Hennie Kuiper

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 and Paolo Bettini are the only riders to have won both the Olympic road race and the world professional road race.

Biography
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. He also won the Tour of Britain (Milk Race) that year.

Professional career
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 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.

Team manager
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.

Major results

 * 1970
 * 3rd Overall Tour of Yugoslavia
 * 1st Stage 2


 * 1971
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Circuit de Saône-et-Loire
 * 1st Stage 5 Tour of Yugoslavia
 * 1st Stage 1a Trois jours de Hénin Liétard
 * 3rd Overall Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
 * 1st Stage 7


 * 1972
 * 1st Gold medal olympic.svg Road race, Olympic Games
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Milk Race
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Ronde van Drenthe
 * 2nd Overall Tour du Limousin
 * 10th Overall Trophée Peugeot de l'Avenir


 * 1973
 * 1st Stage 2 Tour de l'Aude
 * 2nd Züri-Metzgete
 * 4th Overall Tour de Luxembourg
 * 5th Amstel Gold Race
 * 10th Overall Volta a Catalunya


 * 1974
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour d'Indre-et-Loire
 * 1st GP Union Dortmund
 * 2nd Paris–Camembert
 * 7th Overall Paris–Nice
 * 7th Overall Volta a Catalunya
 * 9th Züri-Metzgete


 * 1975
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Road race, UCI Road World Championships
 * 1st MaillotHolanda.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * 2nd Grand Prix Le Télégramme de Brest
 * 2nd Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
 * 3rd Trofeo Baracchi
 * 4th Overall Tour de Luxembourg
 * 5th Overall Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stage 18
 * 7th Paris–Brussels
 * 9th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
 * 9th Amstel Gold Race
 * 10th Overall Tour of the Netherlands


 * 1976
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stages 4 & 5a (TTT)
 * 2nd Overall Paris–Nice
 * 2nd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
 * 2nd Omloop Het Volk
 * 2nd Paris–Brussels
 * 3rd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 4th Paris–Roubaix
 * 5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
 * 5th Amstel Gold Race
 * 6th Overall Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stage 4
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour de Suisse
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 10th Overall Tour of the Netherlands


 * 1977
 * 2nd Overall Tour de France
 * 1st Stage 17
 * 2nd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
 * 3rd Amstel Gold Race
 * 3rd Paris–Tours
 * 4th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
 * 6th Paris–Brussels
 * 4th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
 * 8th Overall Tour de Luxembourg
 * 10th Paris–Roubaix
 * 10th Tour of Flanders


 * 1978
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stages 4 (TTT) & 16
 * 2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
 * 2nd Trofeo Baracchi
 * 3rd Rund um den Henninger Turm
 * 3rd Grand Prix des Nations
 * 4th Overall Tour de Suisse
 * 5th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
 * 5th Amstel Gold Race
 * 6th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
 * 6th Paris–Roubaix
 * 6th La Flèche Wallonne
 * 7th Overall Paris–Nice
 * 9th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 1st Prologue


 * 1979
 * 3rd Paris–Roubaix
 * 4th Overall Tour de France
 * 4th Overall Critérium National de la Route
 * 5th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre
 * 6th Grand Prix de Wallonie
 * 7th Overall Tour de l'Aude
 * 7th Tour of Flanders
 * 7th Grand Prix des Nations
 * 8th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
 * 8th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
 * 9th La Flèche Wallonne
 * 10th Giro di Lombardia
 * 10th Gent–Wevelgem


 * 1980
 * 2nd Overall Tour de France
 * 2nd Overall Tour d'Indre-et-Loire
 * 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
 * 4th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 4th Paris–Brussels
 * 5th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre
 * 5th Giro di Lombardia
 * 7th La Flèche Wallonne
 * 7th Grand Prix de Wallonie
 * 8th Gent–Wevelgem


 * 1981
 * 1st Giro di Lombardia
 * 1st Tour of Flanders
 * 2nd Overall Tour of the Netherlands
 * 6th Paris–Roubaix
 * 6th Giro dell'Emilia
 * 6th Nationale Sluitingsprijs
 * 7th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
 * 8th Paris–Tours
 * 9th Rund um den Henninger Turm


 * 1982
 * 1st Grand Prix de Wallonie
 * 2nd Overall Tour de Luxembourg
 * 2nd Trofeo Baracchi
 * 5th La Flèche Wallonne
 * 6th Amstel Gold Race
 * 6th Brabantse Pijl
 * 6th Paris–Tours
 * 7th Overall Paris–Nice
 * 8th Paris–Brussels
 * 9th Overall Tour de France
 * 10th Giro di Lombardia


 * 1983
 * 1st Paris–Roubaix
 * 2nd Trofeo Baracchi
 * 4th Giro di Lombardia
 * 5th Overall Vuelta a España
 * 6th Liège–Bastogne–Liège


 * 1984
 * 6th Grand Prix de Fourmies
 * 9th Paris–Roubaix
 * 10th Züri-Metzgete


 * 1985
 * 1st Milan–San Remo
 * 3rd Tour of Flanders
 * 5th Bordeaux–Paris
 * 6th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
 * 8th Paris–Roubaix
 * 10th Trofeo Laigueglia


 * 1986
 * 10th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen


 * 1987
 * 5th Rund um den Henninger Turm


 * 1988
 * 3rd Veenendaal–Veenendaal Classic
 * 8th Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
 * 10th Overall Critérium International

Grand Tour general classification results timeline
DNF = Did Not Finish