Tyler Farrar (born June 2, 1984) is an American former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2017 for the , , , and squads.
Farrar's achievements include winning the 2009 Circuit Franco-Belge and the 2009 and 2010 Vattenfall Cyclassics. In Grand Tours, Farrar has won six individual stages, as well as assisting in two team time trial wins.
Farrar started racing at 13, and rode for in 2003, in 2004, and in 2006 and 2007. In April 2006, he crashed near the finish of the Circuit de la Sarthe, which resulted in a broken collarbone, causing him to miss most of the season. For the 2008 season, he transferred to .
He has won stages in the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, Tour de France, Three Days of De Panne, and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. He wore the yellow jersey on stage three of the 2008 Tour of California after winning intermediate sprint points during stage two.
Until the end of his career in 2017, Farrar lived in the Belgian city of Ghent, where he was made an honorary citizen in 2012. He was fluent in Dutch and was popular in Flanders.
In May 2011, Farrar withdrew from the Giro d'Italia as a mark of respect for his friend and training partner Wouter Weylandt, who was killed in an accident during the race. This tragedy occurred on stage 3 and on stage 4 the teams agreed not to race at all as they completed the entire stage at a steady pace with each team taking ten kilometers at the front with no attacks being made and the peloton staying together the entire time. Three kilometres from the finish Weylandt's eight teammates on Team Leopard-Trek came to the front and were also joined by Farrar, even though he was riding for Garmin-Cervelo. The nine riders rode together side by side as the rest of the peloton stayed back and as they approached the finish they did so arm in arm for the final fifty or so meters, all crossing the line together. The entire Leopard-Trek team and Farrar bowed out of the race following this tribute to their fallen teammate.
On July 4, 2011, Farrar won his first Tour de France stage, Stage 3 from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon, becoming the first American to win a stage of the Tour on the Fourth of July. It would be ten years before another American would win a Tour de France stage.
Farrar crashed four times in the 2012 Tour de France, including a sprint-finish crash, after which he stormed the team bus to confront Tom Veelers, whom he blamed for the incident. He later took his first two wins of the season at the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge. In the opening stage of that race, Farrar arrived in Telluride with a field of 57 riders and won a reduced bunch sprint at the finish. Afterwards, he stated that he was surprised to have survived the mountainous terrain to be able to contend for the sprint. Farrar won again in the fifth stage of the race, dedicating the win to his former Madison partner Mike Creed, who had been raising money for the victims of the Waldo Canyon fires. Due to his two wins he consolidated enough points to win the green jersey. Later in the season, Farrar crashed heavily during the first stage of the Tour of Britain, reportedly suffering a concussion. In October, Farrar was given clearance to train by the team doctor, Prentice Steffen, who stated: "The health of the athlete is always our top priority."
Farrar has a reputation for causing or being involved in crashes. Alessandro Petacchi noted that Farrar had crashed 18 times in the 2013âÂÂ2014 seasons, commenting "There is probably a reason for this". Farrar denies using reckless or uncoordinated tactics, and ascribed most of his numerous crashes to "realities of modern cycling".
After seven years with , Farrar signed with for the 2015 and 2016 seasons and again for the 2017 season. After riding in the 2017 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, Farrar announced his retirement from competition.
When Farrar took the stage victory in the 2011 Tour de France it gave him a stage win in all three grand tours. Tyler Hamilton is the only other American to have accomplished this.
After retiring from cycle racing, Farrar became a firefighter in Kirkland, Washington, as part of the City of Kirkland Fire Department.
Farrar appears in the opening titles of ITV London morning weather forecasts. The forecasts are sponsored by Transitions Lenses who also sponsor Farrar's cycling team. In 2010, Transition Lenses featured Farrar in its online advertisements.