Rudolf Voigt (cyclist)

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Rudolf "Rudi" Voigt (born January 12, 1922 in Ottewig near Riesa ; † April 10, 2013 ) was a German racing cyclist .

Athletic career

As a teenager, Voigt initially did athletics and gymnastics before turning to cycling against the will of his parents. By saving iron he managed to buy a racing machine. He joined the Glückauf Lüttewitz community. He competed in his first race at the difficult Grand Saxony Prize and finished 7th, but more important than this placement was that he made the acquaintance of Oskar Thierbach in this race . Thierbach not only became his role model, but also a friend and mentor. Thierbach also referred him to the Diamant Chemnitz association. In 1940 the first major successes came about, so he won in the traditional area around the Ostragehege in Dresden . At the end of the season he was called up for military service. In 1946 he returned from an American captivity. During the Second World War , however, he had lost all of his racing equipment. The former racing driver Max Günther helped him out with material, so that on May 12, 1946, he competed again for the first time at the trade fair award in Leipzig and even won. Thereupon he decided to get a license as a professional driver and started on June 7th as a professional on the track in a two-man team drive in Halle an der Saale . In that year there were a few more victories in cinder track races, mainly in the Berlin Radstadion Mitte.

Voigt was also one of the last active professional drivers in the GDR before professional driving was banned there in 1956. Voigt also competed in races outside of what was then the eastern zone , so in 1947 he was third in the Green Belt from the Rhine . This race was the first attempt in the post-war period to organize something like a stage trip. This was held in six West German cities as a circuit race with an overall ranking and was considered the forerunner of the tour of Germany, which was later resumed . In 1949 Voigt started the Tour of Germany, which led over 13 stages from Hamburg to Munich , but had to give up after a serious fall. On the Tour of Germany in 1952, he started together with Werner Richter for the "Rapier" team, which was the only team to bring all drivers to the finish. Voigt was 40th overall, 2 hours and 35 minutes behind the winner.

On February 15, 1955, the GDR cycling federation published a decision of its presidium, according to which all still active professional drivers and pacemakers were asked to immediately become “members of the democratic sports movement” and to join a company sports community (BSG). All athletes who would take advantage of this opportunity would be exempt from the usual two-year waiting period and would immediately be eligible to start with the amateurs. The resolution was of an ultimate nature and ended with a deadline of February 28, 1955.

Like many others before him, he was reamateurised and joined the BSG Stahl Riesa . As a professional, he was able to achieve the GDR championship title in the track sprint in 1954 . At the East Zone Championship in 1947 he was third in the two-man team driving with Otto Weckerling . In March 1955 Voigt returned his license as a professional driver together with Jürgen Müller and Wilfried Mauf . As an amateur, he took part in the GDR tour with the SV Stahl team in 1956 , placing 31st as one of the best BSG athletes (who did not belong to the top performance class).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Express-Verlag (ed.): Illustrated Radsportexpress . No. 12/1949 . Berlin 1949, p. 94 .
  2. ↑ Express-Verlag (ed.): Illustrated Radsportexpress . No. 21/1947 . Berlin 1947, p. 4 .
  3. ↑ Cycling . No. 31/1952 . Deutscher Sportverlag Kurt Stoof, Cologne 1952, p. 15 .
  4. ^ Presidium of the Cycling Section of the GDR (Ed.): Cycling Week . No. 7/1955 . Sportverlag, Berlin 1955, p. 8 .
  5. ↑ "They want to start as amateurs", in: Neues Deutschland from March 13, 1955, p. 6
  6. ^ Presidium of the Cycling Section of the GDR (Ed.): Cycling Week . No. 29/1956 . Berlin 1956, p. 9 .
personal data
SURNAME Voigt, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Voigt, Rudi (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German racing cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Ottewig near Riesa
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 2013