Marinus "René" Augustinus Josephus Pijnen (born 3 September 1946) is a Dutch former
racing cyclist
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cyclin ...
.
He became
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
champion in the 100 km team time-trial in the
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
with
Joop Zoetemelk
Hendrik 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 T ...
,
Fedor den Hertog
Fedor Iwan den Hertog (20 April 194612 February 2011) was a Dutch racing cyclist. His sporting career began with De Ijsselstreek Wezep. He won the Olympic 100 km team time trial in 1968 with Joop Zoetemelk, René Pijnen and Jan Krekels. H ...
and
Jan Krekels; he finished fifth in the individual road race.
[
]
Professional career
A professional from 1969 to 1987, Pijnen was a capable 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 ...
, winning the European madison championship six times, a record he shares 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 ...
). He also won 72 six-day races out of 233 starts, with numerous partners. He was also a time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...
expert, winning several. He won four stages of the Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...
, three of those in the 1971 Vuelta, which he led for 10 days.[
Pijnen rode on the road with ]TI–Raleigh
TI–Raleigh was a Dutch professional track cycling and road bicycle racing 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 was the ''Six ...
, managed by another Dutch track specialist, Peter Post
Peter Post (12 November 193314 January 2011) was a Dutch professional cyclist whose career lasted from 1956 to 1972. Post competed in road and track racing. As a rider he is best remembered for Six-day racing, having competed in 155 races and w ...
, but he said the length of road races bored him, and that he frequently found himself looking at his watch to see how much longer he would have to ride.[
]
After cycling
When he retired, he ran – among other enterprises he already started during his cycling career – a hotel in Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.
Etymology
The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil ...
, the North Brabant province where he was born.
See also
* List of Dutch Olympic cyclists
This is a list of all Dutch cyclists who competed at the Summer Olympics. As of 2012 events in four cycling disciplines (BMX, mountain biking, road cycling, and track cycling) have been contested at the Summer Olympics. Dutch cyclist did not c ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pijnen, Rene
1946 births
Living people
Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands
Dutch male cyclists
Dutch track cyclists
Olympic cyclists of the Netherlands
Cyclists at the 1968 Summer Olympics
People from Woensdrecht
Olympic medalists in cycling
Dutch Vuelta a España stage winners
Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics
UCI Road World Championships cyclists for the Netherlands
Cyclists from North Brabant
20th-century Dutch people
21st-century Dutch people