This is the Ginseng Kid; well, that’s what one British rider called him. For 15 years Henk Lubberding worked in the engine room of Dutch compatriot Peter Post’s teams, first with TI-Raleigh then Panasonic.
Lubberding was the perfect team man, and more. Post called him his “Third knife,” because he would work his legs off for others, but had the talent to win if called upon.
He was also of his age. The Dutch really embraced the 1970s, from their Prog Rock bands to liberal laws and attitudes. Henk Lubberding, with his long hair, love of tie-died T-shirts and flares fitted right in.
It was the British 1976 Milk Race winner Bill Nickson who came up with the Ginseng Kid. He joined TI-Raleigh with Lubberding as new pros in 1977 and remembers sharing rooms with him; “He was a nice kid,” Nickson says. “I knew him from the year before when he rode the Girvan stage race. He was always taking Ginseng; he must have swallowed tons of the stuff.”
Ginseng is a natural product and a popular dietary supplement, and diet was something Lubberding had quite advanced ideas about. “Gerrie Knetemann and I introduced the team to eating porridge and muesli for breakfast instead of pasta,” he told Chris a few years ago.
That was quite radical and against Peter Post’s traditional approach, but he tolerated it. “They did their work. If a rider delivered, then within reason I had no problem with them,” Post explains in our book, Cycling Legends 02 TI-Raleigh.
Lubberding was always happier working for others than having the pressure of team leading. “I could go deeper for others than I could for myself. Anyway, the leaders at TI-Raleigh weren’t selfish. I won Ghent-Wevelgem in 1980 because of Jan Raas.
“He was our protected rider, and when I was in the winning break, he asked me to attack to make rivals like Roger De Vlaeminck chase. I went on the Kemmelberg, but when I looked behind no one chased. De Vlaeminck was with Raas, and seeing I had a good lead Raas waved to me to go. I did, and I won.”
You can read the full interviews with Lubberding and Peter Post in Cycling Legends 02 TI-Raleigh - click on this link to view the book
📸 John Pierce, Photosport International
