Erich Hagen
Erich Walter Hagen ( born December 11, 1936 in Leipzig, † May 26 1978 in Leipzig ) was a German cyclist.
The early career
At the age of 19 years, Erich Hagen won in 1956, the East German road championship and was nominated for this surprising success for the overall German Olympic team for 1956. At the Games in Melbourne, he reached the 22th place in the individual time trial. As the team score was then decided by the sum of the individual rankings of the best three drivers of a country, Hagen missed the bronze medal by only four places, as his teammates Horst Tüller ( 4 ), Täve Schur ( 5 ) and Reinhold Pommer ( 18 ) had placed before him.
1958 Hagen managed the final breakthrough in the East German national team. He first took part in the Peace Race and finished second in the overall individual ranking the 23th Place. In the same year he also took part in a first road World Championships, where he was 26; the following year he again managed to qualify for the World Cup team, finishing in 19th place.
1960: Peace Race victory and Olympic medal
1960 belonged Erichshagen for outstanding GDR team at the Peace Race. He won the eleventh stage of Dresden in his hometown of Leipzig and lay before the last part in the overall standings in second place behind his teammate Egon Adler. As this difficult crashed at the beginning of the final stage to Berlin and lost the connection to the main field, Hagen was the last " hot potato " of the GDR for the individual classification. Despite constant attacks of the Belgians, Danes and other teams he could in the final sprint his nearest rival Jean -Baptiste Claes ( BEL) behind and won his second stage, the total individual and with the GDR and the team classification.
At the Olympic Games in Rome Hagen won with the team the GDR ( Schur, Adler, Hagen, Günter Lörke ) despite the early task of Lörke and force-related collapse of eagle silver medal in the 100 -km team time trial.
The road race in the Amateur Cycling World Championship 1960 at the Sachsenring he finished as the 50th
At the end of the year, Hagen was named along with his peace drive - shearing colleagues, Adler, Manfred white leather, cornerstone Bernhard and Johannes Schober Team of the Year in the GDR.
In the Peace Race 1961 Hagen won the stage again to Berlin and finished second in the overall standings to ninth place. In the context of negative comments on the Berlin Wall was built Hagen was excluded nor in 1961 from the GDR national team and the club DHfK Leipzig, and in 1962 added to the BSG Schkeuditz. In 1963 he started again for DHfK Leipzig and the last time in the Peace Race - elimination race and in the GDR Tour ( 52.Platz ) was then no longer named for the Olympic squad for Tokyo in 1964, after which he only finished his career 27 years old.
Later years and death
After the end of his sporting career Erich Hagen worked as a taxi driver. He died in a traffic accident on the highway near Leipzig. It has been suggested that he deliberately steered the car against a bridge due to family problems.
Achievements
- Olympic silver medal in the 100 -km team time trial 1960
- Victory at the International Peace Race 1960
- 3 stage wins at the International Peace Race ( 1960-1961 )