# Dietrich Thurau

Dietrich "Didi" Thurau (German pronunciation: ; born 9 November 1954) is a retired German professional road bicycle racer. His biggest career achievements include winning the one-day classic, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, his home country's Deutschland Tour and surprising the field at the 1977 Tour de France by capturing four stages and holding the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification from the prologue for 15 days. Thurau did win the young rider classification although he lost the overall lead to eventual winner Bernard Thévenet.
Thurau was German pursuit champion three times and won 29 six-day races. He is the father of former professional cyclist Björn Thurau. In 1989, he revealed he had doped throughout his career.

## Career

He won the German National Road Race in 1975 and 1976. After his victory in the points classification in the Vuelta a España and a fourth place in the general classification in the Vuelta a España in 1976, Thurau was seen as a talented rider, but not seen as a rider for the general classification. This changed when he won the prologue 1977 Tour de France, won time trials and mountain stages, keeping the lead until far in the race, finishing fifth in the overall classification and won the young rider classification.
Thurau signed a contract to ride the 1978 season as a team leader at IJsboerke. Before his contract started, but after he signed it, he rode the 1977 UCI Road World Championships. Seven kilometers before the finish, he was away together with Francesco Moser, and Moser punctured. To the surprise of commentators, including the coach of the French team Jacques Anquetil and Thurau's team leader Peter Post, Thurau waited for Moser, and was beaten in the sprint by Moser. This caused rumours that Thurau had sold the championship to Moser; it later became clear that Thurau's new bosses at IJsboerke did not want Thurau to ride in the rainbow jersey, but wanted him to keep his sponsored jersey.
Thurau's primary goals for the next season became the 1978 Giro d'Italia and the 1978 UCI Road World Championships, and his team skipped the 1978 Tour de France, because they felt there were too many mountain finishes for a rider like Thurau. Although Thurau won two stages in the 1978 Giro, it did not go as expected, as he had to abandon the race in the tenth stage, when he had already given up all hopes for the general classification.
In 1979, Thurau won Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and again came second in the 1979 UCI Road World Championships, but he was no longer seen as able to win a grand tour, and he changed teams. He continued as a professional cyclist for several years, but did not win any major races.

## Doping

Thurau tested positive for stimulants after Stage 8 of the 1987 Tour de France. He was fined 5,000 FF (£500), incurred a 10-minute time penalty, placed last on the stage and was given a one-month suspended ban. However, by the time the positive result was revealed, Thurau had already abandoned the Tour.
After he had retired, in 1989, he gave an interview to the Bild newspaper, in Germany, where he revealed he had doped throughout his career, including the use of Amphetamines, Testosterone and Cortisone.

## Personal life

In 1998, Thurau was fined 20,000 DM for forgery. In 2012, it was reported that he had embezzled 49,000 EUR in insurance benefits, which were meant for his father, Helmut, to pay for his nursing home. Instead, Thurau kept the money. He was convicted of the offence and was fined 39,900 EUR.
His son Björn Thurau is also a racing cyclist, banned for doping, whilst Björn's younger brother Urs is a tennis player who is coached by Dietrich.

## Major results
### Road
#### 1972

    1st Road race, National Junior Road Championships

#### 1975

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Overall Tour de l'Oise
       1st Stage 1
    1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
    2nd Overall Tour d'Indre-et-Loire
    2nd Scheldeprijs
    2nd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
    2nd Bruxelles–Meulebeke
    3rd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
    3rd GP Union Dortmund
    4th Overall Ronde van Nederland
    6th Overall Paris–Nice
    8th Amstel Gold Race
    8th Paris–Brussels
    9th Critérium des As
    10th Overall Tour de Suisse

#### 1976

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    2nd Grand Prix de Fourmies
    2nd GP Union Dortmund
    4th Overall Vuelta a España
       1st Points classification
       1st Prologue & Stages 9, 16, 18 & 19b (ITT)
       Held after Prologue & Stages 9–14
    7th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
    7th La Flèche Wallonne
    8th Overall Tour de Suisse
       1st Stage 5
    8th Gent–Wevelgem

#### 1977

    1st Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
       1st Stages 1a, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7a (ITT)
    1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
    1st GP Union Dortmund
    2nd Road race, UCI World Championships
    2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm
    3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    3rd Omloop der Beide Vlaanderen
    4th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
    5th Overall Tour de France
       1st Young rider classification
       1st Prologue & Stages 2, 5b (ITT), 16 & 22a (ITT)
       Held after Prologue & Stages 1–15a
       Held after Prologue & Stages 2–3
    7th Overall Tour de Suisse
    8th Overall Paris–Nice
    8th Paris–Roubaix
    8th Polynormande

#### 1978

    1st Overall Étoile de Bessèges
       1st Stages 2, 3, 4 & 5
    1st Scheldeprijs
    1st Züri–Metzgete
    Giro d'Italia
       1st Prologue & Stage 4 (ITT)
    1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse
    2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    3rd Overall Tour of Belgium
       1st Stage 1a (ITT)
    3rd La Flèche Wallonne
    5th Omloop Het Volk
    9th Amstel Gold Race
    9th Paris–Brussels

#### 1979

    1st Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
       1st Prologue & Stages 1 & 2
    1st Overall Deutschland Tour
       1st Prologue
    1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    1st Stage 5 Paris–Nice
    1st Stage 1a (TTT) Tour of Belgium
    2nd Road race, UCI World Championships
    4th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    6th Omloop Het Volk
    9th Gran Premio di Lugano
    10th OverallTour de France
       1st Stage 19

#### 1980

    3rd Paris–Roubaix
    4th Overall Tour du Tarn
       1st Stage 2
    7th Rund um den Henninger Turm

#### 1981

    Deutschland Tour
       1st Prologue & Stage 4
    2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm
    7th Overall Tour de Suisse

#### 1983

    5th Overall Giro d'Italia

#### 1986

    10th US Pro Championship

#### 1987

    7th Overall Tour de Suisse
       1st Stage 4 (ITT)
    Tour de France
       Held after Stages 3 & 4

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | 14 | DNF | 5 | — | — | 18 | 52 | — |
| Tour de France | — | — | — | 5 | — | 10 | DNF | — | DNF | — | — | DNF | — | DNF | — |

### Classics results timeline

Monuments results timeline :
| Monument | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 |
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | — | 22 | 26 | 22 | 14 | 54 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | 20 | 9 | 28 | DSQ | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — | 23 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 3 | 31 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | 32 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 1 | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | 71 | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career | Did not contest during career |

### Major championship results timeline

| | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 |
| World Championships | — | DNF | 49 | 2 | 14 | 2 | — | 62 | 34 | — | — | DNF | DNF | DNF | — |
| National Championships | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |
| DSQ | Disqualified |

### Track
#### 1979

    1st Six Days of Munich (with Patrick Sercu)

#### 1984

    1st Six Days of Bremen (with Albert Fritz)

#### 1986

    1st Six Days of Bremen (with Josef Kristen)
    1st Six Days of Munich (with Danny Clark)

#### 1987

    1st Six Days of Bremen (with Danny Clark)
    1st Six Days of Munich (with Urs Freuler)