Piet van Heusden (11 July 1929 – 15 January 2023) was a Dutch track cyclist. He became world champion and four times national champion in the individual pursuit. He was described in the media as "an Amsterdam phenomenon".[1][2][3]
Biography
Celebration after Van Heusden became world champion in 1952
Van Heusden started cycling when he was 18 years old. He became for the first time Dutch national champion in 1952 in the individual pursuit at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. With this achievement he qualified for the 1952 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Paris. Here he became World Champion in the amateur individual pursuit ahead of the Italians Mino De Rossi and Loris Campana. Van Heusen became again Dutch national champion in 1953, 1954 and 1955. Because he was so fast, he was described in the media as "an Amsterdam phenomenon".[1]
After his cycling career, he has remained active in the cycling sport. He was a team leader and organizer of competitions. For 36 years he was in the organization of Olympia's Tour, the oldest cycling race in the Netherlands.[1]
Van Heusden was still cycling reacreational at the age of 93 in the summer of 2022.[4] He died in January 2023, at the age of 93.[1]
