The weapons of a farmer’s son

This is where it all began. On the narrow Schotbroekweg, which runs straight along the drainage canal, the foundation is laid half a century ago for the illustrious cycling career of Hennie Kuiper. It is as often the case here: a strong westerly wind blowing chillingly over land and water. He talks about the days of yore, when he and his brother Bennie conquered the kilometers day in and day out on their regular bikes on their way to school in Enschede. Twenty-five kilometers there, twenty-five kilometers back. ‘No matter how hard it rains, how fierce the wind blows, it doesn’t bother us. Snow or lightning? We keep cycling and we even enjoy it.’

Those kilometers form the foundation of his career

Rain draws a cold water curtain over Twente’s fields and sparse farms on this cold February day. At Erve Kuiper, where Hennie (full name Hendrikus Andreas) was born on February 3, 1949, the residents take shelter in the warmth of the farmhouse. The lands lean against the German border. It’s called North Deurningen here, a spot in an endless landscape. This is the farming land of toil and labor. They do not know the richness of the wallet here, but they know the richness of solidarity. Happiness does not lie in wealth, they know. It lies in togetherness and setting goals together. They are good at that, the Kuipers. ‘What they have in their heads, they don’t have anywhere else,’ says Ine, the woman behind the rider during Hennie’s career. Determination and willpower are their strongest weapons. That’s how they succeed in life. All of them. Each in their own way. Hennie is the most striking example of that.

Hennie Kuiper cherishes his great triumphs, all proofs of that willpower. The 1975 World Championship, impressively snatched away at the gates of Belgian hell; l’Alpe d’Huez 1977, the climax of his much-sung attacking spirit in twelve Tours de France; the fifteen-kilometer solo ride to victory in the Tour of Flanders 1981; the undisputed solo ride in the beautiful Tour of Lombardy in that same year; perhaps most imaginatively triumphant for the public in the muddy Hell of the North in 1983 and of course, the never expected bonus in the much-discussed finale of Milan-Sanremo 1985. But for him, the ultimate victory is still the gold in the Olympic road race of 1972. ‘If you know where I come from, you understand that,’ says Hennie Kuiper. It is his first major revenge on those who had crossed him in previous years: on coaches and selectors who had passed him over year after year for the final selection for various world championships; on a peloton that did not believe in the unprecedented potential of this always motivated Twentenaar. Many loudmouths found it unlikely that a cycling great could grow up in that provincial Twente land. There would be many more revenges to follow those Olympic titles: revenges on others, but also on himself. It is the common thread in Champion Willpower’s exciting cycling career, Hennie Kuiper. After his two years as a novice - the official start of his cycling career at the Royal Dutch Cycling Union (KNWU) - the modest Twentenaar switches to the ranks of amateurs in 1968.

Hennie in the vast expanse of North Deurningen

Hennie's brothers Frans and Bennie fish with homemade fishing rods in the Almelo-Nordhorn canal along the Schotbroekweg. Here, along this canal, cyclist Hennie Kuiper was born.

Now it gets serious.

Initially, it poses significant adaptation problems. Cycling is more than just pedaling hard. Tactics and technique play a big role. You have to be able to ‘read’ a race. But it’s also a matter of deceiving and being deceived. Drop the starting flag for an amateur peloton and a war immediately ignites; especially when echelons are formed where you can shelter from the wind. The riders shoot from all sides, from left and right, head-on and from behind. When it’s windy, the first kilometers are crucial for your chances. And so there is pushing, pulling, and cursing to get into that first echelon. It’s a struggle; not something for a rider like Hennie Kuiper, who is too neat for cowboy work. He initially solves it his way, opting for a position behind or sometimes riding alongside echelons for kilometers. Killing for a rider with great ambition, even for determined Hennie Kuiper. National team coach Joop Middelink encourages him to ride within echelons and because other riders see that Hennie is someone who doesn’t shy away from taking turns at the front, they occasionally grant him a spot within echelons.

After an impressive race where he finishes second behind Tino Tabak in the Ronde van Noord-Holland in 1970, he is selected by national team coach for Ronde van België. In a radio interview he explains: ‘I listened back to that conversation and was shocked. Is that me? Do I stutter so much? I vowed to do everything to get rid of it.’ However, it would take years before he could finish a sentence almost without stumbling over words. The start in Ronde van België marks the beginning of a long series of selections but it takes time before his competitors take him seriously. When he rides for Team Ketting in Olympia’s Ronde door Nederland - THE highlight for national amateur category - as both leader in overall classification with orange jersey and points classification with green jersey, his teammates at Ketting barely notice him. They know him as the rider who - quite uniquely - comes to breakfast table every morning with Bambix and Protifar.

Teammate Klaas Balk - one of top amateurs those days - makes fun of him about this habit. Hennie lets his tormentors be. He has developed thick skin on his soul. He makes his own plan, listens attentively and makes his decision. When he gets dropped after being attacked following teasing by Balk next day during race day, there is no teammate to help him out. Hennie knows he mostly has to figure things out alone. He can present results lists both in 1970 and 1971 that few riders can boast about having achieved similar results as him. Indeed there are riders who have won many more races; but when he wins, it’s grandiose. He doesn’t have explosive attacks or blazing sprints. He’s like a diesel engine; slow to start but once he gets going, he’s unstoppable, maintaining that same scorching pace. Not only are the quality of races he triumphantly finishes top-notch, but also how he rides towards victory is impressive. And the tougher the race gets, better Hennie Kuiper performs. Whether it’s Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, England or Tour de l’Avenir: The Twente rider shows that he is significantly more than just another rider from that forgotten corner of Overijssel. No, again he’s not a sprinter. If he’s part of a breakaway group with four riders, usually fourth place is reserved for Kuiper. But in races that matter most, he always manages to be up there.

Dismissal

Kuiper is willing to do anything for cycling. He even puts his job on the line to be able to participate in the Tour of Yugoslavia. Hennie is a work planner at Hollandsche Signaal (now Thales) in Hengelo, a company that produces radar equipment for the Dutch army. When he asks for time off to participate in the cycling race in Yugoslavia, he is warned.

Yugoslavia, where under President Tito all countries in the region still form a unity, belongs to the communist Eastern Bloc, the major opponent of the capitalist West. ‘My employer told me: traveling through Yugoslavia means dismissal. As an employee of this company, which works for defense, you cannot travel through a communist country.’ Hennie is faced with a choice: his career or sports. He carefully chooses sports and then shines in the Tour of Yugoslavia. When he returns home, the dismissal letter is waiting in the mailbox.

The national coach does not select him for the 1970 World Championships (in Leicester, England), nor for those of 1971 (Mendrisio, Switzerland). ‘I was deeply disappointed.’ Hennie, as it turns out, is not the type to bang his fist on the table and demand his place. He refuses to listen to fellow locals who claim he is not selected because he does not live in the west, but in provincial Twente. No, Hennie keeps his lips tightly sealed and determined. His response? To live even more intensely for sports than he already does. He mercilessly punishes his body year-round. He rarely allows himself time for relaxation. Hennie realizes that he must have iron discipline. The former altar boy knows that without purification through purgatory, one cannot reach (cycling) heaven.

Milk Race

Something of heaven becomes visible in the first half of June 1972 in the Milk Race, the stage race on British soil, in which the Dutch riders are often successful. However, a fierce purgatory precedes this. In the final stage, which ends on the boulevard, the Queen’s Promenade in Blackpool, a direct war is fought between the riders of the French and Dutch teams. The prize: victory in this prestigious race. Saddles are pulled, punches are thrown, and there is pushing. Five riders are punished afterwards for their misconduct: the Dutch riders Jan Aling and Jo de Boer, and the French riders Georges Talbourdet, Eric Laloueppe, and Charles Alguesparges.

Jan Kuiper from Opmeer (no relation) has been the team manager-caretaker of the Dutch delegation for years. He knows the tour inside out. In 1972, Kuiper has a strong team at his disposal with his namesake Hennie Kuiper, Cees Priem, Jan Aling, and Cees Bal as the main assets. The Dutch riders dominate the race. Jo de Boer (twice), Jan Aling (twice), Cees Priem, and Cees Bal secure individual victories. The win in the team time trial clearly demonstrates that Kuiper has the best team. Hennie Kuiper does not win any stages until the last day, but he proves to be the most consistent rider. He stands in second place in the overall standings behind the Frenchman Marcel Duchemin.

Jan Kuiper gathers the riders. ‘I told Hennie: you can win this tour. In this stage, there are double bonus seconds to be earned. If you finish in the top four and Duchemin doesn’t get any bonus seconds, you will be the winner.’ The riders react with surprise: ‘Hennie, who needs to finish short in a sprint? That won’t work.’ But the team manager has a plan. ‘I know that finish. Before reaching the boulevard, where you have to ride straight for 800 meters to the finish line, the riders go around two roundabouts. That’s where it needs to happen.’

From the first kilometer, it’s war between the French defending Duchemin’s position and Jan Kuiper’s men. The Dutch riders try to keep their ranks as closed as possible. One Swede, Tord Filipsson, escapes their attention. He gains a hundred, two hundred meters and then shows he has enough stamina to extend his lead further. As they approach the boulevard and roundabouts, the Dutch riders gather at the front. They set a furious pace, leaving gaps for Duchemin to close which forces him to put in all his effort to stay in the group. He manages to do so at the first roundabout but chaos ensues at the second roundabout, playing into the hands of Jan Aling and Cees Priem in particular. They tire out the French riders as much as possible.

Henk Poppe, who had dropped out of the Milk Race, watches everything happen from a distance as a spectator. ‘Duchemin was a much better sprinter than Hennie. When Duchemin accelerated, Cees Bal put his hand on Duchemin’s saddle and hit the brakes. Afterwards, there was a huge argument. It really couldn’t go on like that.’ The holy laying on of hands, as it is called in cycling circles, as an ultimate ‘weapon of war.’ Team manager Kuiper says it didn’t go that far, but Poppe’s testimony and the furious reactions of the French tell a different story.

It all happens without Hennie’s knowledge. With help from Cees Bal, he works his way to the front. He may not be a sprinter but an arrival like in Blackpool, where riders go straight for 800 meters to finish line is more about pure speed than sprinting. And Hennie can ride fast. He once again surpasses himself. Team manager Jan Kuiper had already seen his namesake triumphantly cross the finish line in a similar arrival in Skopje, Yugoslavia before. The dream scenario unfolds before his eyes. Hennie: ‘We sprinted across the width of the boulevard. It was truly a man-to-man battle. More and more riders were seen falling behind. This was really my kind of race. I never knew what was happening behind me.’ Hennie wins the sprint from the peloton and thus secures victory in the Milk Race. The French are furious. Team manager Robert Oubron protests against the actions of the Dutch riders. ‘They did all sorts of things. They clung to Duchemin’s saddle; they almost ran our riders off into ditches.’

The protest is rejected. ‘None of the jury members could confirm irregularities that were alleged against the Dutch riders,’ reads the verdict. Oubron gets his revenge afterwards. In an official letter from the French federation to fellow organizations, he explains what he believes happened in the finale of Milk Race according to him. This letter was never followed up on further; certainly not by proud winner Hennie Kuiper who achieves victory in a major international stage race just before two significant events - his wedding and Olympic Games.

The Ketting team on the podium of Olympia's Tour. From left to right: Klaas Balk, Hennie Kuiper, Aad van den Hoek, Piet van Katwijk, Jan Aling and - just visible - Jan Lenferink

After a tumultuous finale in Blackpool, Hennie Kuiper is declared the winner of the final and combination classification in the Tour of Britain (Milk Race) and is promoted for milk, according to the honorary wreath around his neck: 'Cool, fresh' and 'For energy'.