‘Der Didi’: the hero
On the eve of the second stage, as the peloton heads into the Pyrenees, Post makes it clear that defending Didi Thurau’s yellow jersey is a top priority. In West Germany, ‘der Didi’ is on his way to becoming a hero. The football nation is increasingly gathering in front of the cycling screen. Post follows the developments with great pleasure. The sponsor bosses of Tubes Investment in Nottingham inform the Amstelveen team manager that they are impressed by the team’s performances in the early days of the Tour. The team manager, who always refers to ‘the company’ when talking about the sponsor, wants to focus mainly on Thurau. And what about Hennie, the team leader’s interests? Oh, the Tour is still long. Hennie’s time will come.
The second stage from Auch to Pau is immediately a serious mountain stage. It leads over the Aspin, a second category mountain, and then over the Col du Tourmalet (2113 meters high) and the Aubisque (1780 meters): two extremely tough climbs of the first category. On the Aspin, yellow jersey wearer Thurau manages to stay in the first group, although the German has to dig deep to keep up with the pace. But when the climb to the top of the Tourmalet begins immediately after the descent, he gets into difficulties. Merckx has already had to drop out by then and on La Mongie, Thurau also loses contact.
At that moment, Hennie is part of a leading group that quickly thins out. Ultimately, it includes Ocaña, Kuiper, Zoetemelk, Thévenet, Van Impe, Laurent, Delisle, Aja, Galdos and Andiano. It is an excellent opportunity for the leaders to distance themselves from a significant number of competitors. But team discipline demands that they wait for Thurau – for the yellow jersey. That jersey must be defended. That is the order from team boss Peter Post. The other leaders look at each other. If Kuiper is not allowed to lead, why should they? It is not in Thurau’s interest for the leading group to move further away from him, but for Hennie, the situation is different. He can benefit by following his instincts and attacking. Should Kuiper not prioritize his personal ambitions for the general classification at all?
Obey the authority!
Many top riders would say in such a situation: ‘I am not going to sacrifice my own chances for someone like Thurau, who cannot win the Tour anyway, because he does not have enough climbing abilities for that.’ Hennie does not: ‘An agreement is an agreement for me.’ He has learned from a young age to obey authority and Peter Post represents authority for him in this Tour. ‘De Lange’ - as Post is called in the peloton - doesn’t even need to calm Kuiper down; Hennie voluntarily keeps his legs still.
Didi Thurau is brought back to the forefront of the race partly thanks to Kuiper’s work. Hennie Kuiper - the team leader, a potential winner - in a domestique role. And to make matters worse, that same Thurau wins the stage. Unbelievable. And even more unbelievable because Kuiper plays an important role in that victory. Because after the Tourmalet, the Aubisque awaits. In the descent of that mountain, the Frenchman Charly Rouxel attacks. He builds his lead to three minutes and at that moment is virtually wearing the yellow jersey. The chase for Rouxel is led by Hennie Kuiper. Thurau’s jersey must be defended after all. Rouxel is caught well before the finish.
Mainly thanks to Kuiper’s efforts. But it gets even crazier: Hennie also leads out the sprint for his teammate, who is also his competitor. Thurau wins the sprint and has the jersey more securely on his shoulders than when he starts this Pyrenees stage. Mainly thanks to Hennie, who as team leader would have been better off conserving his strength. The glory and jubilation after the race is for the egocentric Thurau. There is hardly any attention on Kuiper in this situation. He does not think of his own motto: ‘Cycling is first emptying the opponent’s plate before starting on your own plate.’ No, Hennie already devours a substantial portion of his own plate before his favorite battleground, the Alps, approaches.
‘Being too good is your neighbor’s folly,’ goes the saying. Of course, Hennie must make noise at that moment. Of course, he must not only be a leader in name but also in appearance. He knows that. ‘If you want to win, you have to demand the support and enthusiasm of the team. I have not done enough of that, also because I am not enough of a leader figure.’
Is the team manager making a mistake by involving the team leader in defending the jersey? Is he not depleting the strength reserve of his contender for the overall classification? ‘That’s fine for Hennie,’ Post defends his decision when asked. ‘He doesn’t have to do anything, can sit back until we enter the Alps.’ Nonsense of course. Because Hennie also does plenty of work in defending Thurau’s jersey. Kuiper once again fails to assert himself strongly. Once again it becomes clear: he is not a leader. Peter Post pushes him into a role that does not suit a team leader. Outwardly, Post defends himself by saying that Kuiper has fallen short several times. For example, he let victory slip away at the last moment in Paris-Nice and in the Vuelta. And although there are various explanations for that, he does not win and that is all Post wants. It is a ‘disaster’ for Kuiper because now even more explicitly Thurau’s card is being played. Afterwards, caregiver Ruud Bakker says: ‘In that situation, you should do much more for Kuipertje. With him, you can win the Tour.’ Piet van Katwijk also believes that at least part of the team should have focused solely on Kuiper. ‘If you have such a strong team, it is possible: one part serving Thurau, another part mainly caring about Hennie.’
Henk Lubberding
Henk Lubberding made his debut in the professional cycling world in 1977. In the early spring races, he showed that he was cut from the right cloth. José De Cauwer is the first helper of team leader Kuiper, but when the Flemish rider has to drop out for any reason, the farmer’s son from Voorst is the helper on duty. Especially when it goes uphill, Lubberding - also blessed with climbing talent himself - has the task of positioning Kuiper at the front of the group.
He is sent out in cases to fetch water bottles or rain jackets from the team car. Henk plays it as smart as possible. When the team leader no longer needs the jacket, Henk does not return it, but tucks it under his shirt so that he does not have to make the exhausting trip to the team car again when there is a threat of rain.
Lubberding still stands behind Post’s decision to defend Thurau’s yellow jersey. ‘You can call that a mistake, but that is wisdom in hindsight. When you look back after three weeks of the Tour, you always find moments where you say: there and there we made a wrong decision. But each time, that is with the knowledge of hindsight.’ Thurau’s triumph - and therefore Raleigh’s - lasts and lasts and lasts. For fifteen days, ‘der Didi’ rides in the golden leader’s jersey. After the prologue, he wins again in Pau (stage 2), in Bordeaux (stage 11b, a time trial), before losing the yellow jersey to Thévenet in stage 15. Afterwards, he is also a stage winner in Chamonix (stage 16) and in Paris (stage 20a, an individual time trial). But long before the caravan reaches Paris, the German wonderboy is already prominently displayed in the mass media, in Bild Zeitung and Stern. Day in and day out, he shines on German TV. Post has achieved his goal.
In the high mountains, Hennie Kuiper easily keeps up with the best. From left to right behind and next to Kuiper: Raymond Delisle, Lucien Van Impe, and Julian Andiano
In the Tour time trial to Bordeaux on July 5, 1977, Hennie Kuiper finishes sixth. The digital age has not yet arrived
On July 6, the day the Tour peloton is granted a rest day in Bordeaux, Hennie Kuiper and Didi Thurau pose with Thurau's yellow jerseys. The yellow has been tight around the shoulders of the German wonderboy since the prologue. Only after the climbing time trial to Avoriaz does Thurau lose the leader's jersey.
TI-Raleigh
In England at TI, the British parent company of Raleigh, the champagne bottles are being popped open to celebrate that commercial success. Raleigh entered professional cycling in 1974 to promote the Raleigh brand on the European mainland. While Raleigh is a well-known name elsewhere in the world, in Europe the brand is almost exclusively recognized in Great Britain. The decision to sponsor cycling dates back to the early twentieth century, but that sponsorship was mainly focused on track cycling. The biggest name during that era is the multiple-time world sprint champion (1949, 1950, 1951, and 1954) Reg Harris. Until the 1970s, Raleigh was known on the mainland as a rather expensive, stylish bicycle. However, TI wants more. Their focus is not only on the Low Countries – Netherlands and Belgium – but especially on Germany and France. The West German rider Didi Thurau is therefore extremely important.
When the Tour caravan takes a rest day in Freiburg on Quatorze Juillet – July 14th, the national holiday in France – it’s a big celebration in the capital of the Black Forest. Not because of the French, but because of ‘der Didi’, the ‘Blonde Angel’, as Bild Zeitung has dubbed him. The TI-Raleigh team stays at Cityhotel on Wasserstrasse. On the rest day, a large crowd of supporters gathers outside the hotel, chanting the name of their hero: ‘Di-Di, Di-Di.’ Post enjoys it. He believes he made the right choice by betting on Thurau.
Post loves flyers, like Schuiten before and now Thurau. They are well-built, have charisma and charm. And yes, it’s true, when you watch them on the bike, it’s like hearing Mozart play, or Bach or Brahms. It’s heavenly. Thurau has an enviable pedaling style; he’s not a ‘masher’, but an artist on the bike. Compare that to Hennie. Of course: he’s endearing. Despite his small stature, he always looks super healthy with his rosy cheeks. He’s called ‘Bellefleur’, or ‘Kuipertje’, and sometimes ‘Goudkuipje’. He’s a fearless attacker. And that’s why he becomes incredibly popular not only in the Netherlands but also abroad. Who doesn’t love Hennie Kuiper? Perhaps Peter Post doesn’t, but the man from Amstelveen is wise enough not to show it outwardly. He has other heroes for himself. Because on the bike, Hennie is nothing like a flyer. He’s a grinder, a worker who can always push hard but lacks gracefulness. A rider who also sits crooked on the bike. The elegance and charisma of Thurau are not seen in Hennie. Hennie is also a rider who – unlike Thurau – struggles to express himself verbally. “With men like Schuiten and especially Thurau, he could show off. Not with Hennie, even though he did become world champion,” says José De Cauwer.
Too kind-hearted
Mechanic Paul Soetekouw has followed Hennie Kuiper for years. ‘As a rider, someone with a tremendous amount of character; as a person, too kind-hearted for the professionals. I have never encountered anyone with as much determination as Hennie. Always pushing forward. But for a top athlete, he is too nice.’ Soetekouw has little appreciation for Post’s attitude in those days. ‘Some try to make a fool of Kuiper. Especially Post does that. Usually he does it behind Hennie’s back. When he drives behind Hennie in his team car, he says; “Look, there goes Kuiper with his crooked butt.” And yes, it’s true; Hennie sits crooked on the bike. But so what? He rides well, doesn’t he? He is kind and will do anything for others. But yes, Post has only one big idol: Thurau.’
The Flemish mechanic Gilbert Cattoir, who plays an important role in Kuiper’s heroic victory in Paris-Roubaix six years later, agrees with colleague Soetekouw’s view, but understands why Peter Post detests Kuiper’s style. ‘It was not a pretty sight to see him ride, crooked on his bike, knee slightly outward. But he moved forward. And very fast too. Because of that posture, he always tilted his saddle.
After every race, you had to straighten Hennie’s saddle. But so what. For men like Hennie, you do something extra. You check the bike once more, you ensure the tires are perfectly inflated, and you push and carry until you drop, as was the case with Hennie in that beautiful Paris-Roubaix.’
Charming Pedaleur
Thurau most closely resembles the Swiss Tour winner of 1951, Hugo Koblet, nicknamed ‘Beautiful Hugo’, or more often: ‘Charming Pedaleur’. Always well-groomed, with a cloth at hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and always a comb in the back pocket to appear perfectly groomed on the podium. The hero of the female cycling audience.
Post swoons at the thought of Thurau. He never does that with Hennie. It’s so bad that he rarely gives Kuiper a pat on the back. Every person needs that occasionally. Hennie doesn’t get it no matter how much he means to the team. Post’s attitude in those days is not so much anti-Kuiper, but pro-Thurau. He is strengthened in this by the enthusiastic reactions he receives from his British sponsor. The team leader from Amstelveen cherishes the quiet hope that his favorite Didi can still compete with the best over the Alpine cols. Only when that fails does he shift the focus back to Hennie Kuiper. At that moment, the caravan has arrived in Morzine, where Thurau is stripped of the jersey in a mountain time trial by the French idol Bernard Thévenet. The next day, in Chamonix, Thurau achieves his fourth stage victory thanks to preparatory work from - once again - Hennie, but it is clear that with the decisive cols ahead, there are only four candidates left for the overall victory: Thévenet, Van Impe, Zoetemelk, and Kuiper.
For two weeks, the Tour has been ‘locked’. At the moment Thurau takes the yellow jersey in the prologue, Peter Post - boss of the TI-Raleigh team - has only one goal in mind: to maximize publicity through Didi Thurau, the charming jeune premier of the German nation. And so, from that moment on, the race is paralyzed. It is only defended, every attack is stifled. The Raleigh team is strong enough to impose its will on the peloton. For uninvolved spectators, it makes the 64th edition of the world’s biggest cycling race a rather unexciting event. The objective cycling enthusiast does not really enjoy it much unless they are chauvinistic supporters of Bernard (Thévenet), Lucien (Van Impe), Didi (Thurau), Joop (Zoetemelk), or Hennie (Kuiper). Especially the latter - Kuiper - can rejoice in an ever-expanding fan base. Hennie becomes the hero of the Netherlands and this makes Post realize that he shouldn’t completely forget about his team leader. But for now, Post’s attention in the first fourteen days is almost exclusively on Thurau. The Raleighs shoot at everything that moves in the first fourteen days. And as long as Thurau is in the jersey, the red-yellow brigade keeps shooting. But now that he has been dethroned and Post realizes that Thurau’s climber fairy tale does not exist, it’s time for men who feel at home in high mountains, including his own team leader Hennie Kuiper.
With a towel from Ruud Bakker, Hennie Kuiper wipes off the sweat of his brow after a tough mountain stage.