Yaroslav Popovych (; born 4 January 1980) is a Ukrainian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016.
The winner of the under-23 road race at the 2001 UCI Road World Championships, Popovych turned professional in 2002 with , where he performed particularly strongly in the Giro d'Italia, finishing third in 2003. Upon joining in 2005, his focus switched to the Tour de France, where he won the young riders' classification in 2005 and won stage 12 in 2006. When Discovery Channel folded at the end of 2007, Popovych moved to in 2008 and on to in 2009. Popovych also raced for in 2010 and 2011. From 2012 until 2016 he rode with the UCI ProTour team .
Career
Early years
Popovych was born in Drohobych, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. He was considered one of the most promising cyclists while riding in junior and under-23 races after catching 35 victories in 2000 and 2001. He won the Under-23 Men's road race in the 2001 UCI Road World Championships after finishing second the previous year. He also won the Paris–Roubaix edition for under-23 riders and palio del recioto. After failing to be among the best for the overall classification in the Pyrenees mountain stages, Popovych won stage 12 by repeatedly attacking his fellow break-away compatriots Alessandro Ballan, Óscar Freire and Christophe Le Mével. During 2006 season he also won stages at the Vuelta a Castilla y León and Tour de Georgia, where he finished third.
Popovych mainly worked as a domestique during 2007 season, aiding Alberto Contador to win Paris–Nice and the Tour de France. Early in the season, he won the fifth stage in Paris–Nice after attacking from the finishing line. He was considered as the team leader for the Giro d'Italia, but he withdrew in the twelfth stage after suffering two crashes in the race. In the Tour de France, he finished eighth while working for Discovery Channel team-mates Contador and Levi Leipheimer.
Silence–Lotto (2008)
In 2008, Popovych moved to squad after announced that it would cease operations at the end of 2007.
Team RadioShack (2010)
In 2010 Popovych followed many former Astana riders to the newly created American based squad .
Doping allegations
In January 2011 Popovych was incriminated in the Floyd Landis doping allegations against the cycling team, after Sports Illustrated magazine reported that in November 2010 his property in Tuscany had been searched by Federal Officials who discovered drug testing documents, medical supplies and performance-enhancing drugs as well as evidence of links to controversial Italian physician Michele Ferrari. Later that day Popovych denied the allegations.
Major results
;2000
: 1st Overall Tour de Nouvelle-Calédonie
: 1st Gran Premio di Poggiana
: 2nd Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
: 2nd Giro del Belvedere
: 2nd Coppa Città di Asti
: 3rd Piccolo Giro di Lombardia
: 10th Trofeo Alcide Degasperi
;2001
: 1st 20px Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
: 1st Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza
: 1st Giro del Belvedere
: 1st Gran Premio Palio del Recioto
: 1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs
: 2nd Overall Grand Prix Guillaume Tell
: 2nd Gran Premio della Liberazione
: 2nd Trofeo Alcide Degasperi
: 4th GP Open Campania
: 9th GP Città di Napoli
;2002
: 1st Poreč Trophy II
: 1st GP de Genève
: 3rd Poreč Trophy III
: 4th Overall Brixia Tour
: 4th Gran Premio Fred Mengoni
: 5th Poreč Trophy I
: 6th Overall Tour de Wallonie
: 9th Overall Tour de l'Avenir
: 10th Tre Valli Varesine
;2003
: 3rd Overall Giro d'Italia
: 3rd Overall Tour de Wallonie
: 5th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
: 6th Coppa Ugo Agostoni
: 7th Overall Tour de Romandie
: 7th Giro della Provincia di Lucca
: 9th Overall Giro della Liguria
: 10th Giro dell'Emilia
;2004
: 1st Trofeo Androni Giocattoli
: 5th Overall Giro d'Italia
::Held 20px Maglia Rosa for Stages 13–16
: 8th Overall Regio-Tour
: 9th Overall Tour of Austria
: 10th Firenze–Pistoia
;2005
: 1st 20px Overall Volta a Catalunya
: 4th LuK Challenge Chrono (with Paolo Savoldelli)
: Tour de France
::1st 20px Young rider classification
::1st Stage 4 (TTT)
;2006
: 1st Stage 12 Tour de France
: 1st Stage 2 (ITT) Vuelta a Castilla y León
: 3rd Overall Tour de Georgia
::1st Stage 2
: 4th GP Ouest–France
;2007
: 1st Stage 5 Paris–Nice
: 8th Overall Tour de France
::Stage 9 Combativity award
;2008
: 3rd Overall Paris–Nice
;2009
: 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France
;2013
: 9th Gent–Wevelgem
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Grand Tour
! scope="col" | 2002
! scope="col" | 2003
! scope="col" | 2004
! scope="col" | 2005
! scope="col" | 2006
! scope="col" | 2007
! scope="col" | 2008
! scope="col" | 2009
! scope="col" | 2010
! scope="col" | 2011
! scope="col" | 2012
! scope="col" | 2013
! scope="col" | 2014
! scope="col" | 2015
|- style="text-align:center;"
! scope="row" | 20px|link=|alt=A pink jersey Giro d'Italia
| 12
|style="background:#ddddff;"| 3
|style="background:#ddddff;"| 5
| —
| —
| DNF
| —
| 15
| —
| 63
| —
| 133
| —
| —
|- style="text-align:center;"
! scope="row" | 20px|link=|alt=A yellow jersey Tour de France
| —
| —
| —
| 12
| 25
|style="background:#ddddff;"| 8
| 24
| 41
| 85
| DNF
| 76
| —
| —
| —
|- style="text-align:center;"
! scope="row" | 20px|link=|alt=A red jersey Vuelta a España
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| 52
| —
| —
| —
| —
| 85
| 115
| 132
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Legend
|-
! scope="row" | —
| Did not compete
|-
! scope="row" | DNF
| Did not finish
|}