Rolf Goelz

Rolf Gölz (born September 30, 1962 in Schussenried ) is a former German cyclist . He became world champion in team pursuit on the track in 1983 and won several one-day races and Tour de France stages .

Life

Gölz grew up in Bad Schussenried in Upper Swabia . In his amateur days, he won the silver medal in the 4,000-meter single pursuit at the world championships in 1982, the world championship with the German four-four in 1983 and won a silver and bronze medal in the 4,000-meter single and team pursuit in Los Angeles in 1984 . Because of his powerful driving style, Gölz was called "Turbo" by many colleagues. Even as an amateur, he was an excellent road driver. In 1982 he was able to win the classic “Around Frankfurt”. In the same year he won his first stage race with the Schleswig-Holstein Tour. His most important success as an amateur was in 1984 when he won the race around the Henninger Tower .

In his professional career from 1985 to 1993, he was one of the few German road drivers of international importance. Gölz mainly specialized in classic one-day races . His first major international success was winning the Züri Metzgete in 1987. After that, he was the first German to win La Flèche Wallonne in 1988, Paris-Brussels in 1988 and Milan-Turin (1988 and 1989), as well as the first non-Spaniard ever to win in 1988 Vuelta a Asturias . At the Tour de France , he was able to win a stage in 1987 and 1988. He also achieved overall victories at the Ruta del Sol (1985, 1987) and the 1992 Mediterranean Tour . In 1993 he was active in mountain biking.

After his cycling career, Gölz completed a degree in business administration at the University of Applied Sciences Biberach . From 1994 to 1999 he sat for the free voters in the municipal council of Bad Schussenried. From 1999 to 2002 and from 2005 worked as a sports director for the Gerolsteiner team . He also worked for ZDF as a co-commentator on Tour de France broadcasts and in 2003 published a book on classic one-day races ( Mythos Klassiker ).

Together with a business partner, he runs a bicycle shop in Bad Waldsee and an online bicycle shop , where he mainly takes care of commercial matters.