Guest Article: Awesome Dutch Guys: Bert Oosterbosch
Ever heard of Bert Oosterbosch? No, neither had I until I came across this excellent (and comprehensive) account from @ErikdR. A story of triumph and tragedy if ever there was one, everything you need to know about the Dutchman’s short career and ultimately, life, is laid out here. Give yourself some weekend reading time and enjoy.
Yours in Cycling, Brett.
Joop Zoetemelk has won the Tour de France once, as you probably know. The year was 1980, and at the time, I was still living in my country of birth, the Netherlands; I was 22 years young and I remember watching Zoetemelk on TV as he came rolling across the finish line on the Champs Élysées, his arm pushed aloft by Gerrie Knetemann who finished at his side. One could argue for ages that this impressive feat could never have been accomplished if Le Blaireau hadn’t been forced to bow out of said Tour because of a dicky knee. True, perhaps – but as the saying goes: you only race against the guys who show up. Jopie won the Tour, and I consider him a worthy victor (and so did Bernhard Hinault himself, by the way, as he stated in an interview).
Zoetemelk was backed by one hell of a team. Consider the stats: The TI-Raleigh bikes for the team were assembled by a man who was allegedly one of the best custom bike-frame makers of his day, Jan LeGrand. The Directeur Sportif was none less than Peter Post, winner of numerous in-door track races as well as the fastest Paris-Roubaix in history, and among Joop’s teammates were legends (at least in the Netherlands) of the sport such as 5 times Amstel Gold race winner and 1979 World Champion Jan Raas, the 1978 World Champion Gerrie Knetemann and the then-reigning Dutch National Champion and climbing fool Johan van der Velde, to name but a few.
They also had a locomotive.
In Dutch, a locomotive is called ‘locomotief’ (go figure) – and that is the nickname that a few Dutch and Flemish journalists of the day as well as some members of the TI-Raleigh team themselves, had bestowed upon a carrot-topped, goofy-grinned, Big-Ring-Grinding, young monster of a time-trial specialist: Dutchman Bert Oosterbosch – one of my favorite racing cyclists of all time.
I became a fan of Bertje, as he was also affectionately referred to, in spite of the fact that he wasn’t the most successful racer of his generation by any standard. He didn’t climb or sprint very well, and as I recall it, he was often seen residing in exactly the wrong part of the peloton when things started getting serious. As a result, it would seem that his palmares – while very impressive – has not quite earned him a top spot in the hall of fame of Dutch cycling.
But Bert Oosterbosch was a cyclist who loved the work. And apart from winning numerous time-trials, he actually did manage to win quite a few races during which he had to share the road with other riders. As I remember it, he often accomplished this by relying on his single tactical advantage, i.e. the fact that, on good days, he could ride longer, harder and faster on a bicycle than just about anybody else. When Bertje finished first in a race that was not a time-trial, he usually did not win by polishing off his opponents’ plates before starting on his own. Rather, he just moved to the head of the field by sheer force and then proceeded relentlessly to grind everybody else into a pulp.
The video to which the link below relates illustrates the point, if somewhat obliquely. It does not contain very much live footage specifically featuring Bertje at work. What it does show, however, is instances of his team-mates and his DS referring to him with what I can only describe as ‘affectionate awe’. Their faces and voices speak volumes when they reminisce about a certain young rider who was so eager to demonstrate his cycling prowess that his teammates literally had to ‘reel him in’ a bit, to prevent him from tearing the legs off his own fellow-riders during Team Time Trials. (Bert Pronk, featured in the video, was (in)famously ridden out of that 1980 Tour by his own teammates on the first day, when he dropped off the back of a TTT at too early a stage, and finished outside the time limit! I like to think that Bert Oosterbosch was primarily to ‘blame’ for this regrettable but also remarkable incident.)
Watch the entire video, by all means, if you feel thus inclined, and if you can tolerate the guttural growls of spoken Dutch (and a snippet of French, by Monsieur le Blaireau lui-même) for 40 minutes. (You may have to yawn your way through a 15-second commercial before the actual video starts – sorry about that…) The link is:
http://wielrennen.blog.nl/tag/ploegentijdrit-ti-raleigh
If you’re pressed for time, you could skip to the bits at 08.20, 11.25 and/or 15.30 (if only for the sound-track – the delicious whirr and hum of several perfectly tuned 1980’s racing bicycles at very high speed), and then watch from 16.22 onward to 17.38. Or you can simply read the following, which is a rough transcript of what is being said in that latter section:
From approximately 16.22: Paul Wellens: “So, the strongest rider; the art of the matter is, that he must restrain himself somewhat, so that he doesn’t pull the entire line to pieces. You need a certain feeling for that, and to be the type of person who can put the team first.” Jan Raas: “A strong rider, who can really ride up a storm in a TTT; if he actually starts to go a lot faster than the rest – that’s not the idea, because he will demolish the other riders. You can only say that he shouldn’t ride harder or demonstrate how much faster he is – no, he just has to stay up there to set the pace for a longer time… if one rider can take a pull for, let’s say, 500 meters, and another rider is so much stronger, then just let him do, for example, 2 kilometers at the front – but preferably at a constant speed. Then, afterwards, the others will still be saying to him: ‘… Man, you were clearly the strongest out there today!'”.
Leo van Vliet: “Bert Oosterbosch was of course the type who, well, he wanted to demonstrate how good he was at this. Of course, as a time trial specialist, Bert hád to show everybody else how good he was at it”. Cees Priem: “Yes, Bert could… some of us could take as much as a kilometer at the front, but Bert would sometimes take two – and the more we praised him, the harder he worked. Bert was simply the best in that field”.
Peter Post: “He would often forget that a TTT was actually 75 or 80 kilometers long. We even did one of 100 km once. He forgot that, sometimes! He so loved to ride – and to ride fast – and he was so eager to show what he could do… Etc…” 17.38/Transcript End.
Love the work, indeed… I’m not sure whether anyone has coined the phrase “Heaven is having earned the respect of your peers” – but if not, I’d like to do so now. It seems clear to me that Bertje’s colleagues, who were, as mentioned, among the best racing cyclists around at the time, held him in very, very high esteem.
Bert Oosterbosch occasionally struggled with health issues during his career: he contracted meningitis twice, and severe knee problems forced him to give up professional cycling in 1988. Shockingly, he died in 1989 of sudden cardiac arrest, at the age of 32. His tragic death inevitably triggered speculations about drug abuse. We’ll probably never know the exact circumstances of his early demise, but regardless of the cause, his death at such a young age was of course terribly saddening.
I am grateful for having been around when he plied his trade, because in my humble opinion, he did so with admirable gusto and enthusiasm. I’m convinced that Bert Oosterbosch contributed a great deal to the second-ever Tour de France win by a Dutchman – but what I liked most about him was the fact that he radiated how proud and happy he was to be a racing cyclist, to such a degree that it became contagious and almost tangible. He played a big role in kindling my own interest and respect for the sport.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/brettok@velominati.com/Oosterbosch/”/]
As is often the case, a photograph – particularly a black-and-white one – is worth a thousand words. I grabbed the lead photo for this write-up from the YouTube video, and I find it very eloquent…
That’s Johan van der Velde in second position, in his National Champion’s jersey, and I think it’s Bert Pronk in third. Pain Cave, anyone? The next grimacing rider in the line is, of course, Joop Zoetemelk. Incredibly, to the right behind Zoetemelk you see Jan Raas actually talking to the rider on his right. (Jan went on to become a DS himself, and I’m fascinated by how he is already showing signs here of being the man with the plan, so to speak).
Toe clips, lugged steel frames, curvy and round alloy handlebars with brake cables merrily sprouting… Hairdo’s ruffled by the strong wind they’re creating themselves (I like to think that all caps save the one at far left have been blown clean off by the minor storm being whipped up by the rider in the lead). Teeth grinding, both those made of metal and the enamel ones. You can hear the lactic acid building in those legs.
Bert is at the front, of course, in the white jersey. Note how much lower he holds his head in relation to his shoulders, compared to the others – with the ginger hair in turmoil. Massive guns blazing, totally at the V-locus; completely focused – and yet, from the looks of it, smiling, almost? Busy doing what he did best.
R.I.P. Bertje – and thanks. It was fantastic to watch you at work.
Loved watching Bertie back in the day.
He made Sur La Plaque my mantra ever since.
:(
Beautiful story. Thank you.
Any roadie, who was also a trackie..is awesome by default in my book.
Fantastic piece on a fantastic rider. I think Jan Raas is saying to his neighbor “Holy fuck, does Bert know this is only kilometer five?” I think I read his nickname was “The Fireman” possibly because of his rerd hair, possibly because he always raced as if that’s where he was going.
In a fantasy head-to-head, Ti Raleigh would kick Sky’s ass – badly.
My first exposure to him was during the 1983 Tour of America, a short international stage race in the US, with a strong field which also included Roger DeVlaeminck. If I recall correctly (which would be remarkable after > 30 years), he crushed the Time Trial and held steadfast onto the overall win. Somewhere I have a VHS tape with a recording of the race broadcast. Thanks for stirring up that memory.
Tried to watch the video…. “Helaas, de pagina kan niet worden gevonden.”
what’d i do wrong?
A nice piece that brought back many memories. It was normal in those days that the Post boys would win between five and ten stages in the Tour–or at least it seemed that way. I’m wondering if the third rider really is Pronk, as he usually wore glasses. Cees Priem, maybe? (I’m having a hard time finding the full line-up for that year’s Tour).
@sinikl http://www.houtlijntrein.nl/?p=635
@sinikl
Nothing, the video was removed it seems… ErikdR kindly found another for our viewing pleasure.
@wiscot
Haha – yes! Nice one, sir.
Thanks for the kind reactions, gents – and thank you, Bretto, for taking care of that ‘video-issue’
Oh boy, I have something to look forward to this evening after work. Can’t wait, thanks, ErikdR!
I want to be that guy!
Superb history lesson! Thanks.
If I were a racing cyclist, I like to think I’d be the guy who didn’t have the most given abilities, but worked the hardest and did the most with what I had.
Oosterbosch means Eastwood, so I always referred to him as Clint Eastwood, says something about his character too… Made my day!
@Ron
Thanks Ron – and yes; same here. He was the kind of rider I’d hope to be; always eager and enthusiastic, never giving (too much of) a toss about tactics and just GOING for it whenever he felt he could…
@KogaLover
Eastwood! Cool; never thought of that before. Nice one!
Couldn’t help wondering about the Koga(s) that you probably have in your stable, with a name like that? I’m the proud owner of three Koga Miyata’s – but they’re all from the eighties (nostalgia, nostalgia). Two Road Speeds (one with a busted frame, which I intend to strip for parts) and a Road Speed L. And I’m forever scouring the Interwebs for a cobalt blue ‘FullPro’ in the right size…
Okay, no Dutch for me but…I couldn’t help watching the entire documentary. I know it’s a couple years old by now, but impressive how many of these guys still look young and have the spirit of a cyclist in their eyes.
@ErikdR
Awesome! I grew up playing a lot of different ball sports in the U.S. and I’m not the big. Also played soccer and lacrosse too, which are less size-intensive. But, never being the biggest always meant I had to have the most heart. I bet my VO2 isn’t that great, but I’d like to think I could have been a good racer based on my competitiveness.
I love(d) to play all sports by just going for it. My college coach was such a poor manager that he stole the love of play, creativeness, and will from me. Overcoaching, micromanaging, and mixed messages were his forte. One reason I walked away from lacrosse after my final college game, never looked back, and now have taken up cycling as my sporting passion.
I’ve always enjoyed just charging it, no matter the situation. The worst that can happen is that you don’t win on that day, right? But heck, it’s just a game.
@ErikdR Yep, love those Koga’s… See way too few articles on those steeds on this website ;-)
I have also a Koga Roadspeed (my current nr 1, color Indian Red) from 1982, still going very strong. Just bought a new Koga Signature (waiting for delivery) as n+1 and while we were at it, I bought a Koga X29 Team MTB and a 2nd hand Koga for the VMW to become a VMH. Those will all be Koga’s as they dropped the cooperation with Miyata already a couple of years ago, but carried the name until around 2010 or so.
@Ruud
It’s hard to tell – but good point about the glasses (there is a black-and-white ‘still’ of young Pronk somewhere in the video, where he is, indeed, shown wearing specs while riding his steed…)
I have a feeling that the face of Cees Priem is a bit more angular, with a heavier jaw, than the guy in the picture. Could it be Paul Wellens?
@Ron
I remember thinking that the documentary would probably be worth watching even for those who don’t speak/understand the language. The facial expressions speak volumes, most of the time. And I’m sure you will have appreciated the sound from those bicycles in the close-up TTT shots, too? (I was actually wondering how they had recorded that. My guess is: from a car, with a very light foot on the gas – almost coasting – as a motorcycle engine would probably have drowned the sounds of the bikes. But it’s all there: that amazing “whirr”. Love that sound. I’ll bet that Tomassini of yours can sound like that sometimes, when you run it hard through a tunnel or by a guardrail?
@KogaLover
Those Indian Red Road Speeds are absolutely beautiful. Mine are 1980 models – and the colour that year was ‘champagne’ – also very nice, really, but I must admit that the Indian red is even classier. Never been able to figure out what it is about that colour combination, exctly
– but it just fits. Absolutely iconic bike.
@ErikdR Yep, that’s exactly the one! Finally a pic of a Koga on this site, adhering even in 1980’s to Rule #26 (exception bidon in cage). My group-san is still orginal, only major change was pedals to SPD as I could not find old cleats anymore for my new shoes. Ditched the pump after having read Rule #30.
I have seen full-pro’s for sale on Dutch internet sites, so you should be able to find your n=4.
@ErikdR So this is your color? http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/fietsen-en-brommers/fietsen-racefietsen/m864673080-koga-miyata-road-speed-1980-himanga-arabesque-600-chrome.html?c=efb2ef4dc323389c4f92ed10afa33e3a&previousPage=lr
@ErikdR: did you see this one?
http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/fietsen-en-brommers/fietsen-racefietsen/m874816450-nette-koga-58-cm.html?c=efb2ef4dc323389c4f92ed10afa33e3a&previousPage=lr
@KogaLover
Cheers – and yes, that’s it exactly: Champagne RoadSpeed from 1980 with the Shimano 600 Group-San. Only difference is that the front fork on mine – like on your Indian Red version – is the same colour as the rest of the frame. I’ll put a picture of it up here at some point.
That FullPro is mouth-wateringly beautiful I must admit. That sort of bike (or, preferably, the all-blue version) is, indeed, what I’m hunting. But the thing is: as a Dutchman I am, of course, ridiculously tall (1.93 m or, I think, 6 ‘ 4″ or thereabouts). Hence, the Koga I’m looking for should preferably be a 63 cm frame. I’m sure it will pop up sooner or later.
I’m pretty sure the third rider is Paul Wellens – with a bandage on his left knee. The Raleigh team in 1980 comprised Zoetemelk, Knetemann, Lubberding, Ooserbosch, Priem, Pronk, Raas, Van de Velde, Van Vliet and Wellens.
The really interesting story behind the pic is that the TTT stage showed how ruthless Peter Post was in drilling his team. The TTT was the second part of a split stage on the first day of racing after the prologue – won by Hinault. The Raleigh team was built around Zoetemelk for the GC win, but other riders could go for stages. The picture is likely taken early in the stage because the opening pace was so fast that Pronk was dropped and eventually eliminated from the race. Oosterbosch and Lubberding punctured and were dropped at Raas’s demand but both finished inside the time limit. Raleigh won the stage and the time bonus of 2′ 15″ but real times counted for nothing.
At the end of the stage Raleigh held the yellow (Knetemann), green (Raas) and white jerseys (Van De Velde.) I expect there was no mountain jersey on offer that early in the race or the team would have had that one too! The post race meeting must have been “interesting.”
@ErikdR For your drooling pleasure: see
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vintagekogamiyata/15355259808/in/photostream/lightbox/
via http://www.vintagekogamiyata.com (1980, 63 cm, full blue but sold alas)
I bought a 60 cm back then but now going to 56 cm, frame geometry has changed a lot.
@wiscot Excellent stuff! Yes, Paul Wellens was my second guess – the features seem to match, somehow. As for the flying mop of hair barely visible above the left shoulder of Zoetemelk: could that be Henk Lubberding, perhaps? And something tells me that the guy to the extreme left, with the white cap, could be Cees Priem – but again, not sure.
I was aware of the fact that Pronk was ‘ridden out of the Tour’ by his own team on the first day (have mentioned it in the article, in fact) – but I didn’t know/remember the details about Lubberding and Oosterbosch puncturing. Live and learn, I suppose. And yes – in the documentary, they talk a good deal about ‘words being exchanged and tears being shed’ during the post race meeting (and that’s putting it mildly, I reckon)
Right – almost 8 p.m. on a Tuesday evening, so I’m off to the pub for quiz-night.
@KogaLover
Thanks for the links. Those are drool-worthy specimens indeed.
@ErikdR
Exactly. Just watching them speak, looking at their eyes, how they move their hands really lets on a great deal about what they are saying and how they feel about it. I’ve pretty much given up on U.S. sports and one reason is because so many of the athletes are either a) just there to pick up a paycheck b) complete morons who speak in cliches. It’s incredible to see these again superstars, who still look pretty darn fit, and hear them speak passionately. Even if I don’t know what they’re saying.
And wow, Henk’s hairdos throughout the years…we could have an Anatomy of a Photo(s) volume on just him.
Yes, the sounds of the bikes in the docu is incredible. Actually, seeing them storm into the velodrome (is it just a track?) at the beginning, awesome skinsuits, and the gleam coming off their wheels…that was superb. My Tommasini is so silky smooth it hardly makes a sound. Those Record hubs are incredibly smooth. I’ve still never touched them, but then again, I only ride that bike on dry sunny days.
@wiscot
The man with the cap is indeed Priem – I have an annotated image at home and checked. Lubberding behind VdeV? Not sure. He was a tall lad and unless he’s super low, it might not be him. From what I can tell, L to R is Priem, Zoetemelk, Van Vliet, Raas, Wellens, ? Oosterbosch. My bet for mystery rider is Pronk or Knetemann.
Just watched some of the video. Wow! What great stuff. Interesting to see how everyone has aged. Raas looks very grandfatherly, Pronk looks like a bank manager, Lubberding, Van Vliet and Van Der Velde have hardly aged and Post come across as never having has a second thought on anything.
@wiscot
“Post comes across as never having had a second thought on anything…” Ha; brilliant! Yes, absolutely… well played.
I’m 90% certain that the dark-haired guy immediately to the left of Oosterbosch is Johan van der Velde: the hair and face fit, and the jersey he is wearing doesn’t have the ‘colour switch’ on the shoulder like the other Ti-Raleigh jerseys (black sleeve to red chest). I believe that van der Velde, in that particular image, is wearing the Dutch national champion’s jersey (red, white and blue), with the entire upper section, including the shoulders, red… (The jersey can be seen, in third position, in the video from 08.20 and onwards.)
A man sitting on a white sofa, with a white desk, and a nice tan (Sint Maarten trip ahead of the filming?)…doesn’t have second thoughts.
@Ron
Heheh… right. Post is quite a character still. I really got a laugh out of what he says about the radio-contact ‘earplugs’ that are used in races nowadays. He claims that if such technology had been in use in his days as a DS, he would have been at a severe disadvantage – because the guys riding for him would have flatly refused to use them. (From around 15.15 in the video, Post says something along the lines of: “do you really think that my guys – Raas, Knetemann, van der Velde, Priem – would have stuffed one of those things into their ears? They would have told me to shove it. “We don’t want to listen to your bull**** all day on the road – we hear enough of it when we’re not racing…” or words to that effect. It”s priceless.
@ErikdR
I’m 100% sure it’s Van Der Velde. No doubt. He was Dutch champion.
@wiscot
Indeed – and sorry – I’d misunderstood one of your earlier posts, I think: (i.e. #31: “From what I can tell, L to R is Priem, Zoetemelk, Van Vliet, Raas, Wellens, ? Oosterbosch. My bet for mystery rider is Pronk or Knetemann”.)
I thought your ‘?’ referred to the clearly visible van der Velde, rather than the low-in-the-saddle guy who is almost invisible behind vdV’s back. Now I see what you mean – and yes, ‘almost invisible’ would probably be, as you say, either Knetemann or Pronk.
@ErikdR
Aarghh… When will I learn to do my homework/check my facts properly before posting? Post died at the age of 77
@ErikdR I think you’re right: Wellens. Really enjoyed watching the documentary, by the way. Had never seen it, but all those guys were heroes of mine back then. Great to hear Lubberding repeat his trademark warning: if a rider starts thinking, he’s lost.
Nice piece of history. Always impressed with the cycling lore posted here. I certainly like the pics of pre helmet races, the Pro’s seem more distinctive and approachable.