Dietrich Thurau

Dietrich "Didi" Thurau (; born 9 November 1954) is a retired German professional road bicycle racer. His biggest career achievements include winning the one-day classic, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, his home country's Deutschland Tour and surprising the field at the 1977 Tour de France by capturing four stages and holding the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification from the prologue for 15 days. Thurau did win the young rider classification although he lost the overall lead to eventual winner Bernard Thévenet.

Thurau was German pursuit champion three times and won 29 six-day races. He is the father of former professional cyclist Björn Thurau. In 1989, he revealed he had doped throughout his career.

Career He won the German National Road Race in 1975 and 1976. After his victory in the points classification in the Vuelta a España and a fourth place in the general classification in the Vuelta a España in 1976, Thurau was seen as a talented rider, but not seen as a rider for the general classification. This changed when he won the prologue 1977 Tour de France, won time trials and mountain stages, keeping the lead until far in the race, finishing fifth in the overall classification and won the young rider classification.

Thurau signed a contract to ride the 1978 season as a team leader at IJsboerke. Before his contract started, but after he signed it, he rode the 1977 UCI Road World Championships. Seven kilometers before the finish, he was away together with Francesco Moser, and Moser punctured. To the surprise of commentators, including the coach of the French team Jacques Anquetil and Thurau's team leader Peter Post, Thurau waited for Moser, and was beaten in the sprint by Moser. This caused rumours that Thurau had sold the championship to Moser; it later became clear that Thurau's new bosses at IJsboerke did not want Thurau to ride in the rainbow jersey, but wanted him to keep his sponsored jersey.

Thurau's primary goals for the next season became the 1978 Giro d'Italia and the 1978 UCI Road World Championships, and his team skipped the 1978 Tour de France, because they felt there were too many mountain finishes for a rider like Thurau. Although Thurau won two stages in the 1978 Giro, it did not go as expected, as he had to abandon the race in the tenth stage, when he had already given up all hopes for the general classification.

In 1979, Thurau won Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and again came second in the 1979 UCI Road World Championships, but he was no longer seen as able to win a grand tour, and he changed teams. He continued as a professional cyclist for several years, but did not win any major races.

Doping Thurau tested positive for stimulants after Stage 8 of the 1987 Tour de France. He was fined 5,000 FF (£500), incurred a 10-minute time penalty, placed last on the stage and was given a one-month suspended ban. However, by the time the positive result was revealed, Thurau had already abandoned the Tour.

After he had retired, in 1989, he gave an interview to the Bild newspaper, in Germany, where he revealed he had doped throughout his career, including the use of Amphetamines, Testosterone and Cortisone.

Personal life In 1998, Thurau was fined 20,000 DM for forgery. In 2012, it was reported that he had embezzled 49,000 EUR in insurance benefits, which were meant for his father, Helmut, to pay for his nursing home. Instead, Thurau kept the money. He was convicted of the offence and was fined 39,900 EUR.

Major results Road

1972

1975

1st Stage 1 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies 2nd Overall Tour d'Indre-et-Loire 2nd Scheldeprijs 2nd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 2nd Bruxelles–Meulebeke 3rd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 3rd GP Union Dortmund 4th Overall Ronde van Nederland 6th Overall Paris–Nice 8th Amstel Gold Race 8th Paris–Brussels 9th Critérium des As 10th Overall Tour de Suisse 1976

2nd Grand Prix de Fourmies 2nd GP Union Dortmund 4th Overall Vuelta a España

1st Prologue & Stages 9, 16, 18 & 19b (ITT)

7th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 7th La Flèche Wallonne 8th Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 5 8th Gent–Wevelgem 1977

1st Stages 1a, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7a (ITT) 1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 1st GP Union Dortmund

2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 3rd Omloop der Beide Vlaanderen 4th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 5th Overall Tour de France

1st Prologue & Stages 2, 5b (ITT), 16 & 22a (ITT)

7th Overall Tour de Suisse 8th Overall Paris–Nice 8th Paris–Roubaix 8th Polynormande 1978

1st Stages 2, 3, 4 & 5 1st Scheldeprijs 1st Züri–Metzgete Giro d'Italia 1st Prologue & Stage 4 (ITT) 1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 3rd Overall Tour of Belgium 1st Stage 1a (ITT) 3rd La Flèche Wallonne 5th Omloop Het Volk 9th Amstel Gold Race 9th Paris–Brussels 1979

1st Prologue & Stages 1 & 2

1st Prologue 1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège 1st Stage 5 Paris–Nice 1st Stage 1a (TTT) Tour of Belgium

4th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 6th Omloop Het Volk 9th Gran Premio di Lugano 10th OverallTour de France 1st Stage 19 1980 3rd Paris–Roubaix 4th Overall Tour du Tarn 1st Stage 2 7th Rund um den Henninger Turm 1981 Deutschland Tour 1st Prologue & Stage 4 2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm 7th Overall Tour de Suisse 1983 5th Overall Giro d'Italia 1986 10th US Pro Championship 1987 7th Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 4 (ITT) Tour de France

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Classics results timeline

Major championship results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish DSQ Disqualified

Track 1979 1st Six Days of Munich (with Patrick Sercu) 1984 1st Six Days of Bremen (with Albert Fritz) 1986 1st Six Days of Bremen (with Josef Kristen) 1st Six Days of Munich (with Danny Clark) 1987 1st Six Days of Bremen (with Danny Clark) 1st Six Days of Munich (with Urs Freuler)