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Full name	Albertus Geldermans
Date of birth	March 17, 1935
nation	Netherlands
discipline	Road / rail (endurance)
End of career	1966
	Last updated: December 10, 2017

Albertus "Ab" Geldermans (born March 17, 1935 in Beverwijk ) is a former Dutch cyclist and sports director .

Athletic career

As a 19-year-old Ab Geldermans won his first road race in the amateur camp in 1954, followed by three victories and second place in the Dutch championship in the 4,000 meter pursuit in 1957 . Shortly thereafter, Geldermans achieved his greatest success as an amateur when he was third in the single pursuit at the World Railroad Championships in Rocourt . In 1958 he won a stage of the Tour of Poland and finished seventh overall. The following year he won three amateur road races and once as an "independent" (Indes et Pros). After finishing fourth overall in the most difficult stage race for amateurs, the International Peace Tour 1959 Berlin-Prague-Warsaw (second place in the individual time trial), he became a professional driver.

In his first year as a professional in 1960, Geldermans won the Tour of Germany with a stage win and was the first Dutchman to win the classic Liège – Bastogne – Liège . In 1961 he entered the list of winners of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque race and in 1962 was both Dutch road champion and in the individual time trial . At the Vuelta a España , Geldermans took tenth place. He belonged to the French teams of St. Raphael until 1964 and Margnat-Paloma in 1965. In the last year of his active career in 1966, he won a stage from Paris-Nice and competed for the seventh and last time in the Tour de France, now wearing the jersey of the Italian Molteni racing team and still alongside Rudi Altig .

By 1966, Geldermans had taken part in the Tour de France seven times - for several years as a noble domestique of Jacques Anquetil - and five times he arrived in Paris . During the 1962 tour , he wore the yellow jersey for two days .

After the end of his sporting career in 1966, Ab Geldermans opened a sports shop with his wife in his hometown Beverwijk and became the sporting director of the Dutch national team at the 1968 Tour de France , which his protégé Jan Janssen won.