Hendricus "Henk" Smits (born 7 May 1947 in
Baarlo
Baarlo (; li, Baolder ) is a village in the southeastern Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Peel en Maas, Limburg, about 6 km southwest of Venlo.
Name and symbols
The oldest mention of the name Baarlo is from 1219.
The old ...
,
Limburg) is a former
road cyclist from the
Netherlands.
Sporting career
Smits began his cycling at the club Olympia Baarlo.
In the 1973 International
Peace Race, he was part of the team of the Netherlands (with Ewert Diepenveen, Cor Hoogedoom,
Piet Legierse, Hermanus Lenferink and Comelius Boersma). In the victory of
Ryszard Szurkowski, he finished 41st in the final classification.
Smits competed for the Dutch
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
cycling team
A cycling team is a group of cycle sport, cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle racing, bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important i ...
s Ovis and Hebro-Flandria.
[ Competing as an amateur, Smits raced in the 1973 Tour de Pologne and ]Course de la Paix
The Peace Race (german: Friedensfahrt, cs, Závod míru, sk, Preteky mieru, russian: Велогонка Мира (), pl, Wyścig Pokoju , french: Course de la Paix, it, Corsa della Pace, ro, Cursa Păcii) was an annual multiple stage bicycl ...
; in the 1974 DDR-Rundfahrt; and in the 1976 Milk Race.
Achievements
Smits was the overall winner at the 1974 Tour de Liège, including one stage victory; and also won the Tour de la Province de Namur the same year. He came 2nd in the 1974 Seraing–Aachen–Seraing
Seraing–Aachen–Seraing was a men's cycling race organized for the last time in 2001. The race was run between Seraing, Belgium and Aachen, (West) Germany.
The competition's roll of honor includes the success of Rik Van Looy and Frank Vande ...
men's cycling race. In the 1974 GDR Tour Smits finished fourth in the 6th stage: Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
- Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to:
* Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany
** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district
**Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city
* Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen)
* Narost ...
, , on 5 September 1974, and fifth in the 7th stage: Quer durch den Harz, , the following day (both stages were also classified as Harzrundfahrts). Smits achieved 14th place in the overall individual classification.[
In 1975, Smits won a stage of the Tour de Liège; and won overall winner of the Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe in Belgium.][
Throughout 1976, Smits competed in the United Kingdom, with podium places but without a major stage victory.][ Competing in Belgium in 1977 through to 1980, Smits' major achievement was overall general classification winner in a 1978 road race held in Yvoir, Belgium.][ He also won the Staveslot Tour in 1979.]
References
External links
Image of Smits (1978)Image of Smits (1975)
1947 births
Living people
Dutch male cyclists
People from Limburg (Netherlands)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smits, Henk