The needless loss at Auch

On the eve of the 1977 Tour de France, the roles are settled. Kuiper is team leader; Knetemann and Thurau are given a free role. Karstens is road captain. The others ride in the service of the team. In hindsight, the prologue in Fleurance proves crucial. In it, Post’s great favourite Didi Thurau takes the yellow jersey. It is Raleigh’s first yellow jersey, and it is cherished like a precious possession that – if at all possible – must stay within the team for a few days.

The first stage runs over a not particularly demanding course to Auch, towards the Pyrenees. Not a stage to worry about, even for the non-climbers. There is one little climb on the way to the finish, the Col de Tournecoupe, but its height (283 metres) would not rob even the most confirmed hater of climbing of his night’s sleep. José De Cauwer, the ever-watchful half of Kuiper-De Cauwer Ltd, does still see a problem, though. The last kilometres of the stage, he has seen in the route book, run over a winding course and through narrow streets. So the thing is to stay near the front of the peloton. ‘That way the chance of losing time in the finale through an unexpected crash is smallest,’ De Cauwer stresses. He urges Hennie to stick to that advice. When the pace is cranked up in the finale, all is still well, until De Cauwer punctures a good 15 kilometres from the finish. He will lose time, but that is no disaster. As a helper, the classification means nothing to him. He has done his work for Hennie and can ride calmly to the finish. De Cauwer is given another bike and continues on his way.

‘Allez Hennie: get on my wheel’

Meanwhile the Portuguese Joaquim Agostinho has also punctured. He is the leader of the Flandria team. The whole squad waits for the Portuguese. So De Cauwer is able to latch on to the Flandria train, which in no time comes thundering back into the peloton – with De Cauwer. The Belgian sits up, and who does he see sitting at the back of the peloton? Hennie Kuiper. Damn it. And after he warned him so clearly… It is less than ten kilometres to the finish. De Cauwer rides up to his leader and says: ‘Allez Hennie, get on my wheel!’ Hennie may already be in his fifth season as a professional, but he is still afraid of the unavoidable jostling in the peloton. In that respect he remains a scaredy-cat. De Cauwer works his way up through the peloton and looks back, but whoever he sees: no Kuiper. Blast it: he works himself into the ground to bring his leader forward, and the leader does not follow.

De Cauwer drops back and shouts to Hennie: ‘Come on, up to the front with me now.’ And once again De Cauwer works his way to the head of the group in an attempt to deliver his leader to the front row. But once again Kuiper loses his helper’s wheel. The peloton is three kilometres from the line. It is enough to make you despair. José is seething: ‘Sort it out yourself, then. I’ve done my best.’ A few seconds later De Cauwer hears it: krrrakkk. A crash. He knows that Kuiper is behind that crash, that he is going to lose time… Afterwards José lets rip. ‘I ride myself into the ground to bring you back up and you’re not there.’ The damage amounts to 15 seconds. Hennie makes very light of it.

‘Oh, what are 15 seconds? Soon, in the mountains, they’ll be throwing minutes around.’ De Cauwer’s reply: ‘But you’ve still lost those seconds. That could still cost you dearly.’ They will later prove to be prophetic words. José is furious. First Kuiper loses the wheel, and then on top of that he comes out with such a laconic response. Hennie and José never quarrel, and never will in later years either, but after that incident De Cauwer does not speak to Kuiper for three days. He has to vent his anger and, above all, make his leader understand that he has made a catastrophic mistake.

Hennie Kuiper talks to journalists after the race. On the far left – with cigarette – Hans Coolegem of Sijthoff Pers. To his right, with moustache, Nino Tomadesso of the Limburgs Dagblad. To Kuiper’s right, Leo van de Ruit of the ANP. And on the far right Maarten Noppen of the Algemeen Dagblad