.jpg) Breukink at the2007 Tour de France | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Erik Breukink |
| Born | (1964-04-01)1 April 1964 (age 61) Rheden, the Netherlands |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb; 11 st 0 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider (retired) Team manager |
| Rider type | All-rounder |
| Professional teams | |
| 1985 | Skala-Gazelle |
| 1986–1989 | Panasonic–Merckx–Agu |
| 1990–1992 | PDM–Concorde–Ultima |
| 1993–1995 | ONCE |
| 1996–1997 | Rabobank |
| Managerial team | |
| 2004–2012 | Rabobank |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Erik Breukink (born 1 April 1964) is a former Dutch professionalroad racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, finished 3rd in the1990 Tour de France. Most recently, he served as the manager of theRabobank team.[1]
Born inRheden, Breukink was born in a cycling family, as his father Willem Breukink was director of theGazelle 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 the1984 Olympic Games, Erik Breukink competed withGert Jakobs,Maarten Ducrot andJos Alberts in the 100 km Team Pursuit and finish fourth place.[3] In 1985, Breukink won 2 time trial stages inOlympia's Tour, and finished 3rd place overall. He decided to switch to a professional career.
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 hisTour de France debut in1987, he won one stage and finished second in theyoung rider classification. His real breakthrough in the major courses was the 1988Giro d'Italia, where he debuted with a 2nd place, winning theGavia Pass stage in a snowstorm. In the1988 Tour de France he won theyoung rider classification and finished 13th place. In the1989 Tour de France, he showed his time trial skills by winning the prologue, and wearing theyellow jersey for one day. In that year's Giro d'Italia, he almost won, but lost the lead in theDolomites 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 the1990 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 theTourmalet 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 toIntralipid.[4][5] In 1992, he appeared weak, especially in his favourite time trials. In 1993, Breukink switched to theONCE team, where his performance improved again. Bad luck followed him however, as just before the start of the1993 Tour de France, he was hit by a car test riding the newLotus 110. 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.
After one year as a Public Relations officer for the Rabobank-team, Breukink started as co-commentator for theNOS, covering the Tour de France. In 2002 and 2003, the GP Erik Breukink,[6] a UCI level 2.3 course,[7] was run, withErik Dekker andFabian Cancellara as winners,[8] but it was discontinued in 2004 due to financial problems.[9]
On 13 January 2004, it was announced that Erik Breukink started as a team manager for theRabobank 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 cyclistDenis Menchov, who also speaks Spanish better than English.[11] Since Breukink became team manager, the Rabobank cycling team's successes have includedParis–Tours,Milan–San Remo, theBrabantse Pijl (3×), theTirreno–Adriatico (2×), theTour de Romandie, the final classification and three stages in theVuelta a España, 6 stages in the Tour de France and themountains classification (2×) 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]
Team pursuit, National Track Championships
after Stages 1a–2
after Stages 1a–3
after Stages 1a & 1b
OverallTour of the Basque Country OverallCritérium International
Young rider classification OverallEscalada a Montjuïc & after Prologue after Stages 8 & 10–13 OverallNissan Classic OverallTour DuPontRoad race, National Road Championships OverallCritérium International OverallRonde van Nederland
OverallVuelta a AsturiasTime trial, National Road ChampionshipsTime trial| Grand Tour | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia | 71 | 3 | 2 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | 59 | — | — |
 Tour de France | — | 21 | 12 | DNF | 3 | DNF | 7 | DNF | 29 | 20 | 34 | 52 |
 Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | — | — | 27 | 7 | 19 | — | — | — |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Dutch Sportsman of the Year 1990 | Succeeded by |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by | Dutch National Road Race Champion 1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Dutch National Time Trial Champion 1995 1997 | Succeeded by |