Hennie Kuiper

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Hennie Kuiper

Kuiper in 1988
Personal information
Full name	Hendrikus Andreas Kuiper
Born	(1949-02-03) 3 February 1949 (age 75) Denekamp, Netherlands
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-Rounder
Professional teams
1973–1974	Rokado–De Gribaldy
1975	Frisol–G.B.C.
1976–1978	TI–Raleigh–Campagnolo
1979–1980	Peugeot–Esso–Michelin
1981–1983	DAF Trucks–Côte d'Or
1984	Kwantum–Decosol–Yoko
1985	Verandalux–Dries
1986–1987	Skala-Skil
1988	Sigma–Fina
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 3 individual stages (1976, 1977, 1978) 2 TTT stages (1976, 1978) Vuelta a España 2 individual stages (1975, 1976) Stage Races Tour de Suisse (1976) Single-Day Races and Classics Olympic Road Race (1972) World Road Race Championships (1975) National Road Race Championships (1975) Tour of Flanders (1981) Giro di Lombardia (1981) Paris–Roubaix (1983) Milan–San Remo (1985)
Medal record Representing the  Netherlands Men's road bicycle racing Olympic Games 1972 Munich Individual road race World Championships 1975 Yvoir Professional road race

Hendrikus Andreas "Hennie" Kuiper (born 3 February 1949) is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career includes a gold medal in the Olympic road race at Munich in 1972, becoming world professional road race champion in 1975, as well as winning four of the five "Monument" classics. He rode the Tour de France 12 times, finishing second twice and winning the stage to Alpe d'Huez on two occasions. Kuiper, Ercole Baldini, Paolo Bettini and Remco Evenepoel are the only riders to have won both the Olympic road race and the world professional road race.

Kuiper was born in Denekamp, in Overijssel province. His serious introduction to the bicycle was to and from school in Enschede. He started participating in junior races from 14 and from 19 to 23 he won 39 times as an amateur. The climax of his amateur career was gold in the Olympic road race in Munich in 1972, riding the final 40 km alone.^[1] He also won the Tour of Britain (Milk Race) that year.

Kuiper turned professional in 1973 with the small German team Haro-Rokado. His career took off in 1975 when he signed for the Dutch team, Frisol, where he got more chances to shine and formed a partnership with José De Cauwer (who worked for Kuiper in races) that lasted until 1980. The 1975 season saw Kuiper become world champion at Yvoir in Belgium, winning a tough race over 260 km, with 21 ascents of a 3 km (2 mi) climb.

Kuiper signed for TI–Raleigh in 1976 and finished second in the 1977 Tour de France 48 seconds behind Bernard Thévenet, who later admitted using steroids. Kuiper won the mountain stage at Alpe d'Huez, a feat he repeated in 1978. Kuiper finished fourth in the 1979 Tour and second in 1980 behind fellow Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk. That second place ended his best years as a stage race rider and in 1981 he moved to DAF Trucks and reinvented himself as a one-day classics rider. 1981 saw him win the Tour of Flanders and the Giro di Lombardia while in 1983 he won Paris–Roubaix, his 11th attempt at the hell of the north. In 1985, at 36, he won Milan–San Remo. His retirement came on 6 November 1988 at 39 at a small cyclo-cross at Oldenzaal in his home province.

After retirement Kuiper managed the small German pro squad Team Stuttgart between 1989 and 1990. In 1991 he became head of the Telekom team. In 1992 he was approached by Jim Ochowicz, manager of the American Motorola team, to become assistant team manager. Kuiper stayed with Motorola for four years. Since 1997 he has worked for the Rabobank team in public relations, as well as coaching the Dutch national team on occasions. He has two sons from his first marriage with Ine Nolten: Patrick Kuiper and Bjorn Kuiper. He lives with his second wife, Marianne, in Lonneker.

Grand Tour	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988
Vuelta a España	—	—	5	6	—	—	—	—	—	—	5	—	—	—	—	—
Giro d'Italia	16	DNF	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	22	44	—
Tour de France	—	—	11	DNF	2	DNF	4	2	30	9	DNF	56	DNF	—	—	95

DNF = Did Not Finish

• List of Dutch Olympic cyclists

• Hennie Kuiper at Cycling Archives
• Hennie Kuiper at ProCyclingStats
• Hennie Kuiper at CycleBase
• Hennie Kuiper at Olympedia
• Official homepage of Hennie Kuiper
• Official Flickr homepage of Hennie Kuiper