# Jan Raas

Jan Raas (born 8 November 1952) is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, he also won 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. 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 the long steep climbs but excelled on the short climbs characteristic of the northern classics.

## Career

Born in Heinkenszand, near Goes in Zeeland, Raas was the son of a farmer and one of 10 children. He showed no interest in cycling until leaving school at 16 when he acquired his first racing bike and started competing as a junior category, taking his first victory in Damme in Belgium on the 21 July 1969. Further success as an amateur, including stage wins in the Olympia Tour and the national championship, prompted Peter Post, the manager of TI–Raleigh, to offer Raas a contract for 1975
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 TI–Raleigh, 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 TI–Raleigh 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’ highlights for the rest of his career included his 1979 world championship on home soil in Valkenburg, where he outsprinted German "Didi" 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’ 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 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' departure.

## Major results

Source:

### 1972

    1st Stage 5 Olympia's Tour

### 1973

    1st Ronde van Midden-Nederland

### 1974

    Olympia's Tour
       1st Stages 7a & 8
    2nd Ronde van Drenthe

### 1975

    1st Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem
    5th Paris–Tours
    6th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    6th Tour of Flanders
    8th Omloop Het Volk

### 1976

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Stage 4 Tour of Belgium
    2nd Amstel Gold Race
    2nd Tour du Haut Var
    4th Brabantse Pijl
    7th Paris–Roubaix
    9th Omloop Het Volk

### 1977

    1st Milan–San Remo
    1st Amstel Gold Race
    1st Stage 6 Tour de France
    2nd Omloop Het Volk
    3rd Tour of Flanders
    4th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
       1st Stage 1
    5th Brabantse Pijl
    6th Paris–Roubaix
    7th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    8th Paris–Tours
    10th Gent–Wevelgem

### 1978

    1st Amstel Gold Race
    1st Paris–Brussels
    1st Paris–Tours
    Tour de France
       1st Prologue, Stages 1a & 21
    1st Stage 2 Ronde van Nederland
    1st Stage 3 Tour de Suisse
    1st Stage 4 Four Days of Dunkirk
    2nd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    3rd Paris–Roubaix
    3rd Omloop Het Volk
    4th Gent–Wevelgem

### 1979

    1st Road race, UCI Road World Championships
    1st Overall Ronde van Nederland
       1st Prologue
       1st Stage 2
    1st Amstel Gold Race
    1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    1st Tour of Flanders
    1st Stage 5 Tour de France
    1st Stage 3 Paris–Nice
    1st Stage 4 Deutschland Tour
    1st Stage 1b Tour of Belgium
    Tour Méditerranéen
       1st Prologue & Stage 5a
    2nd Omloop Het Volk
    3rd Gent–Wevelgem
    3rd Paris–Tours
    5th Paris–Roubaix

### 1980

    Tour de France
       1st Stages 1a, 1b (TTT), 7b & 9
    1st Amstel Gold Race
    1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
    1st Stage 1b Paris–Nice
    1st Stage 3 Ronde van Nederland
    1st Stage 3 Tour of Belgium
    Tour Méditerranéen
       1st Prologue (with Gerrie Knetemann), Stages 2 & 3b
    1st Stage 3 Étoile de Bessèges
    Tour de Luxembourg
       1st Prologue & Stage 1
    1st Stage GP de Cannes
    1st Six Days of Rotterdam (track) (with René Pijnen)
    3rd Milan–San Remo
    3rd Tour of Flanders
    3rd Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen
    4th Omloop Het Volk
    6th Gent–Wevelgem

### 1981

    1st Overall Étoile de Bessèges
       1st Prologue, Stages 1 & 3
    1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    1st Gent–Wevelgem
    1st Omloop Het Volk
    1st Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
    1st Stage 3b Tour Méditerranéen
    3rd Tour of Flanders
    5th Amstel Gold Race

### 1982

    1st Amstel Gold Race
    1st Paris–Roubaix
    1st Dwars door België
    2nd Overall Ronde van Nederland
       1st Prologue
    1st Prologue Étoile de Bessèges
    Tour de France
       1st Stages 6 & 9a (TTT)
    5th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    6th Omloop Het Volk

### 1983

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Tour of Flanders
    1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
    1st Ronde van Midden-Zeeland
    1st Stage 1a Three Days of De Panne
    2nd Gent–Wevelgem
    2nd Omloop Het Volk
    3rd Milan–San Remo
    3rd Amstel Gold Race

### 1984

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Stage 9 Tour de France

### General classification results timeline

Source:
Grand Tour general classification results :
| Grand Tour | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 |
| Giro d'Italia | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career |
| Tour de France | — | 24 | DNF | 83 | DNF | DNF | — | DNF | DNF | DNF | — |
| Vuelta a España | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career |

### Classics results timeline

Source:
| Monument | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 |
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | 1 | 105 | 12 | 3 | — | 14 | 3 | — | 93 |
| Tour of Flanders | 6 | 11 | 3 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 1 | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | 40 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 5 | — | — | 1 | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career |
| Classic | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 |
| Amstel Gold Race | — | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | — | — |
| La Flèche Wallonne | — | — | — | 31 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Gent Wevelgem | 24 | — | 10 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Paris–Brussels | — | 28 | — | 1 | 11 | 33 | 2 | 7 | — | — | — |
| Paris–Tours | 5 | 8 | — | 1 | 3 | 35 | 1 | 24 | 3 | 30 | — |

### Major championship results timeline

Source:
| Event | Event | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 |
| World Championships | Road race | DNF | 9 | DNF | 13 | 1 | DNF | DNF | 17 | — | DNF | — |
| National Championships | Road race | — | 1 | — | 2 | 3 | 5 | — | 4 | 1 | 1 | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |

### Awards

* Dutch Sportsman of the year: 1979