At the age of 14, Erich Möller saw his first cycle race in Hanover, which was organized by RV Zugvogel Hanover . Shortly thereafter, he joined the club himself and began cycling. He rode his first race at the age of 15 on an old, self-converted bike and came third. In 1921 the talented young athlete was noticed by the Hanoverian sports journalist Heinrich Jeier, who took care of him and set up a training program for him.
In 1922, at the age of 17, Möller surprisingly came third in the German Road Cycling Championships ; the finish line was after 316 kilometers on the Hanover cycling track , where Möller was enthusiastically celebrated by the local audience. In 1923 he won the Amateurs' round of Berlin . The following year he won the German title in Frankfurt , and he also won smaller road races such as Rund um Bonn .
In 1925 Erich Möller decided to take up the standing sport, three years later, as in 1932, he became German champion in this discipline. In 1930 he became world champion of professional stayers in Brussels . In 1931 he was second in Copenhagen and the following year in Rome World Cup third .
In 1937 Möller resigned from cycling, opened several bicycle shops and later a popular milk bar in Hanover. After the Second World War he produced his own “Möller” bicycles. He also initiated and supported cycling events, including a. Six-day race in Hanover, and also worked as a functionary. In 1948 he was the first president of the re-established Association of German Cycle Race Organizers after the war.
In 1946 Möller organized German road championships in Hanover. In the course of the preparations, there was a dispute with the Berlin functionary Fredy Budzinski , who then spread the claim that Möller was a member of the NSDAP and had contributed to his, Budzinski's, dismissal from the association organ Die Bundeszeitung in 1933. Budzinski later dropped these allegations.
literature
Walter Euhus : Spoke sport . Hanover's historical cycling , Langenhagen 2001, pp. 142–149.
Dirk Böttcher: Möller, Erich. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 448.