Introduction
When Belgian commentators start discussing the nagging question of who the best/greatest cyclocross rider of all time was, they think of Sven Nys, Erik De Vlaeminck or Roland Liboton. All of them are definitely worthy champions who dominated their era for a shorter or longer period. It all stops there. Obviously all three are Belgians. They forgot about the Swiss mudman who dominated the field in the late seventies on sometimes insanely hard routes: Albert Zweifel. Perhaps De Vlaeminck has one more World title but he had a hard time, competing against the Swiss, to his own admission (a forum poster argues on Wielerarchieven). Perhaps Liboton dominated Zweifel more often than not when they were competing together but the Swiss was already 30 when the Brabander came up. So this is a reminder of the Zweifel fabulous career in cyclocross and to some extent on the road too.
Early Years & Training Methods
Albert Zweifel was born in Rüti, close to Zurich on June 7 1949. According to an interview that he gave to laliberte.ch (visited on February 26 2006) His father, Albert sr, owned a small farm but also worked in a factory for 50 years. The poverty which he’s grown up in affected his character, as he explained. Television only came up when he was 18. Sport was their only leisure. “Now youngsters have many opportunities.” Such environment enhanced his mental toughness, which forced the respect of his fellow colleagues and observers. He could endure pain more than the average riders of his time. He even added to it that “cyclocross is 80% of willpower and 20% of talent.” His own son Roger was an amateur cyclist in the nineties and Albert claimed he had as much talent as him but did not have his willpower. Jérôme Gachet – the interviewer – thinks it’s a bit over the top, though.
His father was not interested in sport and Albert jr was initiated to cycling by his own brother and started racing in 1965 at age 15. He is trained as a coachbuilder.
Zweifel remained an amateur rider until the age of 23. In his early days as a racer the Swiss cyclocross was very amateurish, he says. “When I started racing with [Hermann] Gretener and [Peter] Frischknecht […] we were playing cards and having a drink after training. Along came the Belgians, in particular the De Vlaeminck brothers. They beat us because they were better prepared than us. I then set out to professionalise and to care for every detail.”
We know from Michel Wuyts in the book “De Flandriens van het veld” (Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, 2012) that already when they were amateurs, the De Vlaeminck trained with a physician Georges Debbauts who was well aware of the most advanced training methods of the time; “an intensive and diversified programme” with interval, fitness, endurance, etc. which thus influenced other riders like Zweifel, as he says himself.
The journalist from “La Liberté” further claims that Zweifel was always one step ahead in terms of training methods. For example, he was one of the first to specifically train for running which was then unthinkable. However, Michel Wuyts (in the above mentioned book) reports a comment by Erik De Vlaeminck that the latter also specifically trained “uphill running” … in Switzerland (because Swiss and Germans did that very well, so in the Sixties) under advice by Firmin Van Kerrebroeck who was the best Belgian cyclocrosser in the 1950’s. This being said, Zweifel made the most of this specific training as his running skills in particular made him the champion that is now.
Besides that aspect, he also changed diet “Before the race, it was rice and steak but since meat was of no use, I stopped eating it. Since I won, the others copied me. You sometimes have that kind of fashion. Then we took omelette up until the moment somebody told us it was wrong. Hence everybody started eating pastas.”
His first pro season, 1973/74 was quite disappointing, not a single win. To La Liberté, he humbly acknowledged that he had made a lot of mistakes back then but that his performances were also impaired by the fact that he wore glasses. “After a moment I no longer saw anything and I systematically crashed on roots. Along came lenses. That saved me.”
Liboton: "He Could Dig Incredibly Deep"
Roland Liboton often said the Swiss was not his best friend. He however admired the rider Albert Zweifel for his competitiveness, fighting spirit and mental fortitude. His biographer Noël Truyers (in “Roland Liboton: ik ben de grootste”, BMP 2004) [Truyers is now a PR for the Telenet-Fidea Team] described Albert as a calm, taciturn and introvert person who “perhaps missed the true, raw talent but he was an unbelievable power man.” Liboton added: “There was pure power in his long legs. He could dig incredibly deep [“in het rood gaan”, “get into the red” in Eng.]. Albert could blow up but wouldn’t give up. Never! He could push insanely high gears. Thanks to him I earned a lot of money because they constantly played us against each other. With Stamsnijder as the third man in the mix! I think that Hennie [Stamsnijder] and I were the only ones could keep up with this Zweifel.”
Liboton’s and Truyers’ seem to confirm the conclusions from the article on La Liberté.
"On the Road I would Have Been a Good Domestique"
Gachet says in his article that the idea of a focus on the road crossed Albert’s mind at some point but he quickly realised it would have been a bad idea. “On the road I was everywhere average. I would have been a good domestique. While in cyclocross, I was the boss. I was watched out for.”
This being said Zweifel raced a lot of high profile road races, mainly stage races, which fits with the characteristics of a crosser who is usually more lightweight than a classics rider. He started the Tour of Switzerland 16 times (from 1973 to 1988) and finished it 14 times, which is still … a record! Four times, he entered the top10. His best result was a 6th place in 1977 only 3’34” behind winner Michel Pollentier, while he left Dietrich Thurau (7th), Johan De Muynck (8th), Eddy Merckx (12th), Paco Galdos (13th) and Hennie Kuiper (14th) behind him. He also finished 10th in 1978, 7th in 1980 and 8th in 1981. A 3rd place in the now defunct Subita a Arrate – Spanish climb race – in 1978 to Faustino Fernandez and Vicente Belda are among his most notable places on the road, along with a very good 9th place at the 1977 Championship of Zurich won by Francesco Moser.
1974/1975: "Erik De Vlaeminck Was Still Chasing With Zweifel"
During the 1975 Cyclocross World Championship in Melchnau, Switzerland, before 20,000 spectators, Roger De Vlaeminck was a solid leader when his brother Erik, broke away, from the chase group that he formed with Zweifel and Peter Frischknecht and was about to join him. We are in the 3rd round. The initial plan for Roger was to take an early and pave the way for his brother’s win as Erik was his come-back after two very hard years with a lot of personal problems and during which he sunk into recreative drug problems. According to Dirk Van de Gejuchte and Pascal Sergent (in “La gloire dans les labours, grandes & petites histories du championnat du monde de cyclocross”, De Eecloonaar 1996), the brothers’ physical trainer Georges Debbaut encouraged Roger to keep a solid pace because Erik was still in the chase group with Zweifel and Frischknecht. The authors of the book claimed tha he broke away (which is right) but that the gap was still not big enough with the two Swiss. In 2012, for the TV-Show “De Flandriens van het veld” (on Canvas, Dutch-speaking Belgian broadcaster) Erik De Vlaeminck claimed that Debbaut would rather Roger won because it made him more publicity.
Zweifel made a very good race right from the first lap. André Blancke said in the Belgian newspaper Het Volk on January 27 1975: “The Swiss (plural) rode with more determination than ever before” and he talked about an “admirable” Zweifel (source: “Roger De Vlaeminck : Top60: Mens & Renner” – Dries Vanysacker & Roger De Maertelaere, De Eecloonaar, 2007), which shows how the new training methods that he’s adopted paid off. He was in the lead group with Berten Van Damme and Erik De Vlaeminck who set the pace while Roger had a crash earlier on on the road section with the French road climber Mariano Martinez but the Gipsy quickly got back to the lead by the end of lap 1, with his brother, Albert ‘Berten’ Van Damme and Zweifel, while Frischknecht was just hanging 10” behind.
Roger got clear in lap 2 by the end of which Zweifel and Erik De Vlaeminck were alone in the chase 16” behind, with Frischknecht hanging 4” behind the duo. It’s only in the 3rd and the 4th lap that Erik got clear to chase his brother alone and so under his coach’s advice, the younger brother did not wait and anyway E. De Vlaeminck crashed and lost a dental implant. Zweifel caught him and the two ended the lap 38” behind Roger. Zweifel then got clear and ended 2nd, 31” behind Roger De Vlaeminck.
Highlights of the race can be found on this link (in German) with also some footage of the Swiss riders in training.
When Belgian commentators start discussing the nagging question of who the best/greatest cyclocross rider of all time was, they think of Sven Nys, Erik De Vlaeminck or Roland Liboton. All of them are definitely worthy champions who dominated their era for a shorter or longer period. It all stops there. Obviously all three are Belgians. They forgot about the Swiss mudman who dominated the field in the late seventies on sometimes insanely hard routes: Albert Zweifel. Perhaps De Vlaeminck has one more World title but he had a hard time, competing against the Swiss, to his own admission (a forum poster argues on Wielerarchieven). Perhaps Liboton dominated Zweifel more often than not when they were competing together but the Swiss was already 30 when the Brabander came up. So this is a reminder of the Zweifel fabulous career in cyclocross and to some extent on the road too.
Early Years & Training Methods
Albert Zweifel was born in Rüti, close to Zurich on June 7 1949. According to an interview that he gave to laliberte.ch (visited on February 26 2006) His father, Albert sr, owned a small farm but also worked in a factory for 50 years. The poverty which he’s grown up in affected his character, as he explained. Television only came up when he was 18. Sport was their only leisure. “Now youngsters have many opportunities.” Such environment enhanced his mental toughness, which forced the respect of his fellow colleagues and observers. He could endure pain more than the average riders of his time. He even added to it that “cyclocross is 80% of willpower and 20% of talent.” His own son Roger was an amateur cyclist in the nineties and Albert claimed he had as much talent as him but did not have his willpower. Jérôme Gachet – the interviewer – thinks it’s a bit over the top, though.
His father was not interested in sport and Albert jr was initiated to cycling by his own brother and started racing in 1965 at age 15. He is trained as a coachbuilder.
Zweifel remained an amateur rider until the age of 23. In his early days as a racer the Swiss cyclocross was very amateurish, he says. “When I started racing with [Hermann] Gretener and [Peter] Frischknecht […] we were playing cards and having a drink after training. Along came the Belgians, in particular the De Vlaeminck brothers. They beat us because they were better prepared than us. I then set out to professionalise and to care for every detail.”
We know from Michel Wuyts in the book “De Flandriens van het veld” (Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, 2012) that already when they were amateurs, the De Vlaeminck trained with a physician Georges Debbauts who was well aware of the most advanced training methods of the time; “an intensive and diversified programme” with interval, fitness, endurance, etc. which thus influenced other riders like Zweifel, as he says himself.
The journalist from “La Liberté” further claims that Zweifel was always one step ahead in terms of training methods. For example, he was one of the first to specifically train for running which was then unthinkable. However, Michel Wuyts (in the above mentioned book) reports a comment by Erik De Vlaeminck that the latter also specifically trained “uphill running” … in Switzerland (because Swiss and Germans did that very well, so in the Sixties) under advice by Firmin Van Kerrebroeck who was the best Belgian cyclocrosser in the 1950’s. This being said, Zweifel made the most of this specific training as his running skills in particular made him the champion that is now.
Besides that aspect, he also changed diet “Before the race, it was rice and steak but since meat was of no use, I stopped eating it. Since I won, the others copied me. You sometimes have that kind of fashion. Then we took omelette up until the moment somebody told us it was wrong. Hence everybody started eating pastas.”
His first pro season, 1973/74 was quite disappointing, not a single win. To La Liberté, he humbly acknowledged that he had made a lot of mistakes back then but that his performances were also impaired by the fact that he wore glasses. “After a moment I no longer saw anything and I systematically crashed on roots. Along came lenses. That saved me.”
Liboton: "He Could Dig Incredibly Deep"
Roland Liboton often said the Swiss was not his best friend. He however admired the rider Albert Zweifel for his competitiveness, fighting spirit and mental fortitude. His biographer Noël Truyers (in “Roland Liboton: ik ben de grootste”, BMP 2004) [Truyers is now a PR for the Telenet-Fidea Team] described Albert as a calm, taciturn and introvert person who “perhaps missed the true, raw talent but he was an unbelievable power man.” Liboton added: “There was pure power in his long legs. He could dig incredibly deep [“in het rood gaan”, “get into the red” in Eng.]. Albert could blow up but wouldn’t give up. Never! He could push insanely high gears. Thanks to him I earned a lot of money because they constantly played us against each other. With Stamsnijder as the third man in the mix! I think that Hennie [Stamsnijder] and I were the only ones could keep up with this Zweifel.”
Liboton’s and Truyers’ seem to confirm the conclusions from the article on La Liberté.
"On the Road I would Have Been a Good Domestique"
Gachet says in his article that the idea of a focus on the road crossed Albert’s mind at some point but he quickly realised it would have been a bad idea. “On the road I was everywhere average. I would have been a good domestique. While in cyclocross, I was the boss. I was watched out for.”
This being said Zweifel raced a lot of high profile road races, mainly stage races, which fits with the characteristics of a crosser who is usually more lightweight than a classics rider. He started the Tour of Switzerland 16 times (from 1973 to 1988) and finished it 14 times, which is still … a record! Four times, he entered the top10. His best result was a 6th place in 1977 only 3’34” behind winner Michel Pollentier, while he left Dietrich Thurau (7th), Johan De Muynck (8th), Eddy Merckx (12th), Paco Galdos (13th) and Hennie Kuiper (14th) behind him. He also finished 10th in 1978, 7th in 1980 and 8th in 1981. A 3rd place in the now defunct Subita a Arrate – Spanish climb race – in 1978 to Faustino Fernandez and Vicente Belda are among his most notable places on the road, along with a very good 9th place at the 1977 Championship of Zurich won by Francesco Moser.
1974/1975: "Erik De Vlaeminck Was Still Chasing With Zweifel"
During the 1975 Cyclocross World Championship in Melchnau, Switzerland, before 20,000 spectators, Roger De Vlaeminck was a solid leader when his brother Erik, broke away, from the chase group that he formed with Zweifel and Peter Frischknecht and was about to join him. We are in the 3rd round. The initial plan for Roger was to take an early and pave the way for his brother’s win as Erik was his come-back after two very hard years with a lot of personal problems and during which he sunk into recreative drug problems. According to Dirk Van de Gejuchte and Pascal Sergent (in “La gloire dans les labours, grandes & petites histories du championnat du monde de cyclocross”, De Eecloonaar 1996), the brothers’ physical trainer Georges Debbaut encouraged Roger to keep a solid pace because Erik was still in the chase group with Zweifel and Frischknecht. The authors of the book claimed tha he broke away (which is right) but that the gap was still not big enough with the two Swiss. In 2012, for the TV-Show “De Flandriens van het veld” (on Canvas, Dutch-speaking Belgian broadcaster) Erik De Vlaeminck claimed that Debbaut would rather Roger won because it made him more publicity.
Zweifel made a very good race right from the first lap. André Blancke said in the Belgian newspaper Het Volk on January 27 1975: “The Swiss (plural) rode with more determination than ever before” and he talked about an “admirable” Zweifel (source: “Roger De Vlaeminck : Top60: Mens & Renner” – Dries Vanysacker & Roger De Maertelaere, De Eecloonaar, 2007), which shows how the new training methods that he’s adopted paid off. He was in the lead group with Berten Van Damme and Erik De Vlaeminck who set the pace while Roger had a crash earlier on on the road section with the French road climber Mariano Martinez but the Gipsy quickly got back to the lead by the end of lap 1, with his brother, Albert ‘Berten’ Van Damme and Zweifel, while Frischknecht was just hanging 10” behind.
Roger got clear in lap 2 by the end of which Zweifel and Erik De Vlaeminck were alone in the chase 16” behind, with Frischknecht hanging 4” behind the duo. It’s only in the 3rd and the 4th lap that Erik got clear to chase his brother alone and so under his coach’s advice, the younger brother did not wait and anyway E. De Vlaeminck crashed and lost a dental implant. Zweifel caught him and the two ended the lap 38” behind Roger. Zweifel then got clear and ended 2nd, 31” behind Roger De Vlaeminck.
Highlights of the race can be found on this link (in German) with also some footage of the Swiss riders in training.
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