1978 World champion’s daughter to ride for one of his former sponsors
Roxane Knetemann is one of the eight riders who will make up the new Skil-Koga team in 2011; for the 23-year-old Dutchwoman it is a nice bit of symmetry as the power tools company sponsored one of the teams her late father rode for in the mid-1980s. The new women’s UCI team will be largely based on the current Merida team, including director sportif Sissy Val Alebeek.
Gerrie Knetemann is probably nest remembered as a TI-Raleigh rider, where he rode between 1976 and 1983, as it was there that he took the majority of his big victories, including nine of his ten Tour de France stages as well as the 1978 World title. In 1985 though, he rode for the French-registered Skil-Sem team. He may have been in the twilight of his career by then, but he took the second of his Amstel Gold Race victories while wearing the iconic blue, white and red jersey.
After retiring in 1991 Knetemann became a selector for the Dutch national team; he tragically suffered a heart attack while riding his bike and died in November 2004, aged just 53.
“At first it wasn’t [particularly special that Skil was the team sponsor], said Roxane Knetemann. “I was just happy we could take a step up as a team. It’s great to be able to benefit from the same support and equipment facilities as the Skil-Shimano team.
“It only really sank in when my team-mate Hannah Welter asked me how it was to ride for the same sponsor my father used to ride for.”
Being born in 1987, Roxane missed the majority of her father’s racing career, but she can look back with pride as she watches some of his past victories.
“I hadn’t been born in 1985 [when Gerrie rode for Skil], but that year’s Amstel Gold Race is one of the few of my father’s races we have on video,” she explained. “He had already won the Amstel Gold Race [in 1974], but that victory was very special because he’d fallen badly two years earlier in the Dwars door Vlaanderen and there was a question mark over whether he would ever get back to his best.
“So him winning was very emotional, for the whole family really. I get goose pimples when I see the pictures.”
With the extra inspiration of wearing the colours that her father once wore, Knetemann is motivated to emulate at least some of the late World champion’s success.
“I had a very tough time after the death of my father,” she explained. “My father always went with me to races and we trained together a lot too. After he passed away I really performed below par for a couple of years. I’ve had to work some things out on my own by trial and error over recent years.
“I don’t know if I’ve come out of it stronger,” she added, “but I’m definitely wiser. I am really looking forward to the new season, and riding in a Skil jersey in 2011 is certainly an extra boost. It would be nice to secure a great win like that in that jersey.”