Profile of Hans Junkermann on Famous Like Me

Hans Junkermann, (properly Hennes Jünkermann) was a German professional cyclist who had 35 road victories in a career that lasted for 18 seasons from 1956 to 1973. Born on 6 May 1934 in Krefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia, just 12 km from the Dutch border, Junkermann was a rider who could climb very well and excelled in mountainous stage races but could also do well in one day events that had a tough profile. He also had a fine record as a track rider taking nine victories in Six Day races with various partners as well as taking the European Madison championships in 1965. He rode the Tour de France on eight occasions.

Junkermann showed great class as an amateur and was approached twice in 1954 by the East German authorities who tried to persuade him to defect to the GDR for a large amount of money and become a "paid amateur" but Junkermann wanted to stay in West Germany and be a professional. He eventually turned professional during the 1955 season for the small Bauer team, however his major breakthrough came in 1957 when he took the classic one day race, the Championship of Zurich in May of that year, he followed that up with fourth place in the Tour of Switzerland shortly after, this was the start of Junkermann’s excellent record in the Swiss tour, a tough hilly stage race that suited his style. In 1959 he moved to the Faema-Molteni team which had Rik Van Looy as team leader, during this year he became German road race champion, a feat he was to repeat in 1960 and 1961, he also took the first of his overall wins in the Tour of Switzerland in 1959 after finishing second the previous year.

Junkermann’s good form continued throughout the early 1960s, many people though that Junkermann had the potential to win the Tour de France but his riding was too defensive and he lacked back up from his team. His Tour de France results included fourth in 1960 and fifth in 1961. He had to abandon the 1962 TDF in controversial circumstances with food poisoning, Junkermann still insists to this day that his food was tampered with in the Pyrenean town of Luchon, Jacques Anquetil eventually won the 1962 Tour.

1961 saw him finish second in the Tour of Germany and sixth in the Giro d'Italia. In 1962 he switched to the Wiel’s-Groene Leeuw team which included 1963 World RR champion Benoni Beheyt of Belgium, 1962 saw Junkermann take his second overall win in the Tour of Switzerland and finish third in La Flèche Wallonne. In 1963 he was a popular home winner in the semi classic Rund um den Henninger Turm in Frankfurt am Main. This victory in Frankfurt was the 29 year old Junkermann’s last big victory on the road although his career continued for a further ten years. His best results of his latter years were probably 11th overall in the 1967 Tour de France and 7th overall in the 1965 Vuelta a España. In 1964 he took three further track victories in Six Day races at Essen, Cologne and Frankfurt, riding with specialists Peter Post and Rudi Altig.

After his retirement in 1973 Junkermann worked for 25 years coaching and developing young riders, firstly with the RSV City Neuwied cycling team and then between 1984 and 1998 with Olympia Dortmund. In his time at Dortmund, Junkermann brought top German riders such as Erik Zabel, Udo Bolts, Rolf Aldag, Kai Hundertmarck and Bernd Groene through the ranks to become top professionals.

He lives today in his home town of Krefeld and even at the age of 70 in 2004 was still riding his bike several hundred kilometres a week for recreation.

Major Victories

Road

• 1957: Championship of Zurich
• 1958: Tour of Switzerland (one stage)
• 1959: Tour of Switzerland (Overall and one stage), German RR Champion
• 1960: German RR Champion
• 1961: German RR Champion
• 1962: Tour of Switzerland (Overall and two stages), Dauphiné Libéré (one stage):
• 1963: Rund um den Henninger Turm

Six Day Victories

• 1960: Cologne (with Klaus Bugdahl), Dortmund (with Klaus Bugdahl), Münster (with Fritz Pfenninger)
• 1962: Berlin (with Rudi Altig), Munster (with Rudi Altig)
• 1963: Essen (with Rudi Altig)
• 1964: Essen (with Rudi Altig), Frankfurt (with Rudi Altig), Cologne (with Peter Post)

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