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Hans »Hennes« Junkermann at the big Union Prize in Dortmund in 1971
Photo: Werek / IMAGO
German cycling is mourning one of its greatest: Hennes Junkermann died in his hometown of Krefeld on Monday, one month before his 88th birthday.
The "boy from Krefeld" shaped professional cycling in Germany in the 1960s together with Rudi Altig, Karl-Heinz Kunde and Rolf Wolfshohl.
From this quartet only the 83-year-old Wolfshohl is still alive.
Junkermann's professional career spanned 18 years.
In all three major tours - Tour de France, Giro, Vuelta - he made it into the top ten, four times at the Tour.
He won the Tour de Suisse twice (1959 and 1962), as well as the then renowned championship in Zurich (1957) and around the Henninger Turm (1963).
In addition, Junkermann won 15 German championship titles on the track and on the road.
Fish poisoning prevented Tour de France victory
All that was missing was the overwhelming success that Altig achieved in 1966 with the world championship title at the Nürburgring (Junkermann got out at the time).
In 1960 and 1961, Junkermann had excelled in fourth and fifth place overall in the Tour de France. In 1962, up to the 14th stage, he was at eye level with the Frenchman Jacques Anquetil in the fight for the yellow jersey – but then the “fish from Luchon” struck him down .
The morning after a fish meal in a Pyrenean hotel, Junkermann woke up with a high fever and a bruised stomach, giving up like various other professionals who had eaten fish.
There was a lot of fuss about the episode, the then tour boss Jacques Goddet saw the drivers involved on the doping flight, the hotelier threatened consequences because of damage to their reputation.
Many years later, Junkermann spoke of sabotage: “They didn’t want a little German to win the tour.” He then became famous for his saying in Rhenish singsong: “If I hadn’t mixed the fish, I wouldn’t have jejesse.”
After the end of his career, he worked successfully as a trainer and team leader at RSV City Neuwied and later at RC Olympia Dortmund.
There he looked after Rolf Aldag and Erik Zabel, among others.
Junkermann continued to ride his bike into old age, but in recent years he has increasingly had to contend with health problems.
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