Paul Wellens (cyclist)

Last updated
Paul Wellens
Personal information
Full namePaul Wellens
Born (1952-06-27) 27 June 1952 (age 72)
Hasselt, Belgium
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Professional teams
1976 Miko–de Gribaldy [1]
1977 Frisol–Thirion–Gazelle [1]
1978–1980 TI–Raleigh [1]
1981 Boule d'Or–Colnago–Campagnolo [1]
1982 Wickes–Bouwmarkt–Splendor [1]
1983 Eorotex–Magniflex [1]
1984 Ariostea [1]
1985 Tönissteiner–TW Rock–BASF [1]
1986Miko–Carlos [1]
Major wins
Tour de France, 2 individual stages and 5 TTT stages
Tour de Suisse (1978)

Paul Wellens (born 27 June 1952 in Hasselt) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer.

Contents

Cycling career

In 1978, he won the combativity award in the Tour de France. He won two individual tour stages during his career: in 1977 he won stage 15a to Morzine in a solo breakaway, leading alone over the summit of the Col du Corbier and crossing the finish line with a three-minute lead over the peloton, and the following year he won the stage to Super Besse. He was also part of the TI–Raleigh squads which took a team time trial win in the 1978 Tour, two further TTT victories the next year and another two in the 1980 edition of the race. [2] [1] In addition he took two top ten finishes on the Tour's general classification, placing sixth in 1978 and eighth as TI–Raleigh's leader in 1979. He also won the 1978 Tour de Suisse. He is the brother of fellow racing cyclists Leo and Johan Wellens and the uncle of cyclist Tim Wellens. At the 1981 Tour de France, he and his brothers all rode for the Sunair–Sport 80–Colnago team as domestiques for Freddy Maertens. [2]

Major results

1977
Orchies
Stage 2, Tour of the Basque Country
Tour de France:
Winner stage 15A
1978
Kamerik
Tour de Suisse
Tour de France:
Winner stages 4 (TTT) & 13
6th place overall classification
1979
Beringen
Koersel
Tour de France:
Winner stages 4 (TTT) & 8 (TTT)
8th place overall classification
1980
Tour de France:
Winner stages 1b (TTT) & 7a (TTT)
1983
Stage 12, Tour de l'Avenir [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joop Zoetemelk</span> Dutch cyclist

Hendrik Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in Tour de France history with 62,885 km ridden. He won the 1979 Vuelta a España and the 1980 Tour de France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerrie Knetemann</span> Dutch cyclist (1951–2004)

Gerard Friedrich "Gerrie" Knetemann was a Dutch road bicycle racer who won the 1978 World Championship. He wore the Yellow Jersey early in each Tour de France for four consecutive years between 1977 and 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Raas</span> Dutch cyclist

Jan Raas is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, he also won the Tour of Flanders in 1979 and 1983, Paris–Roubaix in 1982 and Milan–San Remo in 1977. He won ten stages in the Tour de France. In six starts, Raas won the Amstel Gold Race five times. In his entire career he competed in 23 of the highly contested "Monument" Races and he finished on the podium in almost half of them: 1st place four times and 3rd place six times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Breukink</span> Dutch cyclist

Erik Breukink is a former Dutch professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, finished 3rd in the 1990 Tour de France. Most recently, he served as the manager of the Rabobank team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 Tour de France</span> Cycling race

The 1980 Tour de France was the 67th edition of the Tour de France. The total distance was 3,842 km (2,387 mi) over 22 stages. In the first half of the race, Bernard Hinault started out strong by winning the prologue and two stages. However, knee problems forced Hinault to abandon the race while still in the lead. Joop Zoetemelk became the new leader, and defended that position successfully. Just as in 1979, when Hinault and Zoetemelk finished nearly a half hour ahead of the rest of the field, the 1980 edition was a battle between these two riders until Hinault abandoned. At the time Hinault was just 21 seconds ahead of Zoetemelk and the race was about to enter the Pyrenees. Zoetemelk did not wear the yellow jersey during stage 13 though he did in every stage thereafter finishing the race with nearly a seven-minute advantage over second place Hennie Kuiper. It was his first Tour victory in his tenth attempt, after already having finished second in five editions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan van der Velde</span> Dutch cyclist (born 1956)

Johan van der Velde is a former Dutch cyclist. In the 1980 Tour de France, he won the young rider classification, also placing 12th in the general classification that year. He had been a racing cyclist for only a year. In the 1981 Tour de France, he took first place on the second and 21st stages, finishing 12th overall for the second year. He rode with TI–Raleigh in the Tour de France from 1979 to 1983 and the Panasonic team where he won Stage 5 and wore the Yellow Jersey for two days in the 1986 Tour de France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1982 Tour de France</span> Cycling race

The 1982 Tour de France was the 69th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 2 to 25 July. The total race distance was 22 stages over 3,507 km (2,179 mi). It was won by Bernard Hinault, his fourth victory so far.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1981 Tour de France</span> Cycling race

The 1981 Tour de France was the 68th edition of the Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 19 July. The total race distance was 24 stages over 3,753 km (2,332 mi). It was dominated by Bernard Hinault, who led the race from the sixth stage on, increasing his lead almost every stage. Only Phil Anderson was able to stay close to him, until the 16th stage when he fell behind by about 7:00, and then on the 17th stage he would lose another 17 minutes. In the end only Lucien Van Impe, Robert Alban and Joop Zoetemelk were able to finish inside 20:00 of the now three time champ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 Tour de France</span> Cycling race

The 1978 Tour de France was the 65th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 29 June and 23 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of 3,908 km (2,428 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hennie Kuiper</span> Dutch cyclist

Hendrikus Andreas "Hennie" Kuiper is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career includes a gold medal in the Olympic road race at Munich in 1972, becoming world professional road race champion in 1975, as well as winning four of the five "Monument" classics. He rode the Tour de France 12 times, finishing second twice and winning the stage to Alpe d'Huez on two occasions. Kuiper, Ercole Baldini and Paolo Bettini are the only riders to have won both the Olympic road race and the world professional road race.

Rudy Pévenage is a former Belgian cyclist, and later in his career team coach of cycling teams such as Histor–Sigma, La William–Saltos, Team Coast, and T-Mobile Team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Winnen</span> Dutch cyclist (born 1957)

Peter Johannes Gertrudis Winnen is a Dutch former road racing cyclist. He competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in road racing and finished in 26th place. After the Games he turned professional in 1981. Among his 14 victories were two stages at Alpe d'Huez in the Tour de France and a national championship. He came third in the Tour de France in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henk Lubberding</span> Dutch cyclist

Henk Lubberding is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1977 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urs Zimmermann</span> Swiss cyclist

Urs Zimmermann is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist. He stood on the podium in two of the three Grand Tour events after finishing third in 1986 Tour de France and 1988 Giro d'Italia. He also won several stage races such as the Tour de Suisse, Dauphiné Libéré and Critérium International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TI–Raleigh</span>

TI–Raleigh was a Dutch professional track cycling and road bicycle racing team between 1972 and 1983. In that decade the team won over 900 races. The team was created and led by Peter Post. In his own cycling career, his nickname was the Six Days Emperor, being a track champion. He also won the 1964 fast edition of Paris–Roubaix. Post was pretty harsh on himself. He had no time to celebrate and was always looking ahead at the next race. That attitude might have been the key to the team's success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohan Dennis</span> Australian cyclist (born 1990)

Rohan Dennis is an Australian former cyclist, who competed professionally in the track and road disciplines of the sport for five different teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tejay van Garderen</span> American cyclist

Tejay van Garderen is an American former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2021 for the Rabobank Continental Team, HTC–Highroad, BMC Racing Team and EF Education–Nippo. Following his retirement as a cyclist, van Garderen became a directeur sportif for UCI WorldTeam EF Education–EasyPost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Matthews (cyclist)</span> Australian racing cyclist

Michael James Matthews is an Australian professional road and track cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jayco–AlUla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Wellens</span> Belgian road racing cyclist

Tim Wellens is a Belgian professional road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates. He is the son of former racing cyclist Leo Wellens and the nephew of cyclists Paul and Johan Wellens.

Ueli Sutter is a Swiss former cyclist. He competed in the individual road race and team time trial events at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Paul Wellens at Cycling Archives
  2. 1 2 Tagtik (11 June 2021). "Paul Wellens: de renner die Freddy Mercury inspireerde" [Paul Wellens: the rider who inspired Freddy Mercury]. proximus.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2022.