Tino tobacco

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Tino Tabak at the Tour de France 1972

Jentinus "Tino" Johannes Tabak (born May 6, 1946 in Enschede ) is a former New Zealand cyclist of Dutch origin.

Life

Tino Tabak was born in the Netherlands. When he was six years old, his family immigrated to New Zealand. At the age of ten, he dreamed of one day taking part in the Tour de France .

In 1965 Tino Tabak became the New Zealand road champion. In the same year he won the Tour of Southland as the youngest rider of all time , which he succeeded again in 1966 and 1967. Tobacco is the only rider to win the three major New Zealand road races in one year, twice, in 1966 and 1967.

In 1967 Tino Tabak returned to Europe and competed in races as an amateur until 1970. During this time he succeeded in winning the Ronde van Noord-Holland before the eventual world champion Hennie Kuiper . In 1970 he had the chance to win the International Rhineland-Palatinate Tour . The team-internal rivalry with Popke Oosterhof prevented the tour victory for both of them, the victory went to Karl-Heinz Muddemann , who profited from this disagreement. In 1971 he turned pro, started the Tour de France and placed in the top ten in two stages.

In 1972 Tino Tabak became Dutch road champion before Joop Zoetemelk (he had both New Zealand and Dutch citizenship ). At the Tour de France in the same year he finished 18th overall, which is the best result so far for a New Zealander in this race. In the following years he drove numerous smaller road races in Europe and won, among others, the Eight van Chaam in 1975 and the first edition of the Ronde van Midden-Zeeland .

After a fall in 1978, Tobacco ended his active career, which, in addition to many successes, had also held many setbacks for him. In 1995 he returned to New Zealand. Today he says about his cycling career: “I've risked everything to win a classic, almost following Tommy Simpson’s fate. It was madness. I can say that now. " (German:" I risked everything to win a classic, I almost followed Tommy Simpson's fate. It was madness. I can say that now ".)

Tino Tabak's son Paul is the sporting director of Dutch cycling teams.

literature

  • John Rhodes / Jonathan Kennett: Tino Tobacco. Dreams and Demons of a New Zealand Cycling Legend. New Zealand Cycling Legends. 2008

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Information on Radsportseiten.net applies, despite contradicting information.
  2. ^ Association of German cyclists (ed.): Radsport . No. 31/1970 . Deutscher Sportverlag Kurt Stoof, Cologne 1970, p. 6 .
  3. Kennett.co.nz: "Cycling Legend Tino Tabak" accessed on March 31, 2010 (English)