Wout Wagtmans

Wout Wagtmans
Personal information
Wout Wagtmans in 1967
Full name	Wouter Wagtmans
Nickname	Olijke Woutje
Born	(1929-11-10)November 10, 1929 Rucphen, the Netherlands
Died	August 15, 1994(1994-08-15) Sint Willebrord, the Netherlands
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Professional team(s)
1950–1953	Garin
1954–1959	Vredestein
1960	Molteni
1961	Vredestein
Major wins
Tour de France: 4 stages, Giro d'Italia: 3 stages
Infobox last updated on April 29, 2007

Wouter (Wout) Wagtmans (Rucphen, November 10, 1929 – Sint Willebrord, August 15, 1994) was a Dutch road bicycle racer.

Together with Wim van Est he belonged to the generation that brought great popularity to cycling in the Netherlands in the 1950s. In 1947, Wagtmans started as amateur, and two years later he became Dutch champion. In 1950 he was forced to be a professional cyclist, because he was said to take money after a victory. In his first day as a professional cyclist, he entered the Dutch professional championship, and only Gerrit Schulte could keep ahead of him.

After that, he had a glorious career. He entered the Tour de France eight times, and wore the yellow jersey in 1954, 1955 and 1956. He won four stages: in 1953 in Gap he beat Gino Bartali in the final sprint, and ended fifth in the overall standings. Two years later he was the third Dutch winner in Bordeaux. He also won three stages in the Giro d'Italia and several one-day courses. He was also successful as a track rider and, together with Wim van Est, in couple courses.

Wout Wagtmans was a very popular cyclist, both because of his combativity and his enthousiasm. He received many nicknames, Olijke Woutje, Dik Trom, Zoeloe, de Clown and het Kemphaantje. He ended his cycling career in 1961, and in 1967 he was the leader of the Dutch Tour de France team, centered on Jan Janssen. After that he took over his father's transport company. In the end of the 1980s, he had a serious accident after which he was declared physically disabled. Wagtmans died in 1994, at the age of 64.

Wout Wagtmans was the uncle of another successful cyclist, Rini Wagtmans.