Jan Raas

Jan Raas (born 8 November 1952) is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, the Tour of Flanders in 1979 and 1983, Paris–Roubaix in 1982 and Milan–San Remo in 1977. He won ten stages in the Tour de France. In six starts, Raas won the Amstel Gold Race five times. In his entire career he competed in 23 of the highly contested "Monument" Races and he finished on the podium in almost half of them: 1st place four times and 3rd place six times.

Raas was a tactician and clever sprinter. He struggled on long steep climbs, but excelled on the short climbs which were characteristic of the northern classics.

Career Born in Heinkenszand, near Goes in Zeeland, Raas was the son of a farmer and one of 10 children. He showed no interest in cycling until leaving school at 16 when he acquired his first racing bike and started competing as a junior category, taking his first victory in Damme in Belgium on the 21 July 1969. Further success as an amateur, including stage wins in the Olympia Tour and the national championship, prompted Peter Post, the manager of , to offer Raas a contract for 1975

The 22-year-old had a good first season with two small victories and fourth in the Tour of Belgium. The following year (1976) saw him become national champion, but at the end of that year Raas parted company with , looking for more freedom to race.

In 1977 he rode for Frisol. Victories in Milan–San Remo and the Amstel Gold Race made Post rethink and Raas was back with for 1978. Raas became the influence behind the success of the team in the late seventies and early eighties. He was joint leader with Gerrie Knetemann, heading members such as Joop Zoetemelk, Ludo Peeters, Cees Priem and Henk Lubberding.

He played a major role in the victory of Zoetemelk in the 1980 Tour de France, as TI-Raleigh had one of the most dominant performances in all of TDF history not only containing Bernard Hinault, but also winning twelve stages, including seven in a row at one point.

Raas's highlights for the rest of his career included his 1979 world championship on home soil in Valkenburg, where he outsprinted German "Didi" Thurau in front of 200,000 spectators (even with the help from team-mates that push him during the climb, grabbing service vehicle, and the fall of Giovanni Battaglin caused by Thurau and Raas himself on the last 200m). He had four more victories in the Amstel Gold Race to give a record of five. Raas regarded the Amstel Gold as his favourite race: “The Gold Race was made for me, I had no ability as a climber, but the short and hard Limburg hills were made for me”, he said. He won Paris–Roubaix at his seventh attempt in 1982 thanks to work by his team, especially Peeters.

Raas crashed in the 1984 Milan–San Remo, injuring his back and internal organs and was never the same, although he took a stage in the 1984 Tour de France. He found the training and recovery hard and retired on 28 May 1985 after a criterium at Hansweert the preceding day.

Raas's know-how made for a natural move into team management and he became sporting director of Kwantum team. Raas found sponsors when old ones pulled out and the team received backing from SuperConfex, Buckler, WordPerfect, Novell and finally Rabobank.

Raas and his wife Anja suffered an armed raid on their house in March 1994 and Raas decided he could no longer spend long periods away from home. He changed from sporting director to manager when Rabobank became the main sponsor in 1995. He spent eight years in this capacity until the end of 2003, the sponsor indicating that insoluble differences prompted Raas's departure.

Major results

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1972 1st Stage 5 Olympia's Tour 1973 1st Ronde van Midden-Nederland 1974 Olympia's Tour 1st Stages 7a & 8 2nd Ronde van Drenthe 1975 1st Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem 5th Paris–Tours 6th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 6th Tour of Flanders 8th Omloop Het Volk 1976

1st Stage 4 Tour of Belgium 2nd Amstel Gold Race 2nd Tour du Haut Var 4th Brabantse Pijl 7th Paris–Roubaix 9th Omloop Het Volk 1977 1st Milan–San Remo 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st Stage 6 Tour de France 2nd Omloop Het Volk 3rd Tour of Flanders 4th Overall Tour Méditerranéen 1st Stage 1 5th Brabantse Pijl 6th Paris–Roubaix 7th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 8th Paris–Tours 10th Gent–Wevelgem 1978 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st Paris–Brussels 1st Paris–Tours Tour de France 1st Prologue, Stages 1a & 21 1st Stage 2 Ronde van Nederland 1st Stage 3 Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 4 Four Days of Dunkirk 2nd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 3rd Paris–Roubaix 3rd Omloop Het Volk 4th Gent–Wevelgem 1979

1st Prologue 1st Stage 2 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 1st Tour of Flanders 1st Stage 5 Tour de France 1st Stage 3 Paris–Nice 1st Stage 4 Deutschland Tour 1st Stage 1b Tour of Belgium Tour Méditerranéen 1st Prologue & Stage 5a 2nd Omloop Het Volk 3rd Gent–Wevelgem 3rd Paris–Tours 5th Paris–Roubaix 1980 Tour de France 1st Stages 1a, 1b (TTT), 7b & 9 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 1st Stage 1b Paris–Nice 1st Stage 3 Ronde van Nederland 1st Stage 3 Tour of Belgium Tour Méditerranéen 1st Prologue (with Gerrie Knetemann), Stages 2 & 3b 1st Stage 3 Étoile de Bessèges Tour de Luxembourg 1st Prologue & Stage 1 1st Stage GP de Cannes 1st Six Days of Rotterdam (track) (with René Pijnen) 3rd Milan–San Remo 3rd Tour of Flanders 3rd Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen 4th Omloop Het Volk 6th Gent–Wevelgem 1981

1st Prologue, Stages 1 & 3 1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 1st Gent–Wevelgem 1st Omloop Het Volk 1st Grote Prijs Jef Scherens 1st Stage 3b Tour Méditerranéen 3rd Tour of Flanders 5th Amstel Gold Race 1982 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st Paris–Roubaix 1st Dwars door België 2nd Overall Ronde van Nederland 1st Prologue 1st Prologue Étoile de Bessèges Tour de France 1st Stages 6 & 9a (TTT) 5th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 6th Omloop Het Volk 1983

1st Tour of Flanders 1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 1st Ronde van Midden-Zeeland 1st Stage 1a Three Days of De Panne 2nd Gent–Wevelgem 2nd Omloop Het Volk 3rd Milan–San Remo 3rd Amstel Gold Race 1984

1st Stage 9 Tour de France

General classification results timeline Source: Grand Tour general classification results Grand Tour 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Giro d'ItaliaHas not contested during his career Tour de France — 24 DNF 83 DNF DNF — DNF DNF DNF — Vuelta a EspañaHas not contested during his career

Classics results timeline Source:

Major championship results timeline Source:

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish

Awards Dutch Sportsman of the year: 1979