Hendrik "Erik" Dekker (born 21 August 1970) is a retired
Dutch professional
road racing cyclist active from 1992 until 2006. He was a member of the
Rabobank cycling team from 1992 till 2006. From 2007 to 2015 he was one of Rabobank's team managers.
Cycling career
Amateur career
Dekker rode his first race at eight, and soon became successful. In 1985 he was invited to join the national selection for juniors. As an amateur, his most important results were second places at the youth world championships in
Bergamo in 1987 and at the road race in the
1992 Summer Olympics.
In that
Olympic road race, Dekker got away at 30 km before the finish, together with
Fabio Casartelli and
Dainis Ozols.[1][2] Dekker was outsprinted by Casartelli, but was so happy that he won a medal that he also finished with his arms in the air.[3]
Directly after the Olympic Games, he became professional, and rode his first race a few weeks later in the
Tour de l'Avenir.[3]
The year 2000 was Dekker's best. He won three stages in the
2000 Tour de France, although neither a sprinter nor a favourite for the overall win, and was voted
most combative cyclist. In the autumn of that year, Dekker won his first classic, the
Clásica de San Sebastián.
The years 2002 and 2003 were less successful because of injuries. He came back in 2004 in the spring classics and a victory in
Paris–Tours. He had announced his retirement for the autumn of 2006, but he crashed heavily in the
2006 Tour de France and decided to stop.
Managing career
In 2007, Dekker started as team manager of the Rabobank team. At the end of the 2015 season, he left the team.[4]