Bert Oosterbosch

Bert Oosterbosch

File:Bert Oosterbosch 1978.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Bert Oosterbosch
Born	(1957-07-30)July 30, 1957 Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Died	Lekkerkerk, the Netherlands
Team information
Discipline	Road and track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Time triallist
Professional team(s)
1979–1981	TI-Raleigh
1982	DAF Trucks
1983	TI-Raleigh
1984–1986	Panasonic
1987	Panasonic-Isostar
1988	TVM-Van Schilt
Major wins
World Champion professional individual pursuit 6 Tour de France stages Ronde van Nederland
Medal record Representing the Netherlands Cycling World Championships 1978 Köln Team time trial 1979 Amsterdam Professional pursuit 1981 Brno Professional pursuit
Infobox last updated on April 8, 2008

Bert Oosterbosch (born Eindhoven, July 30, 1957, died Lekkerkerk, August 18, 1989) was a Dutch racing cyclist. Oosterbosch was a successful track and road racer.

Early career

In 1978 he won the World amateur team time trial championship (with Jan van Houwelingen, Bart van Est and Guus Bierings). A year later, he turned professional for the TI-Raleigh team of Peter Post. That year he won the World Professional individual pursuit title beating Francesco Moser in the final. He was also three times Dutch pursuit champion.

Road success

As a professional Oosterbosch was especially successful in time trials; he won 14 stage race prologues, including three in the Tour de France. He won three other stages of the Tour: his victory in Bordeaux in 1983 was the one hundredth Dutch stage win in the Tour.

Oosterbosch also won stages in the Vuelta a España and the Tour de Suisse. In 1982 he won the Ronde van Nederland.

Poor health

Oosterbosch suffered poor health on occasions, twice contracting meningitis. In 1988 he was hit by severe knee trouble and had to end his professional career. He returned as an amateur and on August 13, 1989 he won a race. Five days later he died, aged thirty-two years old, after an acute cardiac arrest. He was buried at the Roman Catholic Cemetery Our Lady of Lourdes in Eindhoven. His tombstone depicts cycle racing.

Bert Oosterbosch was married to Marian Bik. The couple had two daughters: Nathalie and Joyce.

Allegations of doping

It has been suggested that Oosterbosch's early death was caused by EPO use, but this is disputed.

Willy Voet, the disgraced former soigneur, talks about Oosterbosch riding the 1982 Grand Prix des Nations. Oosterbosch came in 18th at more than two and a half minutes behind the winner Bernard Hinault, even though he was expected to do well. Voet said "Oosterbosch was flat from the start due to the Synacthen he had taken. The drugs initially blocked his ability to work hard. An hour after the injection it started working as planned and his tempo increased." In fact, Oosterbosch came third in the 1982 event. Voet may be referring to the 1979 or 1984 runnings which Hinault also won.

Palmares

File:Bert Oosterbosch 1979.jpg

Bert Oosterbosch in 1979

1979

World Professional pursuit champion

1980

Tour of Luxembourg

1 stage, Tour de France

1981

Four Days of Dunkirk

1982

Ronde van Nederland

1 stage, Tour de Suisse

1983

Tour of the Americas

Étoile de Bessèges

2 stages, Tour de France

1984

E3 Prijs Vlaanderen

Driedaagse van De Panne

1 stage, Tour de Suisse

1985

1 stage, Vuelta a España

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

External links

• Oosterbosch at veloarchive.com
• Oosterbosch at cyclingwebsite.net