Raas in 1978
|
|||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Jan Raas | ||||||||||||
Born |
Heinkenszand, Netherlands |
8 November 1952 ||||||||||||
Team information | |||||||||||||
Current team | Retired | ||||||||||||
Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||
Role | Rider | ||||||||||||
Rider type | Classics specialist | ||||||||||||
Professional team(s) | |||||||||||||
1975–1976 | TI–Raleigh | ||||||||||||
1977 | Frisol–Thirion–Gazelle | ||||||||||||
1978–1983 | TI–Raleigh–McGregor | ||||||||||||
1984–1985 | Kwantum–Decosol–Yoko | ||||||||||||
Major wins | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Jan Raas (born 8 November 1952) is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, he also won the Tour of Flanders in 1979 and 1983, Paris–Roubaix in 1982 and Milan–San Remo in 1977. He won ten stages in the Tour de France. In six starts, Raas won the Amstel Gold Race five times.
Raas was a tactician and clever sprinter. He struggled on the long steep climbs but excelled on the short climbs characteristic of the northern classics.
Born in Heinkenszand, near Goes in Zeeland, Raas was the son of a farmer and one of 10 children. He showed no interest in cycling until leaving school at 16 when he acquired his first racing bike and started competing as a junior category, taking his first victory in Damme in Belgium on the 21 July 1969. Further success as an amateur, including stage wins in the Olympia Tour and the national championship, prompted Peter Post, the manager of TI–Raleigh, to offer Raas a contract for 1975
The 22-year-old had a good first season with two small victories and fourth in the Tour of Belgium. The following year (1976) saw him become national champion, but at the end of that year Raas parted company with TI–Raleigh, looking for more freedom to race.
In 1977 he rode for Frisol. Victories in Milan–San Remo and the Amstel Gold Race made Post rethink and Raas was back with TI–Raleigh for 1978. Raas became the influence behind the success of the team in the late seventies and early eighties. He was joint leader with Gerrie Knetemann, heading members such as Joop Zoetemelk, Ludo Peeters, Cees Priem and Henk Lubberding.