Gerrit Schulte

Gerrit Schulte

Gerrit Schulte (1964)
To person
Full name	Gerardus Bernardus Maria Schulte
Date of birth	January 7, 1916
date of death	February 26, 1992
nation	Netherlands
discipline	Railway (endurance) / road
Most important successes
UCI track world championships 1948 - Individual pursuit
Last updated: February 22, 2017

Gerardus Bernardus Maria "Gerrit" Schulte (born January 7, 1916 in Amsterdam , † February 26, 1992 in 's-Hertogenbosch ) was a Dutch professional cyclist . Before and after World War II he was one of the most popular cyclists in his country.

Family and youth

Gerrit Schulte was born in Amsterdam as the son of the tailor Henricus Johannes Josephus Schulte and his wife Margaretha Elisabeth Schouten in poor circumstances.

In his youth, Schulte was a "brutal, on-tradable Amsterdamse straatjongen" ("a violent, unruly Amsterdam street boy"). After school he worked in various positions as a laborer, but was usually fired after a short time. However, he liked to work as a delivery agent for a butcher because he was out on his bike. As a member of the ARC Ulysses cycling club, he initially behaved so uncomfortably that he was even suspended for a while. His talent, however, was evident.

Athletic career

Gerrit Schulte was active as a racing driver from 1935 to 1960. In 1935 he won his first race for amateurs, the Zeeuwse jaarbeursronde in Middelburg , and his first international start followed the following year at the Prix ​​d'Europe in the Jardin des Tuileries . In 1936 he represented the Netherlands at the Olympic Games in Berlin , but could neither finish the road race nor the team driving.

Following the games, Schulte drew the attention of the businessman Jan van der Kleij from Den Bosch ('s-Hertogenbosch). From then on, he took care of Schulte, who subsequently became calmer and more disciplined. In 1938 he married van der Kleijs' daughter Katharina Petronella Maria (1920–2011), known as “Toos”, and moved to Den Bosch. The couple had two sons and a daughter.

In 1937 Schulte received his first professional contract with the French racing team Dilecta-Wolber . He had his first professional start at the Grand Prix des Nations , where he finished fourth. In 1938 he started the Tour de France , won the third stage, but gave up after eight days and decided never to start the Tour again. He'd also had to pay a fine - one of many more in his career - for beating a competitor, so his participation in the tour didn't pay off financially. He decided to only drive those races in which the entry fee already gave him a good living. In 1941 Schulte was banned for a year: in a four-day race in Antwerp that he had won, he punched a commissioner who had imposed a penalty on him. Until 1944 he competed in races in German-occupied Western Europe; Since he cycled like most racing drivers to escape poverty, the financial aspect was the only decisive factor for him. He later pretended not to have known what was going on in Germany.

In the same year, the French journalist Gaston Bénac saw him at the Antwerp-Gent-Antwerp race , who described him as a “fou pédalant” ( cycling fool ) because his driving style was combative and constantly aimed at attack, but he had a sense of tactics and strategy was missing. He often wasted his energy in the process, which is why he never won a really big race. In the Netherlands, he was also called De Bossche Reus ( giant from Den Bosch ) because of his strong, tall stature .

Schulte celebrated his greatest success in 1948 when he became world champion in the single pursuit on the track in Amsterdam and defeated the favored Fausto Coppi in the final. At the UCI Road World Championships in 1946 he finished fifth in the road race, also in 1949 ; In 1950 he finished fourth. In 1956 he made it to the podium and won the bronze medal in the road race, at the same time behind the two Belgians Rik Van Steenbergen and Rik Van Looy .

Schulte was Dutch champion in the single pursuit nine times and national road champion three times. He also started in a total of 73 six-day races, of which he won 19, most of them together with Gerrit Boeyen , with whom he fell out in 1949, and then with Gerard "Gerrit" Peters . In total, he achieved 100 victories on the road and 200 on the track. He ended his cycling career at the age of 44 with a victory in the Six Days of Antwerp in 1960.

After cycling

Schulte had already thought about ending his cycling career in 1948. When he took over the De Vliert restaurant in Den Bosch's football stadium in 1951 , he wanted to quit again, but changed his mind at the insistence of his wife, who took the work in the restaurant out of his hands as much as possible. Several attempts to become an official failed: In 1964 he was the head of the Dutch team at the Tour de l'Avenir , but the riders complained to the Dutch cycling association Koninklijke Nederlandsche Wielren Unie (KNWU) about his ranting. In 1972 he retired from the restaurant business and devoted himself primarily to his hobbies, fishing , hunting and pigeon breeding . In 1992 he suffered a heart attack in his garden from which he died.

In 1960 Schulte was honored as a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau and honored with the “Silver Penny of Honor” from his place of residence, Den Bosch.

Although Gerrit Schulte was known for his quick-tempered and bossy character, he was respected as a reliable leader ( wielergeneraal ). For many, he was a role model for passion and fighting spirit.

Gerrit Schulte Trofee

The Gerrit Schulte Trofee has been awarded to the best Dutch professional cyclist of the year since 1955 . He himself received it in 1958. Until Schultes death, this trophy was presented in his restaurant De Vliert in the football stadium in Den Bosch.

successes

Schulte at his last six-day race in Antwerp

train 1940 Six days of Antwertpen (with Gerrit Boeijen ) Dutch master - one's pursuit 1942 Dutch master - one's pursuit 1943 Dutch master - one's pursuit 1944 Dutch master - one's pursuit 1945 Dutch master - one's pursuit 1946 Six days of Paris (with Gerrit Boeijen ) 1947 Six days of Gent (with Gerrit Boeijen ) Six days of Brussels (with Gerrit Boeijen ) Dutch master - one's pursuit 1948 World Champion - Individual Pursuit Dutch master - one's pursuit 1949 - two-man team driving (with Gerrit buoys ) 1950 Dutch master - one's pursuit 1951 Dutch master - one's pursuit 1953 Six days of Paris (with Gerrit Peters ) 1954 Berlin six-day race (with Gerrit Peters ) Six days of Antwerp (with Gerrit Peters ) 1955 Six days in Münster (with Gerrit Peters )

Street 1938 a stage Tour de France Critérium des As 1939 two stages Greater Germany trip Eight van Chaam 1944 Dutch champion - road race 1948 Dutch champion - road race 1949 Overall ranking and a stage tour of the Netherlands 1950 Dutch champion - road race 1951 two stages tour of the Netherlands 1953 Dutch champion - road race 1954 one stage tour of the Netherlands

literature

• Martin van Daal: Le fou pédalent. Het wielerleven van Gerrit Schulte . Van Kersen, 's Gravenhage 1960 (Dutch).

Web links

Commons : Gerrit Schulte  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Gerrit Schulte in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Gerrit Schulte in the ProCyclingStats.com database
• Gerrit Schulte in the Tour de France database(French / English )
• Gerrit Schulte in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Biography of Gerrit Schulte
• Gerrit Schulte. In: Bossche Encyclopedie. Retrieved February 23, 2017 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ In hotel Central expositie over Gerrit Schulte. In: Bastion-Oranje. Retrieved February 22, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Marc Kooijmans: Schulte, Gerardus Bernardus Maria (1916-1992). In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. Retrieved November 12, 2013 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Toos [vrouw van Gerrit] Schulte-van der Kleij overleden. In: Bastion-Oranje. December 19, 2011, archived from the original on February 23, 2017 ; Retrieved on February 23, 2017 (original website no longer available). 
4. ↑ De Bossche Reus. Cerrit Schulte in het kampioensjaar - PDF. In: docplayer.nl. Retrieved February 23, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Gerrit Schulte. In: Bossche Encyclopedie. Retrieved February 23, 2017 .