Peter Post

Peter Post (12 November 1933 – 14 January 2011) was a Dutch professional cyclist whose career lasted from 1956 to 1972. Post competed in road and track racing. As a rider he is best remembered for Six-day racing, having competed in 155 races and won 65. Because of this success he was known as “De Keizer van de Zesdaagse” or “The Emperor of the Six Days”. In road racing his main achievements were winning the 1964 Paris–Roubaix and becoming national road race champion in 1963. He was on the podium three times at the La Flèche Wallonne but never won. Post’s other nickname was “de Lange” or “Big Man” because he was tall for a cyclist.[1] After retiring from racing he had success as a Directeur sportif. Peter Post died in Amstelveen on 14 January 2011.[2][3]

Peter Post
Peter Post in 1977
Personal information
Full namePeter Post
NicknameDe Keizer van de Zesdaagse
The Kaiser of the Six-days
Born(1933-11-12)12 November 1933
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Died14 January 2011(2011-01-14) (aged 77)
Amstelveen, the Netherlands
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad/Track
RoleRider
Managerial teams
1974–1983TI–Raleigh
1984–1992Panasonic–Raleigh
1993–1994Novemail-Histor
Major wins
Paris–Roubaix (1964)
National road race champion (1963)

Road career

Post turned professional in 1956 with the small Dutch team R.I.H. He rode for the first few years with Gerrit Schulte, a track rider who also rode on the road and was an inspiration to him. Notable early career successes on the road came when he won the Ronde van Nederland in 1960 and the 1962 Deutschland Tour. In 1963 he became national road race champion as well as winning the Tour of Belgium.

Post in 1960
Peter Post in the Tour the France of 1979 at the height of his success as directeur sportif

In 1964 Post had his finest moment in road racing when he became the first Dutchman to win Paris–Roubaix. The race was run at top speed from the start and favourites Rik Van Looy, Raymond Poulidor and Rudi Altig were caught out by the fast pace and missed the decisive break at Arras. Post’s team mate, Willy Bocklant, was in the break and sacrificed his chances by keeping the pace high for his leader. Five riders entered the velodrome at Roubaix with Post winning the sprint by beating the world champion Benoni Beheyt in the finishing straight. The high pace ensured that Post was also awarded the Ruban Jaune for the highest speed in a classic, the 265 km run at 45.131 km/h. This 1964 record still stands as the fastest Paris–Roubaix although the route has been altered since then.[4][5]

Post was delighted with his victory, but always the businessman, his delight was increased when he realised his appearance money at the winter six-day races would be increased. In 1965 Post made his only appearance in the Tour de France but he abandoned before Paris. (He subsequently acknowledged that he had doped at the Tour de France.[6]) His only other noteworthy result on the road came in 1967 when he finished runner-up to Eddy Merckx in La Flèche Wallonne although he had wins in smaller races. Post was voted Dutch Sportsman of the year in 1964 and Dutch cyclist of the year in 1963 and 1970.[7]

Track career

Post rode his first six-day in 1956 and his first victory came in 1957 in Chicago, partnered by Harm Smits. Post had three partners with whom he had most success. In 1960 he teamed with Rik Van Looy and won ten sixes. In 1963 he formed his most successful partnership with the Swiss Fritz Pfenninger and they had 19 victories until 1967, when Post joined the Belgian Patrick Sercu, with whom he had 14 victories up to 1971 and his final and 65th six-day in Frankfurt. Post's 65 six-day wins stood as a record for a few years, beating Rik Van Steenbergen's 40 wins when at the Milan six in 1968 when partnered by Gianni Motta. However, since then René Pijnen (72 wins), Danny Clark (74 wins) and Patrick Sercu (88 wins) have all passed Post's total with Sercu as the new record holder.

Peter Post and Loek Kalis are getting married on 1 February 1965

Post won the Dutch individual pursuit championships six times between 1957 and 1963. He took 14 European track titles (mostly madison and derny races). In 1965 in Antwerp he set the derny-paced hour record of 63.783 km, beating Stan Ockers' record which had stood for nine years.

After retirement
Stone dedicated to Post on Allée Charles Crupelandt in Roubaix

Post retired from riding in 1972 and became directeur sportif of the TI–Raleighteam in 1974. He was a former rider who knew the inside of cycling but also a shrewd businessman who could negotiate with sponsors. Post had a reputation of being hard on riders but his success with TI–Raleigh was exceptional. Post had riders such as Hennie Kuiper, Gerrie Knetemann, Jan Raas and Joop Zoetemelk (all Dutch), one of the best squads in the world for a decade. Most impressive was the 1980 edition of the Tour de France. The TI–Raleighteam won 11 stages and Joop Zoetemelk won overall.

In 1983 Raleigh pulled out of sponsorship and Post found a new backer in Panasonic. The success continued, this time with mainly non-Dutch riders such as Phil Anderson, Eric Vanderaerden, Erik Breukink, Viatcheslav Ekimov, Olaf Ludwig and Maurizio Fondriest. After the withdrawal of Panasonic, Post led the Histor and then Novemail teams before leaving cycling in 1995. He is ranked as the second most successful director behind Lomme Driessens.[8] Post returned to cycling as an adviser to the Rabobank team in 2005.[9] He died on 14 January 2011.

Six-day wins
Nr.YearVenuePartner
11957ChicagoHarm Smits
21959AntwerpGerrit Schulte and Klaus Bugdahl
31959BrusselsGerrit Schulte
41959MünsterLucien Gillen
51960AntwerpGerrit Schulte
61960BerlinRik Van Looy
71960GhentRik Van Looy
81961CologneRik Van Looy
91961AntwerpRik Van Looy and Willy Vannitsen
101961BrusselsRik Van Looy
111961GhentRik Van Looy
121962-1BerlinRik Van Looy
131962AntwerpRik Van Looy
141962DortmundRik Van Looy
151963CologneFritz Pfenninger
161963MilanFerdinando Terruzzi
171963BrusselsFritz Pfenninger
181963ZürichFritz Pfenninger
191964CologneHans Junkermann
201964AntwerpFritz Pfenninger and Noël Foré
211964-2BerlinFritz Pfenninger
221964BrusselsFritz Pfenninger
231964ZürichFritz Pfenninger
241965-1BerlinFritz Pfenninger
251965EssenRik Van Steenbergen
261965AntwerpKlaus Bugdahl and Jan Janssen
271965DortmundFritz Pfenninger
281965BrusselsTom Simpson
291965ZürichFritz Pfenninger
301966EssenFritz Pfenninger
311966MilanGianni Motta
321966AntwerpFritz Pfenninger and Jan Janssen
331966GhentFritz Pfenninger
341966AmsterdamFritz Pfenninger
351967BremenFritz Pfenninger
Nr.YearVenuePartner
361967EssenFritz Pfenninger
371967AntwerpFritz Pfenninger and Jan Janssen
381967MilanGianni Motta
391967-2BerlinKlaus Bugdahl
401967FrankfurtFritz Pfenninger
411968MilanGianni Motta
421968RotterdamPatrick Sercu
431968LondonPatrick Sercu
441968-2BerlinWolfgang Schulze
451968GhentLeo Duyndam
461969BremenPatrick Sercu
471969AntwerpPatrick Sercu and Rik Van Looy
481969RotterdamRomain Deloof
491969LondonPatrick Sercu
501969DortmundPatrick Sercu
511969FrankfurtPatrick Sercu
521969AmsterdamRomain Deloof
531970ColognePatrick Sercu
541970BremenPatrick Sercu
551970AntwerpRené Pijnen and Klaus Bugdahl
561970GroningenJan Janssen
571970LondonPatrick Sercu
581970BrusselsJack Mourioux
591970ZürichFritz Pfenninger and Erich Spahn
601971RotterdamPatrick Sercu
611971-1GrenobleAlain van Lancker
621971AntwerpRené Pijnen and Leo Duyndam
631971LondonPatrick Sercu
641971BerlinPatrick Sercu
651971FrankfurtPatrick Sercu
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gollark: And it's *wrong*.
gollark: They literally do nothing with this except use it to write simple integrals slightly differently.
gollark: I mean, *look* at this.
gollark: AQA ones might be different, but we do Edexcel and they're mostly fairly trivial.

See also

References
  1. Peter Post at Cycling Archives Gives nicknames and birth date.
  2. PETER POST (77) OVERLEDEN. Telegraaf Media. 14 January 2011.
  3. Peter Post obituary
  4. "A Century of Paris–Roubaix" Gives information on 1964 Paris–Roubaix.
  5. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (The more things change, the more they stay the same)". Cycling Revealed.com. Retrieved 5 March 2008.
  6. History of the Tour de France and the Great Slikken., Geschiedenisportaal of the VPRO (Dutch Ref -Geschiedenis van de Tour de France en het Grote Slikken.)
  7. "Palmarès : Peter Post". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2009.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link). velo-club.net. Gives details of awards.
  8. "Directeur Sportif 1869 – 2008".. cyclingranking.com. Gives all time rankings of director sportifs.
  9. Jones, Jeff. (6 January 2005) Post to advise Rabobank. cyclingnews.com.

Bibliography
  • Cycling Heroes, Les Woodland, Springfield Books, ISBN 1-85688-042-7
  • A Century of Paris–Roubaix, Pascal Sergent, Bromley Books, ISBN 0-9531729-0-2

Media related to Peter Post at Wikimedia Commons

Awards
Preceded by
Henk Nijdam		 Dutch Sportsman of the Year
1963		 Succeeded by
Anton Geesink
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