Didi Senft
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Dieter "Didi" Senft (born 1952 in Reichenwalde, Germany) is known as the Tour de France devil or El Diablo. Since 1993, he has been seen in the Tour's many stages wearing his red devil costume and painting trident symbols on the road some miles before he appears. Senft attributes the inspiration for the costume to German cycling announcer Herbert Watterot who called the last lap of local criterium races, "the Red Devil's Lap."[citation needed]
He is also an inventor who has created over 100 bicycles, including the largest in the world. He is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.[citation needed]
During multi-day stage races he often travels ahead of the race itself in a custom-decorated camper vehicle, picking various locations for the race to pass by. He is also a regular attendee at important single day races, such as the spring classics and world championships.
During the 2006 edition of Tour of Switzerland, Didi Senft painted his signature trident on the road the day before the competitors came by his door. But later that day the Swiss police arrived and said it was illegal and that he must either pay a fine or go to jail. He was also forced to remove the painting from the road.[citation needed]
He was again in the spotlight at Euro 2008 when he rode through Klagenfurt in his specially created "Football Bike" prior to the Germany vs Croatia Match.[1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The DEVIL: PEZ-Clusive Interview!
- The Tour-devil's Homepage
- The Devil jumps beside a pack of riders during the fifth stage of the 95th Tour de France cycling race between Cholet and Chateauroux, July 9, 2008. (REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel)
- Video of the Tour Devil's crazy bikes
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