Johan van der Velde (born 12 December 1956 in

Rijsbergen Rijsbergen a town in the municipality of Zundert in the southern Netherlands. In the town used to be an AC (Aanmeldcentrum, i.e. Refugee, Asylum Request Center). Until 1997 Rijsbergen was an independent municipality, after which it was added to ...

) is a former Dutch

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

. In the

1980 Tour de France The 1980 Tour de France was the 67th edition of the Tour de France. The total distance was over 22 stages. In the first half of the race, Bernard Hinault started out strong by winning the prologue and two stages. However, knee problems forced H ...

, he won the young rider classification, also placing 12th in the general classification that year. He had been a racing cyclist for only a year. In the 1981 Tour de France, he took first place on the second and 21st stages, finishing 12th overall for the second year. He rode with

TI–Raleigh TI–Raleigh was a Dutch professional track cycling and road bicycle racing cycling team, team between 1972 and 1983. In that decade the team won over 900 races. The team was created and led by Peter Post. In his own cycling career, his nickname w ...

in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

from 1979 to 1983 and the

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

team where he won Stage 5 and wore the

Yellow Jersey The general classification of the Tour de France is the most important classification of the race and determines the winner of the race. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification has worn the yellow jersey ( ). History For the first t ...

for two days in the 1986 Tour de France.

Decline

He was distinctive in the peloton for his lean, long-legged appearance, his smooth pedalling style and his long hair. He rode in support of riders such as

Joop Zoetemelk Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk (; born 3 December 1946) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in Tour de F ...

, whom he could pace over mountains at impressive speed, but he was also capable of winning on his own. Success came to him early and, he said in an interview with the author Jan Siebelink ("Pijn is genot") that he had trouble coping when that success began to dry up. Van der Velde said he remembered shivering at the start of an Italian race, the skin of his arms wrinkled in goosebumps, because of the amphetamine he had taken just to start. Addiction to amphetamine and a lifelong habit of petty theft, which he said came from seeing his father bring home things he had stolen from work, brought him into trouble with the law. He was caught stealing lawnmowers and breaking into post office stamp machines to raise money to cover his addiction and his gambling. The jail sentence and the loss of all he had won forced him and his Belgian wife, Josée, to sell the villa they had owned. They moved into a series of anonymous houses and apartments. Van der Velde began hospital treatment for his addiction and became deeply religious. He began work on building sites, rarely saying who he was or what he had been, to rebuild his self-esteem. For many years he tried to keep his address and his identity secret.

Rehabilitation

Van der Velde is now often seen at junior races, where he accompanies his son, also a racer. He took part in a celebrity edition of the '' Big Brother'' television series in 2000 and has worked in public relations for the

Quickstep The quickstep is a light-hearted dance of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal ...

team, driving its guests at races. It was announced that van der Velde would join the new Roompot Orange Cycling Team as a driver for 2015. His manager at Ti-Raleigh,

Peter Post Peter Post (12 November 193314 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 wo ...

, said he had always considered Van der Velde the son that he had never had.

Career achievements

Major results

;1977 :

Tour de Liège The Tour de la province de Liège (English: Tour of the Province of Liège) is a cycling race held annually in the Liège province of Belgium. Although it isn't part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle rac ...

::1st Stages 3 & 5 ;1978 : 1st Overall

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. It ...

::1st Stages 1 & 5 : 1st Overall

Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after th ...

::1st Stage 4 : 1st Overall

Ronde van Nederland The Tour of the Netherlands ''(Dutch: Ronde van Nederland)'' was a road bicycle racing stage-race in the Netherlands, founded in 1948 in sports, 1948. It was an annual race since 1975 in sports, 1975. Because of the start of the Union Cycliste ...

::1st Stage 4 ;1979 : 1st Stage 2

;1980 : 1st Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ::1st Stage 6 :

::1st

Young rider classification ::1st Stages 1b ( TTT) & 7b (TTT) : 2nd Overall

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, ) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had ...

::1st Stages 1, 4a, 4b & 5 ;1981 :

::1st Stages 1b (TTT), 2, 7 (TTT) & 21 :

::1st Stages 1, 2 & 4 : 1st Prologue Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré : 1st Stage 5a

: 1st Stage 4b GP du Midi-Libre : 1st Stage 4

;1982 : 1st Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Stage 2

: 1st Stage 5a

: 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 9a (TTT) ;1983 : 1st

Züri-Metzgete Züri-Metzgete (Zürich German; ; ) was a European Classic cycle races, Classic cycle race held annually in Zürich, Switzerland, and continued as a non-professional mass participation event from 2007 until 2014. It was a race with a long history ...

: 1st Stage 5

Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme The Catalan Cycling Week (''Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme'' in Catalan language, Catalan) was a stage race, multi-stage road bicycle race held in Catalonia, Spain. Held annually from 1963 until 2005, it was run as a 2.HC race on the UCI Europe Tour ...

;1984 : 1st Stage 5a

;1985 : 1st Points classification,

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

: 1st

Coppa Bernocchi The Coppa Bernocchi is a European Road bicycle racing, bicycle race held in Legnano, Italy. From 2005 to 2019, the race was organised as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, before joining the UCI ProSeries in 2020. In 1 ...

: 1st Stage 4

;1986 : 1st Stage 5

: 1st Stage 19

: 1st Brabantse Pijl ;1987 : 1st Stage 3

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse () is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France, which is on the calend ...

: 9th Overall

::1st Points classification ::1st Stages 15 & 16 ;1988 : 1st Points classification,

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

Official website Johan van der Velde (Dutch)
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Velde, Johan Van Der 1956 births Living people Doping cases in cycling Dutch male cyclists Dutch sportspeople in doping cases Dutch Tour de France stage winners Cyclists from Zundert Dutch Giro d'Italia stage winners Tour de Suisse stage winners 20th-century Dutch sportsmen