Awesome Dutch Dudes: Hennie Kuiper
We’re an under-appreciated people, the Dutch. As a society, we have led the European standard of civilization. Always ahead of our time in terms of accepting new ways of doing things, we have long paved the way in areas such as social and economic reasoning, or in how long you can reasonably expect to resist an invading army before surrendering (not very long).
The list of gifts we’ve given the world is endless: the stock market is our invention, as is its corruption. Almost in tandem to inventing money, we invented New York City before happily handing it over to the English on the strict condition that they not kill us in exchange.
Linguistically, the term “Yankee” is Dutch in origin; people coming to visit New York City found a “Jan Kees” on every street corner. “Jan Kees” is a typical Dutch name pronounced, “yan-kay-se”. Give a few Americans room to breathe in the space of Dutch Pronunciation and you end up with a word like “Yankees” before long. We also gave America the term “boss”, which originated from the Dutch word for manager, baas. Not to mention Santa Claus.
The Dutch are a tough and ingenious people, out of necessity. This is a windy, highly populated land which lies largely at or below Sea Level. In the States, when you live at elevation, we generally think of people who live at two or three thousand meters. I have family in Dutchland who also live “at elevation”. They live at four meters. If you’re thinking “Civil Engineering”, then you’re right; this is a country for which keeping the sea out figures significantly in both Political and Social Science. In about 1100 A.D., the Dutch came up with the idea of building dikes to block off the sea and to leverage the abundant power of the wind to keep the water out. Since then, the principle that keeps The Netherlands dry has been largely unchanged.
A country this Awesome is bound to produce some seriously badass cyclists, and this new series is devoted to them. I also don’t really expect the other Keepers to contribute many articles to it, though I have occasionally been wrong before, so it’s possible I’m wrong now.
As a Sport, I think we’ve lost sight of the versatility of a cyclist. These days, we seem preoccupied with what we’re not. Classics riders aren’t climbers; climbers aren’t for the classics. Sprinteurs can’t climb, and rouleurs can’t sprint.
Hennie Kuiper disagreed. He believed that riding a bike involved pushing on his pedals and making his go faster than the others could make theirs go. Over cobbles, up hills, in sprints, or Grand Tours. Kuiper took Olympic Gold in the 1972 Road Race. He became World Champion in 1975. He claimed the most prized of mountain-top finishes by winning l’Alpe d’Huez in 1977 and 1978 (after the disqualification of Michel Pollentier).He won sprint finishes, and he finished in the top five in the Tour de France four times, including second twice behind admitted dopers (one of them a Dutch guy, the other French).
For me, his greatest example of being an Awesome Dutch Dude came in his 1983 win at Paris-Roubaix. Here we have a rider who is in the lead of the Queen of the Classics, within arm’s reach of the finish when he destroyed his back wheel to avoid a spectator. For anyone not paying attention, we call that kind of thing “a massive bummer”.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6C52LNMbOo[/youtube]
My best effort at a translation of the video:
It wasn’t such a bad sector, actually; it laid in there quite nicely. It’s nice and smooth, when you look at it from down low. It actually rides well. And what I did…actually, every bit of 500m, I zig-zag a bit and criss-cross from the asphalt to here, there, and back until I got to the turn and I get to a supporter – who wants to make a photo of the leader in the race – and I think, ‘well, he’ll step aside or he’ll let me through’, but he’s looking through his camera, so he stood still…and so I had to make a very unusual movement.
Kuiper collides with the rider and destroys his back wheel. Leading Paris-Roubaix, he has to wait for a new bike or a new wheel at least. There’s no going on with what he’s got.
It was 30 seconds, but it felt like hours. Hours, seconds, minutes, hours. Its all the same. {indecipherable} But still I won. It was my eleventh Paris-Roubaix and I really wanted to win it eventually, so I trained very, very hard and then it still almost goes awry, but yet you win. Only afterwards do you understand what meaning that holds for you.
It is something that radiates from me and from Cycling: that with hard, hard work, you can win Paris-Roubaix and you can achieve something in Cycling. And if you look at it like that, mine is one of the nicest victories.
I can’t think of many other riders from the post-war era who won a mountaintop finish in the Tour as well as a cobbled classic; let alone the stage to l’Alpe d’Huez and Paris-Roubiax. Awesome Dutch Dude, indeed.
More shots of Kuiper, in General Badassedness.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Kuiper/”/]
@frank
Well hey, if Thor ever gets a P-R win, he’ll have done just that.
I think that for Visconti compete in 2012 for Movistar it’s his last chance for a real breakthrough. I don’t know his program, but let him race only the Giro, without the Spring Classics looks like an error to me. I think he’s good, very good, but be great is another thing, let’s see.
Here his last appearance in the Farnese kit. (Il Lombardia 2011)
Hi Frank, good story, thanks for this. And it’s good to see I am not the only dutch Velominati on the world. I’d love to see the other episodes. maybe Jo de Roo? Mentioned in Il Lombardia the movie.
Trailer for this movie: http://youtu.be/U_O8pSMIGFI
Greetings from Utrecht.
@frank
Janssen actually did win a mountaintop finish, if I’m not mistaken. If only I had that book still here…
@DerHoggz
No, he won a mountain stage, not a mountaintop finish – he’s buggered completely when it comes to real climbing. His awesome win was on the merit of his gnarly descending skills; the climbers smoked him on the way up!
That notwithstanding, his was a huge display of versatility – but the point is to win a stage like l’Alpe d’Huez which is considered one of the hardest uphill finishes to win as well as Roubaix, which is one of the hardest classics is very rare.
@Papageno
There’s a handful of us crazies out here, so you’re not alone! There are loads of Awesome Dutch Dudes…more installments coming!
@frank
Oh yes, they are out there. Every spring in honor of the Classics, a group of Dutch cycling enthusiasts in Milwaukee organize a “roughest roads we can find” ride between and around the little towns of Belgium, Wisconsin, which actually was settled by Luxembourgers in the mid-1800’s (and is the home of the Luxembourg-American Museum), and Oostburg, Wisconsin, settled by Dutch immigrants in the 1840’s.
@Buck Rogers
ok, then:
Fausto Coppi:
– Paris-Roubaix (1950)
– L’Alpe d’Huez (1952)
Louison Bobet
– Paris-Roubaix (1956)
– Ronde van Vlaanderen (1955)
– TdF Mountain classification (1950)
Gianni Bugno
– Ronde van Vlaanderen (1994)
– L’Alpe d’Huez (1990, 1991)
I’m sure I could dig up more but I just can’t be bothered. :)
@The Tashkent Error
:)
I was not doubting that riders had done both in the past, but I am a huge LeMan fan and had to keep his honour intact! (still think he should have dropped The Badger on the climb and won it solo. But at least Hampsten manged to leave an American face in the winners list six years later).
@Frank
“Joopie is, of course, a class act, but he’s one of those riders that I’ve never been able to get thrilled about. Seemed he lacked a certain edginess; not sure what. But a great rider for sure. And an amazingly long career.”
I know what you mean Frank, I’ve always felt similar. Zoop was on the down side of his career when I started following racing. Even as a kid I remember thinking that he seemed like a nice guy who just lacked the killer instinct of Hinault and some others. A great career for sure, but a lot of second places in there.
I hate to say it, but something about Andy Schleck has always reminded me of him….
Maybe he’s not a cyclist, but he sure is Dutch: Wim Hof.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof
Just read this article again and I think Thor was never closer than that day until this happened
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq6VFedi9XQ
Silly guy in a grey sweater ‘Geert pas op’.Ha.
Something is wrong with the link.Trying again here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq6VFedi9XQ
@TommyTubolare
There’s a version of that scene somewhere with Norwegian commentary, the way they start to freak out as he crashes is just fantastic!
Here it is, but you’ll have to click the “View at YouTube” link and then skip to about 1/4 way into the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYqFGvIPcSo
@frank
Thanks a lot.I like this one also
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T7TOTu3MyU
By the way the guy in the white Colnago sweater was on 2011 Zipp brochure plus few others.He got the spot for himself for sure.
@frank
Yes frank! This Norwegian duo is fucking awesome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS9qqXSoANM&feature=related
No idea where to put this as it ain’t cycling, but it is Dutch people being casually hard as nails.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WhvJDnxw-U
Man with a gun (WITH A GUN) tries to rob a pub in Rotterdam and nobody pays any attention to him. Until they chase his arse out of there.