Gerben Karstens died on 08 October 2022 at the age of 80 from a stroke. Gerben Karstens was a Dutch professional racing cyclist who won gold with Bart Zoet, Evert Dolman, and Jan Pieterse in the 100 km team trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics.
He finished 27th in the individual road race at the same Olympics. Karstens began a successful professional career after the Olympic Games.
He won six Tour de France stages, fourteen Vuelta a Espaa stages, one Giro d’Italia stage, as well as other competitions like Paris-Tours and GP Fourmies.
In 1966, he won the title of Dutch national road race champion. Karstens came in second place in the fourth stage of the 1974 Tour de France.
He neglected to take the doping tests afterwards. He was demoted to last place in the stage results by the tour’s organisers, and they also gave him 10 minutes of overtime in the overall standings, which caused him to drop to third place.