Gerben Karstens

Gerben Karstens (14 January 1942 – 8 October 2022) was a Dutch professional racing cyclist, who won the gold medal in the 100 km team trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics, alongside Bart Zoet, Evert Dolman, and Jan Pieterse. At the same Olympics he finished 27th in the individual road race. Karstens ranks 6th in all-time stage wins in Vuelta a España history.

Biography
After the Olympic Games, Karstens started a successful professional career, where he won six stages in the Tour de France, 14 stages in the Vuelta a España, 1 stage in the Giro d'Italia, and other races such as Paris–Tours and GP Fourmies. He became Dutch national road race champion in 1966.

In the 1974 Tour de France, Karstens finished second in the fourth stage. Afterwards, he forgot to take the doping tests. The tour organisation set him back to the last place of the stage results, and gave him 10 minutes penalty time in the overall classification, which made him lose his third place. One day later, the jury took the penalty time back. Thanks to 5 seconds of bonification that Karstens won during intermediate sprints, he took over the yellow jersey from Eddy Merckx. He wore yellow for one stage before losing it to Patrick Sercu after stage 6A, but he reclaimed the overall lead after stage 6B to spend another stage in Yellow before Merckx took over the lead for the remainder of the Tour.

Karstens died of complications from a stroke on 8 October 2022, at the age of 80.

Major results

 * 1962
 * Ronde van Limburg


 * 1964
 * Ronde van Noord-Holland
 * Ronde van Overijssel
 * Gold medal 100 km team time trial 1964 Olympic Games


 * 1965
 * Beveren-Waas
 * Sint-Amands
 * Rijen
 * Essen
 * Boom
 * Paris–Tours
 * Tour de France:
 * Winner stage 21


 * 1966
 * Acht van Chaam
 * Critérium des As
 * Dutch National Road Race Championship
 * Vuelta a España:
 * Winner stages 12, 15B and 17
 * Denderleeuw
 * Eede
 * Bonheiden
 * Tour de France:
 * Winner stages 3B and 9


 * 1967
 * Saint-Claid
 * Vuelta a España:
 * Winner stages 7, 10B, 17 and 18
 * Hamme


 * 1968
 * Belsele
 * Hansweert
 * Grand Prix de Fourmies


 * 1969
 * Gap
 * Rijkevoorsel
 * Putte-Mechelen
 * Langemark


 * 1971
 * Booischot
 * Heusden
 * Vuelta a España:
 * Winner stage 11A
 * Tour de France:
 * Winner stage 1B
 * Born
 * Koersel
 * Le Quillo


 * 1972
 * Pléaux
 * Ulestraten
 * Polderpijl
 * Plessala


 * 1973
 * Critérium des As
 * Omloop van het Waasland
 * Vuelta a España:
 * Winner stage 2, 5, 7 and 12
 * Giro d'Italia:
 * Winner stage 5
 * Zwijndrecht
 * Six days of London (with Leo Duyndam)


 * 1974
 * Nice-Seillans
 * Tour du Haut Var
 * Stekene
 * Vuelta a España:
 * Winner stage 16
 * Sint-Amandsberg
 * Tour de France:
 * Wearing yellow jersey for two days


 * 1975
 * Kamerik
 * Six days of Rotterdam (with Leo Duyndam)
 * Dongen


 * 1976
 * Gouden Pijl Emmen
 * Tour de France:
 * Winner stages 18C and 22B
 * Profronde van Pijnacker
 * Saussignac
 * Vuelta a España:
 * Winner stage 12


 * 1977
 * Dordrecht
 * Petegem-aan-de-Leie


 * 1978
 * Leiden
 * Mijl van Mares