“I knew every opponent inside and out, down to the smallest detail. My head was a database where I stored everything.”
To understand the golden era of Dutch cycling in the late 1970s and early 1980s is to understand Jan Raas. While his contemporaries like Joop Zoetemelk and Hennie Kuiper chased the high peaks of the Alps and Pyrenees, Raas forged his legend on the wind-swept cobbles and bergs of Northern Europe. He was not merely a rider of extraordinary physical gifts—possessing explosive “turbo-thighs” honed in the gale-force winds of his native Zeeland—but the ultimate tactician, a ruthless director in handlebars who mastered the art of divide and conquer.
With 14 major One-Day Classic victories, ten Tour de France stage wins, and the 1979 World Championship to his name, Raas stands as the undisputed Classic King of Dutch cycling history.
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