• A. Joop Zoetemelk
  • B. Jan Janssen
  • C. Hennie Kuiper
  • D. Steven Rooks

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This historic victory took place in the 1960s, a time when Dutch cyclists were becoming increasingly successful at the international level.

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The correct answer is B. Jan Janssen.

Jan Janssen became the first Dutch winner of the Tour de France in 1968. It was a thrilling edition in which Janssen only captured the yellow jersey in the very last stage, a time trial to Paris. He defeated Belgium’s Herman Van Springel by a margin of just 38 seconds - one of the smallest margins in Tour history. Janssen was 28 years old when he achieved this historic feat, writing Dutch cycling history in the process.

Joop Zoetemelk did win the Tour in 1980, but was not the first Dutchman to do so. Hennie Kuiper and Steven Rooks never won the Tour, although Kuiper did win the World Road Race Championships twice (1975 and 1978).

📚 More background information

Jan Janssen (born in 1940 in Nootdorp) was a versatile cyclist who, in addition to his Tour victory, also won the Vuelta a España in 1967 and became World Road Race Champion in 1964. His Tour victory in 1968 was particularly special because it was only the third time that a rider had won the Tour by winning the final time trial.

The 1968 edition was exceptionally exciting. Before the final stage, Herman Van Springel still had a 16-second lead, but Janssen rode a fantastic time trial and won by more than a minute over Van Springel in that stage. This gave him the smallest winning margin up to that point.

After his cycling career, Janssen became a successful businessman and remained involved in the sport of cycling. He is still a respected figure in the Dutch cycling world and is regularly invited to major cycling events. His achievement opened the door for other Dutch Tour winners such as Joop Zoetemelk (1980) and much later for riders like Tom Dumoulin who came close.

Interesting detail: Janssen was also the first cyclist to earn one million guilders in his career, which was an astronomical amount for that time. His Tour victory definitively established cycling as one of the most popular sports in the Netherlands.