Günter Haritz (born 16 October 1948) is a retired

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

and

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

from West Germany, who won the gold medal in the Men's 4.000 Team Pursuit at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

in Munich, alongside

Günther Schumacher Günther Schumacher (born 27 June 1949) is a retired track cyclist and road bicycle racer born in East Germany, who was a professional rider from 1977 to 1984. He twice represented West Germany at the Summer Olympics (1972 and 1976), and won ...

, Jürgen Colombo, and Udo Hempel. In 1973, together with Peter Vonhof, Hans Lutz and

, Haritz won the amateur world title in the team pursuit. Subsequently, he was a professional cyclist from 1973 to 1982, winning the national championship on the road in 1974 and becoming second and third in 1975 and 1976 respectively and third in 1979. The chief part of his professional career concerned racing on the track however. Haritz rode 83 Six-day races, winning 11 of them in the period 1975-1977 during which he belonged to the top 5 riders in the 'Sixes'. 7 of which he won with

René Pijnen Marinus "René" Augustinus Josephus Pijnen (born 3 September 1946) is a Dutch former racing cyclist. He became Olympic champion in the 100 km team time-trial in the 1968 Summer Olympics with Joop Zoetemelk, Fedor den Hertog and Jan Kre ...

, 2 with

Dietrich Thurau Dietrich "Didi" Thurau (; born 9 November 1954) is a retired German professional road bicycle racer. His biggest career achievements include winning the one-day classic, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, his home country's Deutschland Tour and surpr ...

(both of whom his then team-mates with

TI–Raleigh TI–Raleigh was a Dutch professional track cycling and road bicycle racing cycling team, team between 1972 and 1983. In that decade the team won over 900 races. The team was created and led by Peter Post. In his own cycling career, his nickname w ...

), 1 with

Patrick Sercu Patrick Sercu (27 June 1944 – 19 April 2019) was a Belgian cyclist who was active on the road and track between 1961 and 1983. On track, he won the gold medal in the 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics, as well as three world title ...

the 1975 Six Days of Zürich and 1, in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

, with the Frenchman

Bernard Thévenet Bernard Thévenet (; born 10 January 1948) is a retired professional cyclist. His sporting career began with ACBB Paris. He is a two-time winner of the Tour de France and known for ending the reign of five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx, though ...

. In the 1976 Grenoble Six, track specialist Haritz and 'road cyclist' Thévenet, who then had won the 1975 Tour de France and the 1975 and 1976 editions of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, claimed the victory against famous road cyclist

Francesco Moser Francesco Moser (, ; born 19 June 1951), nicknamed "Lo sceriffo" (The sheriff), is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia six times including his win in the 1984 edition. Moser was dom ...

, who, like Thévenet, was coupled with an (eminent) track specialist, Pijnen (2nd), as well as beating the equally famous road rider

Felice Gimondi Felice Gimondi (; 29 September 1942 – 16 August 2019) was an Italian professional racing cyclist. With his 1968 Vuelta a España, 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed ...

who was also with coupled an eminent track specialist,

(3rd), and notably then road champion

Joop Zoetemelk Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk (; born 3 December 1946) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in Tour de F ...

(10th) and future five times Tour de France winner

Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault (; born 14 November 1954) is a French former professional road bicycle racing, road cyclist. With 147 professional victories, including five times the Tour de France, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time. In ...

(12th and last). Corroborating his performances in the Six-Day races in these years, he won the 1975 edition of the European championship Derny racing and in 1976 with Pijnen the prestigious European championship Madison in Zurich, notably beating the Australians Danny Clark and

Donald Allan Donald John Allan (born 24 September 1949) is an Australian former cyclist who rode at the Olympic Games and Tour de France. Allan began cycling with the Blackburn Cycling Club in Melbourne. In 1970, he was paralysed in a car accident, breaki ...

(2nd) and Sercu and Klaus Bugdahl (3rd). In 1977 in Copenhagen with Wilfried Peffgen, he took the bronze medal in the European championship Madison that was won by the Belgian couple Patrick Sercu,

Eddy Merckx Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (born 17 June 1945), known as Eddy Merckx (, ), is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist racer who is the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an ...

. In the

1976 Vuelta a España Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomat ...

, Haritz tested positive for doping, and left the race after the B-test also was positive.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haritz, Gunter 1948 births Living people German track cyclists German male cyclists Cyclists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for West Germany West German male cyclists Olympic gold medalists for West Germany Sportspeople from Heidelberg Olympic medalists in cycling German cycling road race champions Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Cyclists from Baden-Württemberg