Bert Oosterbosch

Bert Oosterbosch (born Eindhoven, 30 July 1957, died Lekkerkerk, 18 August 1989) was a Dutch racing cyclist. Oosterbosch was a successful track and road racer.

Bert Oosterbosch
Personal information
Full nameBert Oosterbosch
Born(1957-07-30)30 July 1957
Eindhoven, Netherlands
Died18 August 1989(1989-08-18) (aged 32)
Lekkerkerk, Netherlands
Team information
DisciplineRoad and track
RoleRider
Rider typeTime triallist
Professional teams
1979–1981TI–Raleigh
1982DAF Trucks
1983TI–Raleigh
1984–1986Panasonic
1987Panasonic-Isostar
1988TVM-Van Schilt
Major wins
World Champion professional individual pursuit
6 Tour de France stages
Ronde van Nederland

Early career

In 1978 he won the World amateur team time trial championship (with Jan van Houwelingen, Bart van Est and Guus Bierings). A year later, he turned professional for the TI–Raleighteam of Peter Post. That year he won the World Professional individual pursuit title beating Francesco Moser in the final. He was also three times Dutch pursuit champion.

Road success

As a professional Oosterbosch was especially successful in time trials; he won 14 stage race prologues, including three in the Tour de France. He won three other stages of the Tour: his victory in Bordeaux in 1983 was the one hundredth Dutch stage win in the Tour.

Oosterbosch also won stages in the Vuelta a España and the Tour de Suisse. In 1982 he won the Ronde van Nederland.

Poor health

Oosterbosch suffered poor health on occasions, twice contracting meningitis. In 1988 he was hit by severe knee trouble and had to end his professional career. He returned as an amateur and on 13 August 1989 he won a race. Five days later he died, aged thirty-two years old, after an acute cardiac arrest. He was buried at the Roman Catholic Cemetery Our Lady of Lourdes in Eindhoven. His tombstone depicts cycle racing.

Bert Oosterbosch was married to Marian Bik. The couple had two daughters: Nathalie and Joyce.

Allegations of doping

It has been suggested that Oosterbosch's early death was caused by EPO use,[1] but this is disputed.[2]

Willy Voet, the disgraced former soigneur, talks about Oosterbosch riding the 1982 Grand Prix des Nations. Oosterbosch came in 18th at more than two and a half minutes behind the winner Bernard Hinault, even though he was expected to do well. Voet said "Oosterbosch was flat from the start due to the Synacthen he had taken. The drugs initially blocked his ability to work hard. An hour after the injection it started working as planned and his tempo increased."[3] In fact, Oosterbosch came third in the 1982 event. Voet may be referring to the 1979 or 1984 runnings which Hinault also won.[4]

Major results
Bert Oosterbosch in 1979
1979
World Professional pursuit champion
1980
Tour of Luxembourg
1 stage, Tour de France
1981
Four Days of Dunkirk
1982
Ronde van Nederland
1 stage, Tour de Suisse
1983
Tour of the Americas
Étoile de Bessèges
2 stages, Tour de France
1984
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
Driedaagse van De Panne
1 stage, Tour de Suisse
1985
1 stage, Vuelta a España

See also

References
  1. Simon Hart (28 June 2003). "Tour de France: Cycle of cynicism keeps rolling on" . Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2012-11-18.
  2. Peter G. J. M. Janssen (2001). Lactate Threshold Training: Running, Cycling, Multisport, Rowing, X-Country Skiing. Human Kinetics. pp. 190–. ISBN 978-0-7360-3755-6. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  3. Willy Voet goes for the jugular in his book. Autobus.cyclingnews.com (20 May 1999). Retrieved on 2012-11-18.
  4. Palmares of the Grand Prix des Nations at Archived February 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Memoire-du-cyclisme.net (15 August 2009). Retrieved on 2012-11-18.
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