René Pijnen

René Pijnen
	Pijnen in 1975
Personal information
Full name	Marinus Augustinus Josephus Pijnen
Nickname	René
Born	3 September 1946; Woensdrecht, Netherlands
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	72 kg (159 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Track & Road
Role	Rider
Major wins
	Grand Tours Vuelta a España 4 individual stages (1971, 1972)
Medal record
Representing the Netherlands
Men's road bicycle racing
Olympic Games
UCI Road World Championships
UCI Track Cycling World Championships

Marinus "René" Augustinus Josephus Pijnen (born 3 September 1946) is a Dutch former racing cyclist.

He became Olympic champion in the 100 km team time-trial in the 1968 Summer Olympics with Joop Zoetemelk, Fedor den Hertog and Jan Krekels; he finished fifth in the individual road race.^[1]

Professional career

A professional from 1969 to 1987, Pijnen was a capable track cyclist, winning the European madison championship six times, (a record he shares with Patrick Sercu). He also won 72 six-day races out of 233 starts, with numerous partners. He was also a great time trialist, winning several. He won four stages of the Vuelta a España, three of those in the 1971 Vuelta a España, which he led for 10 days.^[2]

Pijnen rode on the road with TI–Raleigh, managed by another Dutch track specialist, Peter Post, but he said the length of road races bored him, and that he frequently found himself looking at his watch to see how much longer he would have to ride.^[2]

After cycling

After retiring, he ran a hotel in Bergen op Zoom, the North Brabant province where he was born. This was in addition to several other ventures he had started during his cycling career.