Aad van den Hoek

In this Dutch name, the surname is Van den Hoek, not Hoek.

Aad van den Hoek (born 14 October 1951) is a former Dutch cyclist. He was professional between 1974 and 1983 and was good friends with Gerrie Knetemann. Together they won four Tour de France team time trial stages with their team TI-Raleigh. In 1976 he finished last in the general classification of the Tour de France and carried the Lanterne rouge.

Aad van den Hoek

Aad van den Hoek in 1974
Personal information
Full name	Aad van den Hoek
Born	(1951-10-14) 14 October 1951 (age 73) Dirksland, Netherlands
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional teams
1974–1982	TI-Raleigh
1983	Beckers Snacks

Biography

In 1971 Van den Hoek won silver at the 1971 UCI Road World Championships, in the team time trial, with team mates Fedor den Hertog, Adri Duyker and Frits Schür.

In 1972 he finished third in the 100 km team time trial at the Munich Olympics. 25 Kilometers in the race, the Dutch had a lead of six seconds. After 40 km, a spoke snapped in Van den Hoek's back wheel, and Hennie Kuiper, Cees Priem and Fedor den Hertog went on without him. At the finish line they were only a minute and ten seconds behind.^[1] After the race Van den Hoek tested positive for Coramine, a drug allowed by the Union Cycliste Internationale but not the IOC.^[2][3] The whole Dutch team was disqualified.^[4][5]

Van den Hoek rode nine seasons for team TI-Raleigh, which was famous for its success in team time trials. Together with the team he won four TTTs in the Tour de Frances of 1976, 1978 and 1981 (twice). He ended those Tours in 87th and last, 57th and 115th place. In 1977 he was one of a group of 30 riders that were sent home after finishing beyond the time limit in the toughest mountain stage Chamonix - Alpe d'Huez. Among those riders were points classification second Rik van Linden, stage winners Klaus-Peter Thaler and Patrick Sercu, and his team mates Piet van Katwijk and Bill Nickson.^[6]

Major results

1971

2nd 1971 UCI Road World Championships TTT

1972

Ronde van Midden-Nederland

Ronde van Gelderland

stage 1 Rund um Düren

stage 8 Tour of Austria

1973

2 stages (TTT/individually), points classification, 2nd overall Olympia's Tour

2 stages (TTT/individually) Milk Race

1974

Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt

1 stage, points classification, 3rd overall Olympia's Tour

1975

Étoile des Espoirs

1976

stage 5a TTT Tour de France with TI-Raleigh

Acht van Chaam

2nd Dutch National Road Race Championships

1977

7th stage Part B Route du Sol

1978

stage 4 TTT Tour de France with TI-Raleigh

1st leg Part B Tour of the Netherlands

1979

stage 1 Deutschland Tour

1981

stages 1b and 4 TTTs Tour de France with TI-Raleigh

stage 2b Volta a Catalunya

See also

• List of Dutch Olympic cyclists
• List of doping cases in cycling