Wouter "Wout" Wagtmans (10 November 1929 – 15 August 1994) was a Dutch

road bicycle racer 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 com ...

. Together with

Wim van Est Willem "Wim" van Est (25 March 1923 – 1 May 2003) was a Dutch racing cyclist. He is best known for being the first Dutch cyclist to wear the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification in the Tour de France of 1951, and for falling in ...

he belonged to the generation that brought great popularity to

cycling in the Netherlands Cycling is the second-most common mode of transport in the Netherlands, with 36% of Dutch people listing the bicycle as their most frequent way of getting around on a typical day, as opposed to the car (45%) and public transport (11%). Cycling ...

in the 1950s. In 1947, Wagtmans started as amateur, and two years later he became Dutch champion. In 1950 he was forced to be a professional cyclist, because he was said to take money after a victory. In his first day as a professional cyclist, he entered the Dutch professional championship, and only

Gerrit Schulte Gerrit Schulte (7 January 1916 – 26 February 1992) was a The Netherlands, Dutch professional Track cycling, track bicycle racer. Between 1940 and 1960 he won 19 Six-day racing, six-day races out of 73 starts and was one of the dominant Six ...

could keep ahead of him. After that, he had a glorious career. He entered 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 ...

eight times, 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 ...

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

. He won four stages: in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

in Gap he beat

Gino Bartali Gino Bartali, (; 18 July 1914 – 5 May 2000), nicknamed Gino the Pious and (in Italy) Ginettaccio, was a champion road cyclist. He was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice, in ...

in the final sprint, and ended fifth in the overall standings. Two years later he was the third Dutch winner in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. He also won three stages in the

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 ...

and several one-day races. He was also successful as a track rider and, together with

, in two-up time trials. Wout Wagtmans was a very popular cyclist, both because of his combativity and his enthusiasm. He received many nicknames, ''Olijke Woutje'', ''Dik Trom'', ''Zoeloe'', ''de Clown'' and ''het Kemphaantje''. He ended his cycling career in 1961, and in 1967 he was the leader of the Dutch Tour de France team, centered on

Jan Janssen Johannes Adrianus "Jan" Janssen (born 19 May 1940) is a Dutch former professional cyclist. He was UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, world champion and winner of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, the first Dutch rider ...

. After that he took over his father's transport company. At the end of the 1980s, he had a serious accident after which he was declared physically disabled. Wagtmans died in 1994, at the age of 64. Wout Wagtmans was the uncle of another successful cyclist,

Rini Wagtmans Marinus "Rini" Wagtmans (born 26 December 1946 in Sint Willebrord) is a former Dutch professional road bicycle racer. He was the nephew of Wout Wagtmans, a former professional who had won the Tour de Romandie stage race in 1952. His father was ...

Major results

;1949 : amateur road race champion ;1950 : Acht van Chaam :Oosterhout :Rotterdam :Ronde van Noord-Holland :Halsteren ;1951 :Leopoldsbrug :Terneuzen :Wouw :Oostbrug ;1952 : Acht van Chaam :

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 ...

;1953 :Ronde van Haspengouw :

: ::Winner stages 17 and 21 ::5th place overall classification :

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling monument, Monuments' ...

::3rd place overall :Hoensbroek ;1954 :Helmond :Sint-Willebrord :

: ::Winner stages 13 and 19 :

: ::Winner stage 1 ::Wearing

for seven days ;1955 :Drachten :Apeldoorn :

: ::9th place overall classification :

: ::Winner stage 19 ::Wearing

for two days ;1956 :

: ::Wearing

for three days ;1957 :Roma – Napoli – Roma :

: ::Winner stage 6 ::9th place overall classification ;1960 :Tour des Quatre-Cantons

External links

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagtmans, Wout 1929 births 1994 deaths Dutch male cyclists Dutch Tour de France stage winners Cyclists from Rucphen Dutch Giro d'Italia stage winners UCI Road World Championships cyclists for the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch sportsmen

Major results

See also

External links

References