Otto Weckerling
Otto Weckerlingplatz ( born October 23, 1910 in Kehnert; † May 6, 1977 in Dortmund ) was a German racing cyclist and sports director.
Active cycling career
Otto Weckerlingplatz wanted to be a racer as a child. When he did an apprenticeship on a farm, he took advantage of the daily commute to work as a training. He won his first race in 1927 in Colbitz with four minutes ahead.
The petite Weckerlingplatz was one of the most popular German road racer in the 1930s. In 1932 he was German with the RC Brennabor Magdeburg champion in six team driving, 1933 German Vice Champion in the road race in the amateurs. In 1934 he turned professional and went almost his entire professional career, which lasted until 1950, for the cycling team of Duerkopp. In 1937 he won the first stage of the International Tour of Germany, was no longer on the lead and won in the overall standings. He was enthusiastically welcomed by 100 000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin; also hundreds of thousands of people came to receive him at the main station of Magdeburg. Here, as before, in Berlin Weckerlingplatz allowed to enter in the Golden Book of the city.
In the same year he won a stage of the Tour de France. The following year, he finished in the Tour of Germany in the overall third place.
A total of four launched Otto Weckerlingplatz in the Tour de France and won two stages; In 1935, he was 42, in 1937, he finished 41st. The UCI Road World Championships 1937 in Copenhagen, he was eighth out of nine drivers who crossed the finish line. In 1950 he was, together with Werner Richter GDR Champion in a two - team of driving professionals.
Professional and private life
After the Second World War was Weckerlingplatz mayor of his hometown Kehnert. But his plans to remain active in professional cycling, and build a Duerkopp branch failed due to the new political realities in the GDR. Between Christmas and New Year's Day 1950, he and his wife left his home, although the family had just built a new house. Alarm Clock Ling moved to Dortmund, and Otto Weckerlingplatz was there as well as in sports in Bremen, Frankfurt and Münster Manager at Six Days and other track cycling events. In 1966 he was elected as Chairman of the Association of German cycling tracks selected.
Honors
In April 2007 a memorial stone was erected in memory of Otto Weckerlingplatz in his home town on the edge of Elberadweg. The current owner of the former house of the family in Kehnert has placed a plaque in memory of the previous owners of the house.