Erik Breukink
Breukink at the 2007 Tour de France | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Erik Breukink |
Born |
Rheden, the Netherlands | 1 April 1964
Team information | |
Discipline | Road |
Role |
Rider (retired) Team manager |
Rider type | All-round |
Professional team(s) | |
1985 | Skala-Gazelle |
1986–1989 | Panasonic |
1990–1992 | PDM |
1993–1995 | ONCE |
1996–1997 | Rabobank |
Managerial team(s) | |
2004–2012 | Rabobank |
Major wins | |
|
Erik Breukink (born 1 April 1964) is a former professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, Breukink reached the podium in Paris, finishing 3rd in the 1990 Tour de France. Most recently, he served as the manager of the Rabobank team.[1]
Biography
Amateur cycling years
Born in Rheden, Breukink was born in a cycling family, as his father Willem Breukink was director of the Gazelle bicycle factory. Despite this, he chose to be a footballer. In 1980 he changed to pursue a cycling career.[2] In 1982, this appeared to be a good choice, when he won the Dutch national pursuit championship for juniors. At the 1984 Olympic Games, Erik Breukink competed with Gert Jakobs, Maarten Ducrot and Jos Albertsin the 100 km Team Pursuit and finish fourth place.[3] In 1985, Breukink won 2 time trial stages in Olympia's Tour, and finished 3rd place overall. He decided to switch to a professional career.
Professional cycling years
Breukink made his debut as a pro in 1986 for the Skala-Gazelle team. He turned out to be a time trial specialist and was a good climber. In his Tour de France debut in 1987, he won one stage and finished second in the young rider classification. His real breakthrough in the major courses was the 1988 Giro d'Italia, where he debuted with a 2nd place, winning the Gavia Pass stage in a snowstorm. In the 1988 Tour de France he won the young rider classification and finished 13th place. In the 1989 Tour de France, he showed his time trial skills by winning the prologue, and wearing the yellow jersey for one day. In that year's Giro d'Italia, he almost won, but lost the lead in the Dolomites due to hunger. In 1990, Breukink wanted to focus on the Tour de France, so he switched to the PDM team, that allowed him to do so. In the 1990 Tour de France, the result was good, winning two stages and finishing 3rd overall. The result could even have been better, but Breukink suffered from some bad luck: in the climb to the Tourmalet Breukink had to switch bicycles three times. In 1991, Breukink together with the entire PDM-team had to leave the tour ranked 3rd, officially due to food poisoning, but it was later exposed that it was due to Intralipid[4][5] In 1992, he appeared weak, especially in his favourite time trials. In 1993, Breukink switched to the ONCE team, where his performance improved again. Bad luck followed him however, as just before the start of the 1993 Tour de France, he was hit by a car. The damage to his left knee caused him to give up during the Tour. Breukink rode the Tour de France four times afterwards, but never reached his old level. In 1997 he ended his professional cycling career, having ridden 11 Tours de France and won 4 stages. He garnered 61 career victories in total.
Sports commentator
After one year as a Public Relations officer for the Rabobank-team, Breukink started as co-commentator for the NOS, covering the Tour de France. In 2002 and 2003, the GP Erik Breukink,[6] a UCI level 2.3 course,[7] was run, with Erik Dekker and Fabian Cancellara as winners,[8] but it was discontinued in 2004 due to financial problems.[9]
Team manager
On 13 January 2004, it was announced that Erik Breukink started as a team manager for the Rabobank team.[10] Thanks to his ONCE-years, Erik Breukink speaks Spanish fluently, which is helpful to communicate with the Spanish cyclists in the Rabobank team and cyclist Denis Menchov, who also speaks Spanish better than English.[11] Since Breukink became team manager, the Rabobank cycling team's successes have included Paris–Tours, Milan–San Remo, the Brabantse Pijl (3x), the Tirreno–Adriatico (2x), the Tour de Romandie, the final classification and three stages in the Vuelta a España, 6 stages in the Tour de France and the mountains classification (2x) in the Tour de France. On, 20 July 2006, Breukink received the "médaille de la fidélité" from the Tour de France organisation, because he had been present in the Tour de France for 20 years. (11 times as rider, 1 time as PR-officer, 5 times as sports commentator and 3 times as team manager).[12]
Career achievements
Major results
- 1982
- 1st
National Track Pursuit Champion (Junior) - 1984
- 3rd Overall Olympia's Tour
- 1st Stage 7a
- 1985
- 1st Prologue Olympia's Tour
- 1st Stage 7a Olympia's Tour
- 1st Stage 4b Tour de Liège
- 1986
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse
- 1987
- 1st Stage 13 Tour de France
- 3rd Overall Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stage 1a
- 1988
- 1st
Youth Classification Tour de France - 1st Stage 2 (TTT)
- 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stage 14
- 1st Overall Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco
- 1st Stage 5a
- 1st Stage 5b
- 1st Overall Critérium International
- 1st Stage 3
- 1st Omloop van het Waasland
- 1989
- 1st Prologue Tour de France
- 1st Prologue Tour de Romandie
- 1st Stage 3b Tour de Romandie
- 1st Stage 6b Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
- 1990
- 3rd Overall Tour de France
- 1st Stage 12
- 1st Stage 20
- 1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse
- 1st Stage 8 Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Stage 7a Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
- 1st Overall Tour of Ireland
- 1st Stage 2a
- 1st Stage 1b Vuelta a Asturias
- 1st Grand Prix de la Libération (TTT)
- 1991
- 1st Overall Tour Du Pont
- 1st Prologue
- 1st Stage 11
- 1st Stage 8 Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Grand Prix Eddy Merckx
- 1992
- 1st Stage 7 Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 1 Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Stage 8 Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Giro del Piemonte
- 1993
- 1st
Dutch National Road Race Championship - 1st Overall Critérium International
- 1st Stage 3
- 1st Overall Ronde van Nederland
- 1st Stage 3b
- 1st Overall Vuelta a Asturias
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st Stage 2 Vuelta Ciclista a la Communidad Valenciana
- 1995
- 1st
Dutch Time Trial Championship - 1996
- 1st Druivenkoers Overijse
- 1997
- 1st
Dutch Time Trial Championship
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tour de France | 21 | 12 | WD | 3 | WD | 7 | WD | 29 | 20 | 34 | 52 |
Giro d'Italia | 3 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
Vuelta a España | 7 |
See also
References
- ↑ "Rabobank parts company with Breukink". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 8 September 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
- ↑ "tourdefrance.nl biography" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ↑ Official results 1984 Olympic Games Archived 30 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Terug naar ... 16 juli 1991(in Dutch)
- ↑ Dutch Drugs Scandal – Part 6
- ↑ Official site GP Erik Breukink (in Dutch) Archived 16 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ UCI 2002 road calendar
- ↑ GP Erik Breukink final classifications Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ GP Breukink afgelast (in Dutch)
- ↑ "Erik Breukink ploegleider Rabobank" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ↑ Team information(in Dutch)
- ↑ "Twintig Tours met Breukink" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
External links
- Erik Breukink at Cycling Archives
- Profile at official rabobank site (in Dutch)
Awards | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Leo Visser |
Dutch Sportsman of the Year 1990 |
Succeeded by Edwin Jongejans Arnold Vanderlyde |
Sporting positions | ||
Preceded by Tristan Hoffman |
Dutch National Road Race Champion 1993 |
Succeeded by Steven Rooks |
Preceded by Mario Gutte Erik Dekker |
Dutch National Time Trial Champion 1995 1997 |
Succeeded by Erik Dekker Patrick Jonker |