Egon ADLER

Born in Leipzig, East Germany, cyclist Egon Adler was originally a trained roof tiler but later owned a cab company in Markkleeberg near Leipzig.

At the 1960 Rome Olympics, the 100 km team time trial began the 1960 Olympic cycling program. Although it started at 0900 hours, the day was already hot, with temperatures reaching 34° C. (93° F.), therefore the teams had to work hard. The East German team consisting of Gustav-Adolf Schur, Erich Hagen, Günter Lörke, and Adler lost Lörke early in the race. Nevertheless the team won the silver medal behind Italy. The race was overshadowed by the death of Knud Enemark Jensen from Denmark, today widely seen as one of the first drug misuse deaths caused by doping substances.

In the 1960 Olympic road race, Adler finished 20th. He was never allowed to participate in the well-known road races in the West, so he only had successes in the Friedensfahrt (Peace Race), winning almost five stages between 1958 and 1960, wearing the yellow jersey in three stages. In 1958 and 1959, Adler won two team titles at the national championships.

Adler was the father of non-Olympian road cyclists Uwe and René Adler, and the uncle of road cyclist Robert Förster, also a non-Olympian. Egon Adler died in 2015 after a long illness.