Ole Knight

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Ole Jørgen Ritter (born August 29, 1941 in Slagelse , Denmark ) is a former Danish cyclist who was able to achieve success on the track as well as on the road . His greatest success was the world hour record in Mexico City in 1968 with 48.653 km, he was also able to win three stages at the Giro d'Italia and place in the top ten of the overall standings twice. Ritter was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Danish Sports in 1992.

Amateur time

Ole Ritter achieved his first successes as an amateur in 1961 when he first took part in a road world championship. In 1962 he became the Danish road champion and won a silver medal in the individual road driving and in the 100 km team time trial at the Road World Championships in Salo . In 1964 he was again Danish amateur champion and took part in the road race (69th), as well as in the 100-kilometer team time trial (7th) of the Summer Olympics. In 1965 he started at the Course de la Paix (Peace Ride), finished 8th in the overall individual ranking and was again Danish road champion. At the end of the same year he set a world record over 100 km on the track and set world records over 10 km and 20 km in Zurich. Ritter started as an amateur for the ABC Copenhagen club.

Professional time

In 1967, Ritter became a professional in the Germanvox-Wega team in Italy , for which he drove for four years. In his first year, he won the long Giro d'Italia time trial against the world's top time trials including Eddy Merckx , Jacques Anquetil , Felice Gimondi and Ferdi Bracke . In the following year he won the Trofeo Matteotti and celebrated great success on the track: At the track world championships he was only defeated by the British Hugh Porter in the single pursuit and became vice world champion. In the summer of the same year he set successive world records of 10 km and 20 km in the Velodrome of Mexico City, only to set a new hour record on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games . In 1969 he was able to win another stage in the Giro , in which he was able to place ninth overall in 1970 . He showed particular strength in the individual time trial . He won the Forlì Grand Prix in 1970.

In 1971, Ritter moved to the Italian Dreher racing stable, where he was team captain. His greatest success in the two years with this team was a stage win in 1971 at the Giro . In 1973 Ritter drove one season for Bianchi-Campagnolo at the side of Felice Gimondi and achieved the best place in the overall classification of a great tour: he was seventh in the Giro . He was accompanied by the Danish documentary filmmaker Jørgen Leth , who published the result as Stjernerne og vandbærerne . Even during his time as an amateur racing driver, in 1966, Ritter had received the offer to be portrayed in a documentary about road cycling. At that time, however, he was forbidden to participate by the Danish Cycling Federation with reference to his amateur status.

In 1974 he tried to set a new world hour record in Mexico, although he could undercut his own personal best twice, he stayed above the time of the new world record holder Merckx. This was processed again by Leth in a documentary: The umulige time .

As a professional driver, he had finished 21 road races as the winner. In the last few years of his career he was able to make a name for himself in track competitions, winning the six-day races in Herning, Denmark (with Leo Duyndam) in 1974 and 1975, the Derny European Championship in 1976 and the six-day race in Copenhagen in 1977 alongside Patrick Sercu. In 1978, at the age of 36, he retired as an active player with a second place in the Copenhagen six-day race.

Professional after cycling

Ritter originally trained as a butcher. During his career, he temporarily ran a car dealership.

In 1979, Ole Ritter developed testicular cancer. His heart skipped during treatment, he was resuscitated, and he fully recovered from his illness. After his active time as a cyclist, Ole Ritter worked as a sports journalist and television commentator for Danish television.

Trivia

In the mid-1960s, there was no association for professional cyclists in Denmark that could issue appropriate licenses. Lykke had to apply for his license directly from the Union Cycliste International (UCI) as a so-called stateless person, which of course he was not.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c " Ole Ritter - The mysterious hour record setter ", cyclingnews from February 8, 2008 (visited on July 12, 2008)
  2. ↑ ABC Vennerne. Retrieved December 27, 2019 (Danish).
  3. ↑ Stjernerne og vandbærerne in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  4. ^ Cycling , March 1, 1966
  5. ↑ The umulige time in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  6. ^ Association of German cyclists (ed.): Radsport . No. 34/1962 . German sports publisher Kurt Stoof, Cologne, p. 17 .
  7. ^ Association of German cyclists (ed.): Radsport . No. 9/1966 . Deutscher Sportverlag Kurt Stoof, Cologne 1966, p. 14 .
  8. ↑ " [1] ", Billedbladet (Visited May 28, 2015)
  9. ^ Association of German cyclists (ed.): Radsport . No. 38/1967 . Deutscher Sportverlag Kurt Stoof, Cologne 1967, p. 8 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Knight, Ole
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ritter, Ole Jørgen Phister (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Slagelse , Denmark