Olaf Ludwig (born 13 April 1960 in Gera, Bezirk Gera) is a former German racing cyclist. His career began at the SG Dynamo Gera / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo.Cycling4Fans – Portraits: Ex-Profis: Ludwig, Olaf As an East German, he raced as an amateur until reunification of Germany allowed him to become professional with Panasonic team. As a sprinter, the highlight of his career was winning the points classification in the 1990 Tour de France. Other highlights include the Olympic road race in Seoul in 1988, the World Championship in the team time trial in Prague in 1981, a record 38 stage victories in the Peace Race, winning the Amstel Gold Race in 1992, and podium placings in the Paris–Roubaix. He also won the 1992 UCI Road World Cup. In 1992 he won the Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France and won the third Tour stage of his career the following year.
His sprinting rivals included Mario Cipollini, Wilfried Nelissen and Djamolidine Abdoujaparov.
In 1993 he joined Team Telekom, later T-Mobile Team. On retirement in 1996 he took up public relations for the team. He subsequently became principal team manager, but his involvement with the team finished at the end of 2006.
Major results
1978 1st Team time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships 1980 2nd Team time trial 1980 Olympic Road Race 1981 1st Team time trial 1981 UCI Road World Championships 1st Overall Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt 1982 1st Overall Peace Race 1983 1st Overall Tour de l'Avenir 1st Overall DDR Rundfahrt 1985 1st Overall DDR Rundfahrt 1986 1st Overall Peace Race 2nd Amateur's points race 1986 UCI Track Cycling World Championships 1988 1st 1988 Olympic Road race 1990 Tour de France 1st Points classification 1st Stage 8 Tour de Trump 1st Points classification 1st, Stage 1, 2 & 9 1991 1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 1992 1st Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1st UCI Road World Cup 1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st Dwars door Vlaanderen 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies 1st Stage 21 Tour de France 2nd Paris–Roubaix 1993 3rd Men's road race 1993 UCI Road World Championships 1994 1st Rund um den Henninger Turm 1995 1st Veenendaal–Veenendaal 1996 1st Stage 2 Vuelta a Andalucía 3rd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1st Stage 1 3rd Overall Three Days of De Panne 1st Stage 1 3rd Omloop Het Volk
Books Olaf Ludwig: Höllenritt auf der Himmelsleiter. Etappen meines Lebens. Herausgegeben von Helmut Wengel. RhinoVerlag, Arnstadt & Weimar 1997, (german)
References