Professional Career
Zoetemelk turned professional for Briek Schotte's Belgian Mars-Flandria team in 1970. He came second to Eddy Merckx in that year's Tour de France.
Zoetemelk won Paris–Nice, the Semana Catalana and the Tour de Romandie in 1974 and then crashed heavily into a British car left unattended at the finish of the Midi-Libre in Valras-Plage, France. He cracked his skull and came close to dying. He returned next season to win Paris–Nice again and then caught meningitis. He never fully recovered and the head injury reduced his sense of taste. He nevertheless won 20 races that season, including Paris–Nice, the Tour of Holland and the Dwars door Lausanne and a stage of the Tour de France. He also came fourth in the Tour de France.
Of one-day races, in 1976 he won the Flèche Wallonne, in 1977 and 1979 the Grand Prix d'Automne, and came fourth in the world championships of 1976 and 1982 before winning in 1985, the oldest man to win the professional title.
Peter Post, manager of the TI-Raleigh team in the Netherlands, approached Zoetemelk through his wife, Françoise, after the world championship in 1979. Zoetemelk had long lived in France and ridden for French teams. His sponsor, the bicycle company Mercier, ended its sponsorship and Zoetemelk was looking for a new team. The following year Zoetemelk won his - and TI-Raleigh's - only Tour de France. The pre-race favourite, Bernard Hinault had retired halfway due to knee-problems. Zoetemelk objected to claims that he had won only because Hinault had dropped out, saying: "Surely winning the Tour de France is a question of health and robustness. If Hinault doesn't have that health and robustness and I have, that makes me a valid winner."
Gerald O'Donovan, the TI-Raleigh director behind sponsorship of the team, said:
- "We needed a winner and for 1980 signed Joop Zoetemelk, who had an outstanding record of places but had probably enjoyed less support than we could give him. We cleaned up the Tours of Belgium, Holland and Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in preparation and waited for the big day. The big plan to control Bernard Hinault, who had won for the previous two years, came to fruition. The team attacked his every move; this was Panzer Group Post at its most formidable. About halfway through the race he abandoned the lead to Zoetemelk and pulled out of the race. We arrived in Paris with the overall lead, 12 stage wins and the team prize, to say nothing of a whole bundle of francs. We had pounded away winning the battles for the previous four years; at last we had won the war."
In 18 years as a professional (1969–87), Zoetemelk won the Tour de France in 1980, and the Vuelta a España in 1979. He came second in the Tour de France six times.
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