Jo De Roo - THE FLYING CLIMBING DUTCHMAN
The most successful rider to come out of the Netherlands prior to 1968 Tour de France winner Jan Janssen, Jo De Roo was the ultimate in all-rounders, capable of beating the very best on the plains of Paris-Tours and the hills of Lombardy Writer: Peter Cossins ProCycling #208, October 2015 At 77, Jo De Roo’s blue eyes are as piercing as ever and he is still very trim. A slight limp initially suggests that age is getting the better of him but is in fact the result of recent knee surgery that is currently preventing him enjoying his usual two or three weekly sorties on his bike in his home region of Zeeland, hopping from one island to the next, just as the Tour de France did this summer . “It’s always windy and it’s pretty hard ,” he says. It is ideal terrain, he adds, for a rider aiming to make a name for himself in the Classics. Holland’s most successful rider until the emergence of Jan Janssen , De Roo was that rare beast who could win almost any of the Classics, no mat...