Udo Bölts

Udo Bölts

Bölts guides Jan Ullrich through the Vosges at the Tour de France 1997
Personal information
Born	(1966-08-10) 10 August 1966 (age 50) Rodalben, West Germany
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional team(s)
1989–2002	Stuttgart–Merckx–Gonsor
2003	Gerolsteiner
Managerial team(s)
2004–2007	Gerolsteiner

Udo Bölts (born 10 August 1966) is a retired German racing cyclist, the brother of Hartmut Bölts.

Bölts is one of the most successful German cyclists, and from the beginning of his career he distinguished himself as a coureageous rider who liked to get into breakaways. Bölts was born in Rodalben and began his professional career in 1989 with Stuttgart–Merckx–Gonsor, from which Team Telekom were formed in 1991.

From 1992 to 2003, Bölts took part in twelve consecutive Tours de France, arriving in Paris on every occasion, both of which feats are German records. These records have since been surpassed by Jens Voigt. His best placing in the hardest stage race in the world was in 1994, when he was ninth. In 1996 and 1997, he was an important helper of teammates and eventual winners of the Tour, Bjarne Riis and Jan Ullrich. During the 1997 Tour, he was noted for the words he shouted to Ullrich when the latter was about to crack: Quäl dich, du Sau! (force yourself, you sod!).

After Bölts had taken part in the Ironman Hawaii event with little preparation, his team chief of many years, Walter Godefroot, said: "Bölts is strong, he never breaks down".

Some of his greatest victories include three German road national titles (1990, 1995 and 1999), the Clásica de San Sebastián in 1996 or a stage win at the 1992 Giro d'Italia. He also is the only German rider to have won the Dauphiné Libéré, which he did in 1997, a year in which he was also fourth in the World Cycling Championships.