Lothar Friedrich

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Lothar Friedrich (born December 11, 1930 in Völklingen ; † April 19, 2015 ) was a German racing cyclist .

Athletic career

Friedrich began his cycling career as a cross-country rider . He also appeared internationally when he took part in the Cyclo-cross World Championships . In the 1954 race he was 25th, a year later he was the best German in 9th place. At the same time he also drove road races and was part of the German squad at the Amateur Road World Cup in Solingen in 1954 , but retired early. At the road world championship of amateurs in 1955 he fought for 8th place. During the Tour of Austria in 1955, he became the Großglockner King , ie he was the first to cross the Großglockner on the stage.

After Friedrich had worked as a miner in the Saarland district until 1956 , he turned to professional sports that same year . First he drove for the German racing team Ruberg , where cycling veteran Günther Pankoke was also under contract. He later drove for many years for the Fichtel & Sachs and Torpedo teams . At the 1957 Fichtel & Sachs Works Grand Prix , he won the only significant victory in his career. Also in 1957 he started taking part in the big stage races . At the Tour de Suisse 1957 he finished fifth behind Hennes Junkermann (4th) as the second best German driver. In the Tour de France 1957 , he narrowly missed the day's victory in second place on stage 12, but retired on the following stage after an unfortunate fall.

From 1956 Friedrich also took part in the road world championships for professionals. When he first appeared at the 1956 World Cup , he was one of the five retired German drivers. He then took part in every world championship until 1960. With the 25th place he achieved his best result at the 1958 World Cup . Until 1960, Friedrich was a regular participant in the Tour de France . In 1958 he drove his most successful tour. As was the case later, it was not enough to win a stage, but in the overall standings he came in 12th place as the best German.

In 1960 Friedrich drove his last big races, in which he was able to achieve impressive placings again. First and foremost was the 3rd place at the German championship in professional road racing . At the Germany Tour he missed the day's victory in the 6th stage, just behind the Swiss Fredy Rüegg and achieved 17th place in the overall standings.

In addition to his numerous appearances in road racing, Friedrich repeatedly returned to cross-country cycling. In 1959 he took part again in the cyclo-cross world championship, where he finished 15th as the second-best German alongside runner-up world champion Rolf Wolfshohl .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Glaner: Triumphs and Tragedies . Part 2. Bad Vöslau 2009, p. 150 .
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich, Lothar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German racing cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Völklingen
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 2015