Erik Dekker

Erik Dekker
Personal information
Full name Hendrik Dekker
Born (1970-08-21) 21 August 1970
Hoogeveen, Drenthe, Netherlands
Team information
Current team Rabobank
Discipline Road
Role Directeur sportif
Rider type Classics specialist
Professional team(s)
1992 Buckler
1993–1994 WordPerfect
1995 Novell
1996–2006 Rabobank
Managerial team(s)
2007– Rabobank
Major wins

Grand Tours

Tour de France
4 individual stages

Stage Races

Tirreno–Adriatico (2002)
Ronde van Nederland (1997, 2000)

Single-Day Races and Classics

Dutch Road Race Championship
(2004)
Dutch Time Trial Championship
(1996, 2000, 2002)
Amstel Gold Race (2001)
Clásica de San Sebastián (2000)
Paris–Tours (2004)

Other

UCI Road World Cup (2001)
Infobox last updated on
July 14, 2011

Hendrik "Erik" Dekker (born 21 August 1970) is a retired Dutch professional road racing cyclist active from 1992 until 2006. He was a member of the Rabobank cycling team from 1996 till 2006. In 2007 he became one of Rabobank's team managers.

Cycling career

Amateur career

Dekker rode his first race at eight, and soon became successful. In 1985 he was invited to join the national selection for juniors. As an amateur, his most important results were second places at the youth world championships in Bergamo in 1987 and at the road race in the 1992 Summer Olympics. In that Olympic road race, Dekker got away at 30 km before the finish, together with Fabio Casartelli and Dainis Ozols.[1][2] Dekker was outsprinted by Casartelli, but was so happy that he won a medal that he also finished with his arms in the air.[3]

Directly after the Olympic Games, he became professional, and rode his first race a few weeks later in the Tour de l'Avenir.[3]

Professional career

His first win as a professional was a stage of the Tour of the Basque Country of 1994, the year he rode his first Tour de France. In 1997 Dekker won the Ronde van Nederland, but a large part of 1998 was lost because of injuries.

In 1999, Dekker was sanctioned for a few weeks because of a too high hemotacrit-level.[4] This meant that he could not start in the World Road Race Championship.

The year 2000 was Dekker's best. He won three stages in the 2000 Tour de France, although neither a sprinter nor a favourite for the overall win, and was voted most combatitive cyclist. In the autumn of that year, Dekker won his first classic, the Clásica de San Sebastián.

In 2001 Dekker won the Amstel Gold Race and the UCI Road World Cup. In the 2001 Tour de France he took a stage, after having helped his team mate Marc Wauters to a stage win. At the end of the year he was named Dutch Sportsman of the year.

The years 2002 and 2003 were less successful because of injuries. He came back in 2004 in the spring classics and a victory in Paris–Tours. He had announced his retirement for the autumn of 2006, but he crashed heavily in the 2006 Tour de France and decided to stop.

Managing career

In 2007, Dekker started as team manager of the Rabobank team.

Major results

1992
1994
1995
  • Tour of Sweden
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
  • Grand Prix Erik Breukink
2004
2006

See also

References

  1. ↑ Official Report 1992 Olympic Games
  2. ↑ "Erik Dekker Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Tour de France 2009 – Key Moments – Stage 6". letour.fr. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
  4. ↑ Onderzoek naar Dekker duurt nog weken
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Rolf Sørensen
Serhiy Honchar
Viatcheslav Ekimov		 Winner of the Ronde van Nederland
1997
2000
2004 		Succeeded by
Rolf Sørensen
Léon van Bon
Final winner
Preceded by
Erik Zabel		 Winner of the Amstel Gold Race
2001 		Succeeded by
Michele Bartoli
Preceded by
Rudie Kemna		 Dutch National Road Race Champion
2004 		Succeeded by
Léon van Bon
Awards
Preceded by
Pieter van den Hoogenband		 Dutch Sportsman of the Year
2001 		Succeeded by
Jochem Uytdehaage
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