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Erik Dekker

Personal information
Full name	Hendrik Dekker
Date of birth	August 21, 1970 (1970-08-21) (age 39)
Country	Netherlands
Team information
Current team	Rabobank
Discipline	Road
Role	Directeur sportif
Rider type	Classics specialist
Professional team(s)1
1992 1993-1994 1995 1996-2006	Buckler WordPerfect Novell Rabobank
Managerial team(s)1
2007–	Rabobank
Major wins
UCI Road World Cup (2001) Tour de France, 4 stages Amstel Gold Race (2001) Clásica de San Sebastián (2000) Paris-Tours (2004) Tirreno-Adriatico (2002) Tour of Netherlands (1997, 2000) National Champion (2004) National Time-Trial Champion (1996, 2000, 2002)
Medal record Competitor for the  Netherlands Road bicycle racing Olympic Games Silver Barcelona 1992 Individual Road Race
Infobox last updated on:
January 11, 2007 1 Team names given are those prevailing at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Hendrik ("Erik") Dekker (born August 21, 1970 in Hoogeveen) is a retired Dutch professional road racing cyclist active from 1992 until 2006. He was a member of the Rabobank cycling team from 1996 till 2006. In 2007 he became one of Rabobank's team managers.

Cycling career

Amateur career

Dekker rode his first race at eight, and soon became successful. In 1985 he was invited to join the national selection for juniors. As an amateur, his most important results were second places at the youth world championships in Bergamo in 1987 and at the road race in the 1992 Summer Olympics. In that Olympic road race, Dekker got away at 30 km before the finish, together with Fabio Casartelli and Dainis Ozols.^[1] Dekker was outsprinted by Casartelli, but was so happy that he won a medal that he also finished with his arms in the air.^[2]

Directly after the Olympic Games, he became professional, and rode his first race a few weeks later in the Tour de l'Avenir.^[2]

Professional career

His first win as a professional was a stage of the Vuelta al País Vasco of 1994, the year he rode his first Tour de France. In 1997 Dekker won the Ronde van Nederland, but a large part of 1998 was lost because of injuries.

In 1999, Dekker was sanctioned for a few weeks because of a too high hemotacrit-level.^[3] This meant that he could not start in the World Road Race Championship.

The year 2000 was Dekker's best. He won three stages in the 2000 Tour de France, although neither a sprinter nor a favourite for the overall win, and was voted most combatitive cyclist. In the autumn of that year, Dekker won his first classic, the Clásica de San Sebastián.

In 2001 Dekker won the Amstel Gold Race and the UCI Road World Cup. In the 2001 Tour de France he took a stage, after having helped his team mate Marc Wauters to a stage win. At the end of the year he was named Dutch Sportsman of the year.

The years 2002 and 2003 were less successful because of injuries. He came back in 2004 in the spring classics and a victory in Paris-Tours. He had announced his retirement for the autumn of 2006, but he crashed heavily in the 2006 Tour de France and decided to stop.

Managing career

In 2007, Dekker started as team manager of the Rabobank team.

Major results

References

External links

• Erik Dekker profile at the Cycling Website
• Erik Dekker Classic, a cycling race for amateurs that supports Foundation KiKa, named after and organised by Erik Dekker

Tour de France Combativity award winners 1956 Darrigade • 1957 Barone • 1958 Bahamontes • 1959 Saint • 1960 Graczyk • 1961 Team West-Southwest • 1962 Pauwels • 1963 van Looy • 1964 Anglade • 1965 Gimondi • 1966 Altig • 1967 Letort • 1968 Pingeon • 1969–1970 Merckx • 1971 Ocaña • 1972 Guimard • 1973 Ocaña • 1974–1975 Merckx • 1976 Delisle • 1977 Knetemann • 1978 Wellens • 1979 Kuiper • 1980 Levavasseur • 1981 Hinault • 1982 Clère • 1983 Demierre • 1984 Hinault • 1985 Ducrot • 1986 Hinault • 1987 Delgado • 1988 Simon • 1989 Fignon • 1990 Chozas • 1991–1992 Chiappucci • 1993 Ghirotto • 1994 Poli • 1995 Buenahora • 1996–1997 Virenque • 1998–1999 Durand • 2000 Dekker • 2001–2002 Jalabert • 2003 Vinokourov • 2004 Virenque • 2005 Pereiro • 2006 de la Fuente • 2007 Txurruka • 2008 Chavanel • 2009 Pellizotti