Monsieur De Muer
Maurice De Muer, the team manager of Hennie at Peugeot, wants to exude a certain grandeur. He takes good care of himself, always walks confidently with small steps, usually wears sunglasses and a - whether natural or artificial - tanned skin. Maurice, his first name, is only his title for intimates. For the ordinary riders, it’s ‘Monsieur De Muer’. To camouflage his relatively small stature, he usually wears shoes with heel lifts. He believes this gives him more allure. Of course, he is also a true ‘monsieur’. He has won the Tour four times. No, not himself of course, but team managers often tend to claim the successes of riders from teams they lead as their own. The Belgian Lomme Driessens is the great champion in that regard. Monsieur De Muer has thus won four times. Four times? Once with Ocaña and twice with Thévenet. That makes three, yes. But Maurice De Muer also considers our Jan Janssen as ‘his’ winners. Janssen is in 1968 - the year he wins the Tour - the leader of a national Dutch team, led by Ab Geldermans. That may be true, but he earns his living as a rider with the Pelforth-Sauvage-Lejeune team. That team is led in those years by Monsieur De Muer. So Jan Janssen’s success is also Maurice’s triumph.
De Muer considers himself as the absolute number one among French team managers well into the 1970s. Now that Thévenet’s fortunes are quickly declining, he is looking for a new ace to maintain his position as number one. He feels the hot breath of Cyrille Guimard on his neck; Guimard who wins the Tour de France with Van Impe in 1976, but who now rapidly climbs to the top with the new talent, Bernard Hinault. Hennie Kuiper must neutralize that threat. However, during that period, De Muer no longer has the burning ambition of the past. The Frenchman clearly has his glory days behind him, and the same goes for part of his team. But these are issues that Hennie Kuiper and José De Cauwer will only be confronted with later. For now, there is a fresh start for that duo, just like for their new French teammates. In the French press, Kuiper and Thévenet are presented as the two leaders of the Peugeot team, although it quickly becomes apparent that Bernard Thévenet is no longer a shadow of his former self as a rider. Rumors whisper about the consequences of excessive doping use.
Initially, Michel Laurent, one of the key figures of the Peugeot team, expresses disappointment in De Muer in the French media. Laurent is talented, as evidenced by his victory in Paris-Nice 1976 (ahead of Hennie Kuiper) and his victory in La Flèche Wallonne in 1978. Laurent is also a climber who can keep up with the best on good days in high mountains. It is not illogical that he hopes for promotion within the team now that Bernard Thévenet is performing poorly. And now De Muer arrives with Kuiper… Yet Laurent cooperates, just like almost everyone else in the French team. Later that year in the Tour, Laurent’s dedication becomes evident when he works hard for the team leader. In the stage leading over Galibier to l’Alpe d’Huez, Hennie has his ‘jour sans’, which indicates a bad day for the French.
On Galibier, he sees one competitor after another disappear from sight. Then Michel Laurent appears by his side, helping him morally and physically over the Alpine giant. At the finish on l’Alpe d’Huez, Kuiper has lost time to the competition. The fact that he can still maintain third place in the general classification after that stage is solely thanks to Laurent. De Cauwer is positive about how Hennie and he were received within the team. ‘Hennie was someone who already had a reputation. He had a world title to his name and had shown great things in the Tour de France. That counted and there was respect for that. We noticed that from our first meeting.
Hennie Kuiper joins Peugeot under the leadership of 'monsieur De Muer'
Hennie Kuiper prefers the bike over the long skis today
To prepare for the 1979 season at Peugeot, Hennie Kuiper once again goes to the French ski resort La Norma to prepare. He alternates between road bike and ski lift.