Gerben Karstens

Gerben Karstens ( born January 14, 1942 in Voorburg ) is a Dutch former racing cyclist and Olympic champion.

At the 1964 Olympic Games in Mexico Gerben Karstens won the gold medal in the team time trial together with Evert Dolman, and Jan Pieterse Bart Zoet. In the individual road race he was ranked 27

Even as an amateur Karstens had drawn attention to himself with small victories, he won the 1964 Ronde van Noord -Holland and won stage victories in the Tour de l' Avenir and the Tour of Belgium.

After the Olympic Games was Gerben Karstens professional surname " De Notariszoon uit suffering," pro and was until 1980 as a racer in various disciplines active. In 1965, he won the race Paris -Tours, 1966, the eight- van Chaam and became Dutch champion in the road race. In 1968 he won the Grand Prix de Fourmies and 1974 Tour du Haut -Var. In 1965 he occupied at the Tour of Lombardy second behind Tom Simpson.

Ten times he participated in the Tour de France in part, once in the Giro d' Italia and the Vuelta a España to six times, where he scored as outstanding sprinter multiple stage wins. From 1976 to 1978 he drove in the TI- Raleigh team under Peter Post, together with riders like Dietrich Thurau and Gerrie plasticine man.

At the Tour de France 1974 Karstens won the fourth stage in second place, but forgot to go to the drug test. He has been reset to the last place and got a ten-minute time penalty. The next day the sentence was withdrawn, and he was able to take the yellow jersey by Eddy Merckx.

Karstens also launched 72 times in six-day races and won in London in 1973 and 1975 in Rotterdam with Leo Duyndam. In this race, he was known for, that he entertained the audience with tricks on the bike like a handstand. In Six Days 1980 in Montreal he retired from active cycling.

Prior to his cycling career Gerben Karstens was also an excellent skater.