In the first of a two part look at Hennie Kuiper, Euro Peloton looks back on the career of one of the greatest cyclists of the modern era. Look for part two next week, an intimate sit down interview with the former Dutch/world/Olympic road cycling champion.
Hennie Kuiper, a professional for 16 years, was a classic throwback rider capable of winning any race he entered. A former world and Olympic champion, Kuiper’s palamares dwarf those of most of his peers. Indeed, his five-tool cycling talent (time trialing, climbing, sprinting, attacking, panache) resembled that of the great Eddy Merckx.
World champ at 23 years old in Munich
An Olympic champ at the tender age of 23, Kuiper took the Gold medal on the road in the 1972 Munich Olympics. By 1975, he was poised on the edge of greatness, as he won the world cycling championship and placed 5th overall in the Vuelta. As the reigning Dutch national champion that year, Kuiper came into his own as a rider who could beat any one on any day.
At the front with a very select group at Roubaix in '81. Trailing Kuiper are Moser, De Vlaminck, and Hinault (obscured). He'd go on to finish 6th that year, as Hinault prevailed
From 1976 through 1978, Kuiper posted strong placings in the Grand Tours, finishing fourth and then second overall in the Tour de France, and taking the stage to Alpe d’Huez for two years straight. For many riders, winning once on the Alpe is unthinkable. Kuiper did it twice in a row. In 1979, he took 3rd at Paris-Roubaix, and his love affair with the “Hell of the North” was hatched. He raced the event with all his heart throughout his career, and expressed that it was his favorite race, even above the Tour de France. “Paris-Roubaix was my favorite race, made for me. I was nine times in the top ten. It was a hard race, you suffered long, you never gave up, and for me, that was good. I could survive and I never gave up.”
Kuiper took Alpe d'Huez two years in a row, exhibiting his excellent climbing skills
His first Classics win wouldn’t come until 1981, when he won the Ronde Van Vlaanderen ahead of fellow Dutchman Jan Raas, who would win his first and only Flanders two years later. It was a gradual build up for Kuiper, as he placed 2nd at the Tour of Romandy in ’78 and 2nd at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in ’80. His Ronde victory was really a confirmation of what many already knew: Kuiper was a legend in the making.
Kuiper suffers through one of his forgetable moments on the cobbles, a crash
In 1983, Kuiper finally took the “Queen of the Classics,” his beloved Paris-Roubaix. He beat Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle and Francesco Moser that year, forever entrenching himself into cycling lore as a Flanders/Roubaix winner, a rarity in the sport. Two years later, his final Classics win, at “la primavera” Milan-San Remo, showed Kuiper's tremendous versatility. He could climb with the best at the Tour, power away in the northern Classics and sprint away from the field at MSR. He was, like his contemporary the great Eddy Merckx, a true every day rider.
Winning his first Classic, the Ronde, in 1981
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1 comments:
Hennie's my hero! His second place (by only 48 seconds) in the 1977 TdF came at the hands of Thevenet, who later admitted to some serious steroid abuse.
That robbed Kuiper of the Tour win that was rightfully his.
I think Lucien Van Impe once said that Kuiper was the smartest "natural" rider in the peleton; he always knew where to be when the pack split up, and never suffered in the wind unless he had to...
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