De Kneet is back. In a duel with the almost 38-year-old Herman Vanspringel, he gained the upper hand in the 19th Grand Prix Nokere Sport. With the Grobbendonk native, he broke away from a group of twelve riders a good 20 km from the finish line, who had taken the lead after barely 20 km of racing on the initiative of Knetemann himself and Frans Van Looy. The lead of those twelve—initially there were thirteen, but Pierrot Cuypers dropped out after 110 km due to a flat tire—never reached a minute. When, with one and a half laps to go, or a good 20 km before the finish, 13 pursuers were about to catch up with the leaders, Kneet and Vanspringel knew what time it was. Criquielion, who was just a little too late to re

The Post team – in Nokere, his deputy Juul De Wever was very attentive at the post – seems to have chosen a different tactic. Apart from Raas and a few first-class races, they seemed unable to gain a foothold anywhere. Except in a few early fairground races and in races that are overshadowed by the big classics. Oosterbosch won in Wetteren, Zoetemelk in Wasmuel, Wijnands last Saturday in Heverlee. However, everyone kept wondering where Kneet had gone wrong.

“I’ve been sick, man,” he said after his first win of the season. “Hay fever. But Kneet is indestructible. You’ll be hearing from him. The season still has a few months to go.”

Veteran Herman Vanspringel provided solid support during that initial sprint. You couldn’t tell that the Grobbendonk native had been sent home the day before by bad luck just before entering hell after a lot of misery. He helped keep the pursuers at bay. Criquielion gave the impression for a moment that he was going to throw a spanner in the works. But the two “oldies” (Kneet is already thirty) rebuffed the Waaltje.

The 19th Grand Prix Nokere Sport was exciting simply because everyone kept wondering how it would end. As the lead of the thirteen early escapees (Rudy Pevenage, Van Looy, Cuypers, Criquielion, Knetemann, Mak, Vanspringel, Van Gerwen, Paul De Keyzer, Patrick Devos, Hunt, Maassen, and Mariotti) remained below one minute, people continued to think that the future winner would be among the 13 pursuers. But when Bossuyt, Blockx, Dumont, Maas, Bayens, Cuypers (who had ended up in the chasing group after his tire burst), Lubberding, Wijnands, Patrick Pevenage, Lamote, Vandeghinste, Van der Helst, and Zagers caught up with the leading group, Knetemann and Vanspringel had already made their move. They pulled away from the others so quickly that everyone immediately understood.

But everyone was satisfied. There were more than a hundred professionals at the start. There was a huge crowd. And there was excitement. Ultimately, there was a winner who graces every list of honors.

Andre Vanheede

Result: 101 professional cyclists

1. Gerrie Knetemann the 150 km in 3h 38 min
2. Herman Vanspringel
3. Claude Criquielion op 1’05”
4. Derek Hunt (GB)
5. Gerrie Van Gerwen (nl)
6. Mario Mariotti (It)
7. Frans Van Looy
8. Wim Maassen (Nl)
9. Rudy Pevenage
10. Patrick De Vos
11. Ger Mak (Nl)
12. Paul De Keyzer
13. Etienne Vander Helst on 2’15”
14. Ad Wijnands (Nl)
15. Henk Lubberding (Nl)
16. Jo Maas (Nl) on 2’40”
17. Chistian Dumont
18. Willy Albert
19. Jan Bayens
20. Gerard Blockx
21. Ludo Schurgers
22. Jean-Louis Baugnies
23. Rudi Colman
24. Eddy Cael
25. Marc Goossens
26. Ivan Zagers
27. Dirk Baert
28. Yvan Lamote
29. Willy Sprangers
30. Benjamin Vermeulen

Gerrie Knetemann (Amsterdam, March 6, 1951 – Bergen (NH), November 2, 2004), nicknamed ‘de Kneet’, was a Dutch professional cyclist from 1974 to 1989.

He surprised everyone at a young age as a specialist in prologue time trials. Gradually, he also developed as a time trialist in longer races. Knetemann was not a sprinter, but he achieved quite a few victories in a sprint-à-deux, by breaking away from the peloton with a partner or in a small group. In this way, he surprisingly became world champion in 1978 by beating Francesco Moser. In the same year, he won the sprint on the Champs Elysees in the final stage of the Tour de France. Knetemann performed well in multi-day races, but he fell short in the high mountains to achieve a good classification in the Tour. He was the first cyclist to break the 50 km/h barrier in a time trial.

Gerrie Knetemann became a professional cyclist in 1974 with the French Mercier team, where Joop Zoetemelk was the leader. Typical of his attitude was that he finished last in Paris-Roubaix that same year, but won the Amstel Gold Race a week later. In 1975, he signed a contract with Peter Post’s Raleigh team. Together with Jan Raas, he was the defining factor there for years, until the breakup in 1983. In 1982, Gerrie Knetemann surprised everyone in the Tour by staying ahead of the fast Irishman Sean Kelly in a mass sprint and beating Bernard Hinault in a long time trial.

In 1983, he suffered a serious fall in Dwars door België. Initially, there were fears for his life. After a long rehabilitation, he returned to the peloton to give it his all one more time in the 1985 Amstel Gold Race.

Knetemann stood out in the cycling peloton for his sense of humor and his remarkable use of language. He introduced a large number of expressions, including “he’s raking,” “plowing through,” “sitting with your ass open,” and “coming across the finish line laid out.” On the radio program Radio Tour de France, he enjoyed great success with his Kneetstory, in which he recounted his daily adventures.

In 1989, Knetemann retired from the peloton. He continued to work as a PR representative for the PDM team for some time. In 1991, he became national coach of the KNWU and race director of the Tour of North Holland and the RAI Derny Criterium. As national coach, he won two medals in a total of 14 World Championships.

On November 2, 2004, Gerrie Knetemann died from the effects of a pulmonary embolism after falling ill during a mountain bike ride near Bergen (NH). On November 8, 2004, 2,000 people gathered at the Alkmaar cycling track to say goodbye to Knetemann, after which a private funeral was held in Krommenie.

Gerrie Knetemann was ridder in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau. Met ingang van 2004 is de prijs die jaarlijks aan de meest talentvolle wielrenner onder de 23 jaar wordt uitgereikt omgedoopt tot de Gerrie Knetemann Bokaal. Theo Bos was de eerste winnaar van deze bokaal. Vanaf 2006 wordt jaarlijks de GP Gerrie Knetemann georganiseerd. In 2006 is deze op 28 juni in de gemeente Renkum gehouden.