers.
He was to race as a professional with Barloworld in 2006, but ended up as a trainee when he broke his foot while training. So, his road cycling career started with the Fuji Servetto team in 2009, where he spent only one year. Drifting from mountain biking to road cycling was a bit of a challenge. However, he managed to make an impression, which was why Garmin-Transitions signed him for a two-year contract. The contract was terminated earlier than expected, and he later moved on to join the Astana team, where he remained until his retirement.
Merits
Fredrik Kessiakoff has participated in several races around the world, and holds several titles in both mountain biking and road cycling, including:
- 2001 – Swedish Champion
- 2002 – Swedish Championship and Swedish Champion Cross-Country
- 2003 – Swedish Cross Country Champion and Swedish Relay Champion
- 2004 – Swedish Champion and Swedish Relay Champion
- 2005 – Long Calm Falun
- 2006 – Tour of Lake Maggiore
- 2007 – Swedish Champion and the Swedish Relay Champion
- 2008 – Swedish Champion and Swedish Relay Champion
- 2009 – Tour de Romandie and Giro d’Italia
- 2011 – Tour de Austria
- 2012 – Tour de Switzerland, Vuelta Espana, and Tour de France
- 2013 – Giro d’Italia