Jan Raas

Jan Raas (born November 8, 1952) was a Dutch professional cyclist whose 115 career wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, he also won three of the sports "Monuments": the Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1979 and 1983, Paris-Roubaix in 1982 and the Milan-San Remo in 1977, he also took the Dutch Classic, the Amstel Gold Race on five occasions and won 10 stages in the Tour de France. Raas who wore glasses was regarded as one of the shrewdist tacticians and cleverest sprinters in the pro peloton. His physical build ensured that he struggled on the long steep climbs of the major tours but he excelled on the short power climbs that were characteristic of the northern classics.

Related Topics:
November 8 - 1952 - World Road Race Championship - Valkenburg - "Monuments" - Ronde van Vlaanderen - Paris-Roubaix - Milan-San Remo - Amstel Gold Race - Tour de France

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Born in the village of Heinkenszand, near the town of Goes in the province of Zeeland, Raas was the son of a farmer and one of ten children, he showed no interest in cycling until leaving school at 16 when he acquired his first racing bike and started competing in the junior category where he took his first victory in the town of Damme in Belgium on the 21st July 1969. Further success over the years as an amateur including stage wins in the Olympia Tour and the Dutch National championships prompted Peter Post, the manager of the top professional team TI-Raleigh to offer Raas a contract for the 1975 season. The 22 year old had a good first season as a professional with two small victories as well as finishing 4th in the Tour of Belgium. The following year (1976) saw him become Dutch National champion but at the end of that year Raas parted company with TI-Raleigh when he could not agree financial terms for a new contract.

Related Topics:
Goes - Zeeland - Damme - Peter Post

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1977 saw him riding for the Frisol team and victories in Milan-San Remo and the Amstel Gold Race made Peter Post have a re-think and Raas was back with T.I.-Raleigh for the 1978 season with a substantial pay rise. Raas became the motivating influence behind the success of the Raleigh team of the late seventies and early eighties he was joint team leader with Gerrie Knetemann in the so called “Garde Rouge”, however there were other important squad members such as Joop Zoetemelk, Ludo Peeters, Cees Priem and Henk Lubberding.

Related Topics:
Gerrie Knetemann - Joop Zoetemelk - Ludo Peeters - Cees Priem - Henk Lubberding

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Raas’ major highlights for the rest of his career included his 1979 World Championship victory on home soil in Valkenburg where he outsprinted German Didi Thurau in front of a crowd of 200,000 spectators. He had four more victories in the Amstel Gold Race to give him a record total of five, Raas always regarded the Amstel Gold as one his favourite races, he was an expert in the mazy route that the race took in the Limburg hills in the south of the Netherlands, “The Gold Race was made for me, I had no ability as a climber but the Limbourg hills short and hard were made for me”, commented Raas after his career had ended. He won Paris-Roubaix at his seventh attempt in 1982 thanks to sterling work by his team, especially Ludo Peeters.

Related Topics:
Didi Thurau - Limburg

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Raas suffered a bad crash in the 1984 Milan-San Remo, injuring his back and some internal organs, after this he was never the same rider although he took a stage in the 1984 Tour de France. He found the training and recovery very hard and he announced his retirement on the 28th of May 1985 after riding a criterium at Hansweert the preceding day.

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Raas’ tactical know how of cycle racing made him a natural to move into team management when his riding career finished and he immediately became sporting director of the Kwantum team. Jan’s flair for management did not just extend to the riders he also found new sponsors when old ones pulled out and the team received backing from SuperConfex, Buckler, WordPerfect, Novell and finally Rabobank as main sponsors. Jan and his wife Anja suffered a armed raid on their house in March 1994 and a traumatised Raas decide he could no longer spend long periods away from home so he changed his job from sporting director to manager when Rabobank became main sponsors for his team in 1995. He spent eight years in this capacity until he parted company with Rabobank by mutual agreement at the end of the 2003 season with the sponsor indicating that insoluble differences had prompted Raas' removal.

Related Topics:
WordPerfect - Novell - Rabobank

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Since Raas left Rabobank there have been reports in the Dutch press that he was to return to cycling for the 2005 season as the head of a new team sponsored by Dutch electronic giant Philips with Cees Priem as manager, however this did not materialise.

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