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21.10.2007/ Michael Boogerd wanted to
retire after yesterdays Giro di Lombardia but the Dutch veteran couldn't start after he crashed last week during a training
ride, causing a serious injury on his left knee plus Erysipelas, a bacterial infection. With his agressive style he coloured
dozens of races in the last 14 years. Cyclingheroes says goodbye and thanks to Boogie.
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| Boogerd & Dekker after Boogie's final Tour de France (picture: Heinz Zwicky) |
Thomas Dekker (Rabobank)
Thomas Dekker learned a lot from Michael and both riders are very close. "Boogerd
was my biggest support during the last few years. Without him it will be different. Especially during the big one day races
the team will miss him. You could always count on him. Its not a big issue at the moment but that will change at the
time around the Amst Gold Race."
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Michael Boogerd was born in the Dutch city of the Hague
on May 28, 1972. The second son of the Boogerd family also grew up in the Hague and was in the same school class as Wimbledon
winner Richard Krajicek. Michael's older brother Rini started racing with seven years old, Michael was two years old at that
time. Michael started racing with 8 years old at the Sparta club in the Hague. After two years Michael joined Zoetermeer '77
in Zoetermeer. With 13 years old Michael has enough of cycling but after his brother Rini quits cycling as well, Michael started
riding again in 1988.
After Boogie started racing again he discovered his climbing
abilities. Somebody told Michael that its easier to win races in the South-Limburg region, which is the hilly Dutch region
where the Amstel Gold Race takes place. At the start of his first race in Limburg, a climbing criterium, Michael saw that
all riders had special gears for the climbs, he didn't have a special gear so Micheal was convinced he could not win the race.
Michael decided to start anyway and won the race after he dropped all his opponents on the climbs. He thought that it was
just a lucky win on a very good day but after he won the next race in Limburg in the same way, Michael slowly started to realize
that he is a climber.
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| Paolo Bettini and Michael Boogerd during the 2006 Giro di Lombardia (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Paolo Bettini (Quickstep)
Paolo Bettini will start at today's farewell criterium for Boogerd.
Bettini said before the start of yesterdays Giro di Lombardia: "O Michael, that's my big friend. We are friends since
we went on a holiday at Curaçao in 2002. A great champion, it's a pitty he has to end his career like this. I would have liked
to see him start here. I won't say I would have helped him to win this race but surely I wouldn't have caused him trouble."
The current world champion said this deal was made during this years world championships. "The Dutch squad was in our
hotel. After I won, I left our table at 10:30 pm and saw Boogerd. He knuckled down for me and did as if he took his hat of
for me. I found that a great gesture of respect. I think he is a great champion himself, even if he didn't win that many big
races. In my opinion he deserved to win many more classics, already because of his great character as a rider. Boogerd
was a rider who was there for the whole year and that's something you can't say of many riders."
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Egon Van Kessel, at that time trainer of the Dutch national
squad for juniors, selected Boogerd for his team and later Boogerd was selected for the national squad for amateurs. Trainer
Piet Kuys knew that it didn't make sense to let Boogerd race in the Netherlands. He selected Boogerd often for foreign races
to develope his climbing. Kuys saw that Boogerd could go very deep, sometimes he almost fell off his bike after the finish
line. The succesor of Kuys, Piet Hoekstra, didn't have the same convidence in Boogerd. Hoekstra thought Boogerd's 'motor'
wasn't big enough to become a world class rider.
Boogerd fights his way back to the
top and after he demolished the whole peloton in the Drielanden Omloop. In 1994 Jan Raas offered Boogerd his first contract
as a pro with the Word Perfect team. Boogerd had some injuries and his first year wasn't an succes. In 1995 Boogerd even considered
to quit pro cycling after he had a very bad start of the season. Raas still had confidence in Boogerd and resigned him for
the 2006 season for a new sponsor: Rabobank.
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| The super domestique on Alpe d'Huez during the 2006 Tour de France (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Steven De Jongh (Quickstep)
Steven de Jongh knows Michael Boogerd from the time that they both were riding in the juniors category.
"Mike already was a nervous type at that time, but one that could ride really fast. I can imagine how he must have felt during
the last days, especially after he decided not to start at Lombardy. No, after I heard that he wouldn't start I did not call
him yet. The madhouse around him is already big enough.“ De Jongh remembers Boogerd's Amstel Gold Race win very well
and dreamed of Michael's win: „He won with Time shoes. They looked a bit like big yellow wooden shoes. Really aweful.
But Michael was sponsored by Sidi shoes at that time, so the dream didn't fit. Convinced by the good results of other riders
who were racing with Time shoes, Michael started to wear Time shoes just before the Gold Race. During the race he was wearing
white socks over the shoes so nobody could see he didn't wear Sidi shoes. I was the only one who knew about that."
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Boogerd's breakthrough was in the following season.
He won a Tour de France stage at Aix les Bains. Boogerd attacked with Spanish rider Melchior Mauri and as
the Spanish rider missed a curve and landed in a fence, Boogerd managed to stay in front of the chasing bunch. In the Tour
of 1998 Boogerd had his best result in the overall classification. Boogerd was the number five of that Tour. In 1999 Boogerd
won the overall of Paris-Nice and he won the Amstel Gold Race. In 2002 he won the queen stage of the Tour to La Plagne after
a solo attack of 85 kilometers. It was his most important win.
Boogerd had lots of podium places
at the Ardenne classics and coloured those races with his agressive style and nukmerous attacks. But Boogerd had no problem
to ride for the team. Boogerd supported Michael Rasmussen, Denis Menchov and Thomas Dekker as a super domestique at many
occasions. Michael helped Thomas Dekker to win the overall of the 2006 Tirreno-Adriatico and demolished the peloton when Denis
Menchov won a mountain stage at the 2006 Tour de France. At this years Tour de France he demolished the peloton when Michael
Rasmussen was about to win the Tour which didn't happen as Rasmussen was send home by the Rabobank team. Still Boogie finished
this years Tour and showed his great fighting spirit as he attacked several times during the last days of the Tour. Boogerd is one of the few riders who stayed with the same team during
his professional career.
You can leave a personal message for Michael Boogerd in the guestbook
of his personal website at http://michaelboogerd.tboek.nl/write/ (Naam is name).
Jan Raas (Boogerd's former team manager at Word Perfect and Rabobank)
The shoes might have played a role in Boogerd's Amstel Gold win, but Boogerd's
team manager at that time, Jan Raas, played a major role. "I don't know exactly what I shouted out of the car but I know that
I shouted that he would be sacked if he would make the pace one more time," Raas said. "But that was against Michael's nature.
He always wanted to attack everywhere and do his part of the job. It's a pitty that the man didn't read the race a little
bit better. I am convinced that that is the reason that he missed a couple of big wins. Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro
di Lombardia should have been on his palmares, shouldn't they? For the rest only praise for him. What an unbelievable character
he had! That pulled him through the first years of his career. Now we know that there were a lot of riders who raced with
the help of 'other' products than the usual products to help the regeneration process. He had to compete against these riders."
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| Michael Boogerd during the 2006 Zürich Metzgete (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Results Michael Boogerd
1996 Rabobank
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Stage 6 Tour de France
31. Overall Tour de France
1997 Rabobank
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Dutch National Road Championships
16. Overall Tour de France
1998 Rabobank
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Stage 3 Volta Catalunya
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Overall Volta Catalunya
4. Amstel Gold Race
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Liège-Bastogna-Liège
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Dutch National Road Championships
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Overall Route Du Sud
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Overall Tour de France
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Giro Di Lombardia
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World Road Championships
1999 Rabobank
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Stage 3 Vuelta Valenciana
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Stage 5 Paris-Nice
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Overall Paris-Nice
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Brabantse Pijl
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Overall Volta Catalunya
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Fleche Wallonne
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège
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Amstel Gold Race
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Overall Tour de France
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Zürich Metzgete
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Giro del l’Emilia
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Milano – Vignola
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World Road Championships
2000 Rabobank
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Stage 7 Tirreno-Adriatico
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Amstel Gold Race
2001 Rabobank
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Stage 4 Vuelta de Mallroca
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Stage 1 Vuelta Valenciana
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Stage 4 Vuelta Valenciana
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Overall Vuelta Valenciana
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Stage 7 Tirreno-Adriatico
3. Overall Tirreno-Adriatico
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Overall Volta Catalunya
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Brabantse Pijl
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège
10. Overall Tour de France
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Stage 1 Rheinland Pfalz Rundfahrt
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Giro di Lombardia
2002 Rabobank
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Amstel Gold Race
17. Overall Giro d'Italia
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Stage 16 Tour de France
12. Overall Tour de France
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Stage 6 Eneco Tour
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Giro di Lombardia
2003 Rabobank
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Brabantse Pijl
9. Tour of Flanders
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Amstel Gold Race
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège
32. Overall Tour de France
8. Classica San Sebastian
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Zürich Metzgete
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World Road Championships
10 Giro di Lombardia
2004 Rabobank
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Brabantse Pijl
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Amstel Gold Race
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège
74. Overall Tour de France
7. World Road Championships
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Giro di Lombardia
2005 Rabobank
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Amstel Gold Race
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège
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Overall Tour de France
2006 Rabobank
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Amstel Gold Race
5. Liège-Bastogne-Liège
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Dutch National Road Championships
14. Overall Tour de France
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Zürich Metzgete
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Giro Lombardia
2007 Rabobank
10. Overall Tirreno-Adriatico
5. Amstel Gold Race
6. Liège-Bastogne-Liège
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Overall Tour de France
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Overall Dreiländertour
12. World Road Championships
Michael Boogerd Foundation
Boogerd also started a foundation. The Michael Boogerd Foundation is raising money for the
following organisations: KiKa, Right to Play, War Child and Ride for the Roses. Besides various actions like the organistaion
of the Ride for the Roses in groningen the foundation also created a t-shirt. On the front side of the t-shirt is a picture
of Michael Boogerd and at the back Boogerd's palmares are listed (see picture) . You can order a t-shirt by by sending a mail with your size, name, adress, telephone number and the number of your bankaccount to: info@michaelboogerd.nl and transfer Euro 20 to IBAN: NL89RABO0133387712, BIC: RABONL2U, Accountholder M. Koch, reference goede
doel and your name.
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| Front side t-shirt Michael Boogerd Foundation |
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| Back side t-shirt Michael Boogerd Foundation |
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