Theo de Rooij

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Theo de Rooij (born April 25, 1957 in Harmelen ) is a former Dutch cyclist , later sports director and entrepreneur.

Cycling career

As an amateur , Theo de Rooij won the Tour of Slovakia and the Rhineland-Palatinate Tour in 1978 and became student world champion in road racing . In 1979 he became Dutch runner-up in road racing and won the Ronde van Noord-Holland among the amateurs. In 1980 he switched to the pros and won the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen that same year . In the same year he was also runner-up in the Trofeo Baracchi with Ludo Peeters .

In 1981 de Rooij finished second overall on the Tour of Germany . The following year he won this tour and the Trofeo Laigueglia . He started eight times in the Tour de France ; his best placement was 19th in 1982 . In 1984 he won the mountain classification at the Col de Portet-d'Aspet . He drove the Tour de Suisse four times ; In 1980 he was tenth overall, second overall in 1982 and second in the mountain classification in 1985 . In other tours - including the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme and the Tour of Norway - he was able to book stage wins for himself. In 1990 Theo de Rooij resigned from active cycling.

Activities as a sports director and in marketing

From 1991 to 1994 de Rooij was assistant to team manager Peter Post at Team Panasonic , for which he had previously driven for eight years. In 1995 he worked for Shimano's sports marketing department . From 1996 to 2007 he was in the management of the Rabobank cycling team , after Jan Raas resigned as boss in 2004.

After Rabobank rider Michael Rasmussen was excluded from the 2007 Tour de France for violating anti- doping rules, Theo de Rooij resigned from his post. At first he refused to take Rasmussen, who was leading at the time, out of the race. The Dane had evaded doping controls three times in 15 weeks and gave wrong whereabouts; he finally confessed to having lied to his team leader too. The basis was the testimony of the Italian ex-professional and TV journalist Davide Cassani , who said on Italian television that he had seen Rasmussen train in Trentino in the spring of that year , whereas he had told the team that he was in Mexico at the time. In 2012, de Rooij told the Dutch daily De Volkskrant that when he was in charge at Rabobank, it was the driver's responsibility "how far he has gone in the medical field". However, he had to discipline drivers who did so without the knowledge of the team's medical department. Even if he did not use the term doping here, his statements are understood to mean that the team tolerated doping under his leadership.

During de Rooij's time at Rabobank, the team won 81 national championships, ten World Cup victories and 27 stage successes in major tours . Since 2008 he has been the sports director of the Ronde van Overijssel . The Theo de Rooij Classic has been held in Overijssel since 2010 .

Entrepreneur

In 2008, Theo de Rooij and a business partner founded the company TDR , which produces e-bikes . The company received the Eurobike Golden Award for its TDR FluxX model in 2011 . Shortly before, de Rooij had started working as a supervisor for the Dutch national speed skating team in preparation for the 2014 Olympic Games , but had to give up this commitment two months later due to the overwhelming demand for the award-winning bikes.

publication

In 2009 de Rooij presented his autobiography BeZIELd . He handed the first copy over to his former boss Peter Post.

Individual evidence

  1. spiegel.de of July 26, 2007: The man who accidentally betrayed Rasmussen
  2. radsport-news.com from May 5, 2012: De Rooij: Rabobank tolerated doping until 2007
  3. Rabobank team boss de Rooij resigns on radsport-news.com v. August 3, 2007
  4. rondevanoverijssel.nl (Dutch)
  5. theoderooijclassic.nl (Dutch)
  6. tdrbikes.com ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Dutch) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tdrbikes.com
  7. De Rooij represents alweer bij schaatsbond on tctubantia.nl v. September 7, 2011  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Dutch)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / sport.tctubantia.nl  
  8. sportmediashop.nl (Dutch)

Web links