Cees Lute passed away last weekend after a short illness. The former cyclist turned 81 years old. Born and raised Castricummer was a formidable sprinter in the mid-sixties. He was a professional in the squad of French legend Jacques Anquetil.
Not his qualities as a sprinter, but his talent for leading long and hard earned him a contract with Saint Raphaël, Anquetil’s French team that had a crush on North Hollanders. Besides Lute, the Beverwijkers Coen Niesten and Ab Geldermans rode for the five-time winner of the Tour de France for several years. Lute said in 2018 that “the cheese heads were in demand because they could ride well into the wind. That way Anquetil could spare herself.’
View the report from 2018 about Cees Lute’s stage victory in the Tour of Italy below.
Cees Lute’s forgotten stage win in the Giro
Lute was not the most famous of the North Holland triumvirate – that was Ab Geldermans – but he was the only one to win a stage in the Tour of Italy. In the 1964 Giro he won the stage to Santa Margherita. He is one of eighteen Dutch cyclists with a Giro stage to his name. The 25th of June of that year was a heyday in the life of the then 23-year-old driver. Still, he would have loved to exchange that victory for a stage win in the Tour de France. He was close to that in 1965. In fact, he felt that Lute had already got hold of the flowers when he entered the cycling track of Saint-Brieuc with a select escape call. “I was a good sprinter, I had the idea that I could not be beat,” he said in 2018. But Lute had not counted on the cunning Edgar Sorgeloos. A finish photo had to be used to indicate the Belgian as the winner.
kickstart
A stage win in the Tour would have kick-started his career. That ended two years later after a fall in a criterium. He had an unfortunate fall, got a handlebar in his thigh and suffered a thrombosis. End of career, only 26 years left. Lute, like Niesten and Geldermans a member of BRC Kennemerland, was also a good skater. He has been club champion of Ice Club Kees Jongert in Heemskerk, where he also gave training. He was also a masseuse. Cees Lute did it in addition to his work as a carpenter, a job he picked up again after his cycling career. On holidays, Lute and his wife always went to their mobile home in France. Years after he stopped, he once again ran into Jacques Angetil at a cycling race nearby. De Castricummer was flattered that the man who was a great figure in France recognized him and chatted with that simple servant from North Holland. In 2018 he said: “That was great fun. I think Anquetil had a bit of a soft spot for me.”
Cees Lute will be cremated in Heerhugowaard on Saturday.