Product Code Database
Jan Raas (born 8 November 1952) is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, 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.John Wilcockson (2010-04-16) Amstel Gold Race preview: Horner and Hesjedal are North America’s best chance . Velonews.competitor.com. Retrieved on 2013-01-16. 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.
Raas was a tactician and clever sprinter. He struggled on long steep climbs, but excelled on the short climbs which were characteristic of the northern classics.
The 22-year-old had a good first season with two small victories and fourth in the Tour of Belgium. The following year (1976) saw him become national champion, but at the end of that year Raas parted company with , looking for more freedom to race.
In 1977 he rode for Frisol. Victories in Milan–San Remo and the Amstel Gold Race made Post rethink and Raas was back with for 1978. Raas became the influence behind the success of the team in the late seventies and early eighties. He was joint leader with Gerrie Knetemann, heading members such as Joop Zoetemelk, Ludo Peeters, Cees Priem and Henk Lubberding.
He played a major role in the victory of Zoetemelk in the 1980 Tour de France, as TI-Raleigh had one of the most dominant performances in all of TDF history not only containing Bernard Hinault, but also winning twelve stages, including seven in a row at one point.
Raas's highlights for the rest of his career included his 1979 world championship on home soil in Valkenburg, where he outsprinted German Dietrich Thurau in front of 200,000 spectators (even with the help from team-mates that push him during the climb, grabbing service vehicle, and the fall of Giovanni Battaglin caused by Thurau and Raas himself on the last 200m). He had four more victories in the Amstel Gold Race to give a record of five. Raas regarded the Amstel Gold as his favourite race: “The Gold Race was made for me, I had no ability as a climber, but the short and hard Limburg hills were made for me”, he said. He won Paris–Roubaix at his seventh attempt in 1982 thanks to work by his team, especially Peeters.
Raas crashed in the 1984 Milan–San Remo, injuring his back and internal organs and was never the same, although he took a stage in the 1984 Tour de France. He found the training and recovery hard and retired on 28 May 1985 after a criterium at Hansweert the preceding day.
Raas's know-how made for a natural move into team management and he became sporting director of Kwantum team. Raas found sponsors when old ones pulled out and the team received backing from SuperConfex, Buckler, WordPerfect, Novell and finally Rabobank.
Raas and his wife Anja suffered an armed raid on their house in March 1994"Jan Raas" by Noel Truyers, , Pages 39 and 40 and Raas decided he could no longer spend long periods away from home. He changed from sporting director to manager when Rabobank became the main sponsor in 1995. He spent eight years in this capacity until the end of 2003, the sponsor indicating that insoluble differences prompted Raas's departure.Anthony Tan (2003-12-10) "I just want to kick ass!". Autobus.cyclingnews.com. Retrieved on 2013-01-16.
| Grand Tour general classification results | |||||||||||
| Milan–San Remo | — | — ! style=background:gold;" | 1 | 105 | 12 ! style=background:#CC9966;" | 3 | — | 14 ! style=background:#CC9966;" | 3 | — | 93 |
| Tour of Flanders | 6 | 11 ! style=background:#CC9966;" | 3 | 22 ! style=background:gold;" | 1 ! style=background:#CC9966;" | 3 ! style=background:#CC9966;" | 3 | 13 ! style=background:gold;" | 1 | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | 40 | 7 | 6 ! style=background:#CC9966;" | 3 | 5 | — | — ! style=background:gold;" | 1 | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | Has not contested during his career | ||||||||||
| + Legend |
|
|
