Rolf Wolfshohl (born 27 December 1938) is a former professional

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

and cyclo-cross

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cyclin ...

from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. Wolfshohl is best known in cyclo-cross for winning the

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

three times, and in road racing for winning the

1965 Vuelta a España The 20th ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 29 April to 16 May 1965. It consisted of 18 stages covering a total of , and was won by Rolf Wolfshohl of the Mercie ...

. He won the German National Road Race in 1968.

Biography

Wolfshohl started competing in cycling from 1953 at the age of 15 and won his first race in 1954. In 1956 Wolfshohl became Junior Champion of West Germany. The head of the velodrome in Dortmund, Otto Wederlin, wanted to turn Wolfshohl into a great six day track rider but Wolfshohl preferred cyclo-cross and road racing. Between 1957 and 1973, Wolfshohl took part fifteen times in the World Cyclo-Cross Championships where he won twelve medals. Three of these were gold. The first time that he reached the podium in the World championships of cyclo-cross was the bronze medal in 1958 behind the Frenchman André Dufraisse and the Italian Amerigo Severini. In 1960 and at the age of 21, he won the rainbow jersey in

Tolosa, Spain Tolosa (Spanish and Basque: ) is a town and municipality in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, in northern Spain. It is located in the valley of the river Oria, next by Uzturre, a local mountain topped by a white cross. Its economy relies primari ...

. Initially Italian

Renato Longo Renato Longo (9 August 1937 – 8 June 2023) was an Italian cyclo-cross racer. Longo won the World Cyclo-cross Championships five times in 1959, 1962, 1964, 1965 and 1967 and was the Italian Cyclo-cross champion 12 times. Biography Longo com ...

and Swiss Arnold Hungerbühler took a small lead in the race but halfway into the race, Wolfshohl bridged to the pair and then got away to win the gold medal. A year later he prolonged his title in Hanover. The course was said to have been made or designed especially for Wolfshohl. The UCI instructed that the course be made tougher but Wolfshohl was in great form and spent most of the race alone at the front. Longo came back to Wolfshohl in the second last lap but with an acceleration Wolfshohl dropped the Italian. In 1962 Wolfshohl was sick and could not finish the World Championship race. Rolf Wolfshohl 1972 Ajman stamp 2

In 1963 in Calais in France, Wolfshohl won his third and final world cyclo-cross title. In the first lap, Wolfshohl created a gap and got away to win the race. In the following years Wolfshohl focused more on road racing, using cyclo-cross in the winter. He competed and won medals in the World Championships but never the gold. In 1968 Wolfshohl had to return his silver medal at the Cyclo-cross World Championships because of a positive doping test. Wolfshohl became a professional road racer in 1960 by the Rapha-Gitane team. In 1962 he was beaten in a two-man sprint by

Jef Planckaert Joseph "Jef" Planckaert (4 May 1934 – 22 May 2007Décès de Jose ...

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège, also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Monuments'' of the European professional ...

. At that time Liège–Bastogne–Liège and

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week betw ...

were run on successive days as "Le Weekend Ardennais." Wolfshohl came seventh in La Flèche Wallonne and as a result won Le Weekend Ardennais in 1962. In the World Championships road race of that year, Wolfshohl finished fourth behind Jean Stablinski of France. In 1963

Milan–San Remo Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is ...

Wolfshohl and Joseph Groussard sprinted for the win. The sprint was very close and at first Wolfshohl was declared the winner but then Groussard was declared the winner. In the

while riding in the Mercier cycling team of defending champion

Raymond Poulidor Raymond Poulidor (; 15 April 1936 – 13 November 2019), nicknamed "Pou-Pou" (), was a French professional racing cyclist, who rode for his entire career. His distinguished career coincided with two other outstanding riders – Jacques Anquet ...

, Wolfshohl took the leaders jersey off his team leader on the eighth stage. Wolfshohl showed himself to be the strongest in the race and kept the leader's jersey to the finish where he won with six minutes advantage over Poulidor. As a road racer, Wolfshohl also won two stages in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consist ...

, the West German road race championships and

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlook ...

. His win in

was by just three seconds over Ferdinand Bracke. In the 1968 Tour de France Wolfshohl won the

yellow jersey The general classification is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey (french: maillot jaune ). History Th ...

after the 16th stage. In the 18th stage, Wolfshohl crashed on a descent and had to wait for his teammate. Wolfshohl would finish the race sixth. In total he won 140 road races and 110 cyclo-cross races. He retired in 1975 and began a bike shop. From 1995 until 2000 he was involved in the organisation of the

Rund um Köln The Rund um Köln is a classic cycling race around the German city of Cologne. Since 2005 it is part of the UCI Europe Tour, being organised as 1.1 race (in 2007 the race was categorised as 1.HC). It is one of the oldest cycling races still run ...

. After his career, he worked in his own company (trade with bicycles) in Köln.

Major results

;1958 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 3rd (Bronze), World cyclo-cross championship ;1959 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 2nd (Silver), World cyclo-cross championship ;1960 : 1st (Gold), World cyclo-cross championship : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship ;1961 : 1st (Gold), World cyclo-cross championship : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship ;1962 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 1st GP de la Bicicleta Eibarresa : 1st

Tour of the Basque Country The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: ''Itzulia Basque Country'', es, Vuelta al País Vasco, links=no, eu, Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual road cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April. It is one of the races th ...

;1963 : 1st (Gold), World cyclo-cross championship : 1st West German Road Race championship : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 1st

Grand Prix du Parisien The Grand Prix du Parisien was an annual road bicycle race held in Paris, France as a team time trial. It was approximately . Each team had six riders. The event was first held in 1961 and for the final time in 1965. From 1963 to 1965 it was pa ...

;1965 :

1st, Overall,

: 2nd (Silver), World cyclo-cross championship : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship ;1966 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 3rd (Bronze), World cyclo-cross championship ;1967 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship :

: ::Winner stage 15 : 2nd (Silver), World cyclo-cross championship ;1968 : 1st West German Road Race championship : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 6th, Overall,

: 1st

;1969 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 2nd (Silver), World cyclo-cross championship ;1970 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 3rd (Bronze), World cyclo-cross championship :

: ::Winner stage 20A ;1971 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship ;1972 : 2nd (Silver), World cyclo-cross championship ;1973 : 1st West German Cyclo-Cross championship : 3rd (Bronze), World cyclo-cross championship

References

External links

*
Official Tour de France results for Rolf Wolfshohl

History world championship cyclo-cross
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfshohl, Rolf 1938 births Living people German male cyclists Cyclo-cross cyclists Vuelta a España winners German Tour de France stage winners Cyclists from Cologne UCI Cyclo-cross World Champions (men) German cycling road race champions German Vuelta a España stage winners