Cees Priem

From 1967 to 1972 Dutch cyclist Cees Priem competed as an amateur, winning the Ronde van Midden-Zeeland in 1970, followed by the Olympia’s Tour, and three stages at the Tour of Austria one year later. Along with multiple victories in amateur criterion races in the Netherlands, Priem also won two stages at the Milk Race in England in 1972. His consistent performances earned him a place on the Olympic team for the München Games, where he finished 12th in the road race, only 36 seconds behind the winner. He was also part of the Dutch quartet that initially finished third in the team time trial at the Games, but were later disqualified after Aad van den Hoek failed a doping test, having taken Coramine, a stimulant.

In 1973 Priem turned professional, becoming the Dutch road race champion the following year. That same year he rode in the Tour de France for the first time, but was forced to abandon the race early on. He returned to the Tour in 1975, winning stage 1a, a short plain stage through Belgium. Priem had further Grand Tour success at the Vuelta a España, winning a stage in both 1976 and 1977. He then won an individual stage at the 1980 Tour de France, along with a team time trial stage, riding for TI–Raleigh–Creda. This was followed by two more team time trial stage wins for TI–Raleigh–Creda at the 1981 Tour. Priem had his last major win in 1983 with victory in the Three Days of De Panne stage race in Belgium before retiring the following year.

Priem remained in cycling as the sports director for the ill-fated Dutch team TVM. At the 1998 Tour de France the team was caught up in the doping scandal that had plagued the race, known as the Festina affair. Both the Festina and TVM teams withdrew from the race, with Priem arrested by the French authorities after being considered the main person responsible for doping within their team. He was given an 18-month suspended prison term and a hefty fine, although Priem maintained his innocence. In 2014 two TVM riders, Jeroen Blijlevens and Bart Voskamp admitted to being the culprits and that Priem was indeed unaware of the situation. Priem issued a response that simply stated “better late than never”.