Career
During 11 seasons as a professional he had six victories in single-day classics, three stages of the Tour de France and one stage of the Vuelta a España. He had 46 wins as a professional. He was the most successful rider from Zeeland until the emergence of January Raas.
De Roo caught the eye in 1957 as a 20-year-old amateur when he took two stages in the Olympia’s Tour as well as winning the Omloop van de Kempen.
The following year he turned professional with the Dutch Magneet-Vredestein team, with which he stayed for two season. In 1960 he moved to the Helyett, which had Jacques Anquetil as leader.
He rode for five years with Anquetil at Helyett and then at Street-Raphaël. In 1960 he rode his first Tour de France, abandoning after stage 14 and saying the Tour was not for him.
1962 was De Roo’s best year as a professional.
In winning the 1962 Paris–Tours, De Roo was awarded the Ruban Jaune for setting a record speed for a professional race of 44.903kmh over 267 km. De Roo did not go to the 1962 world championship after a disagreement over expenses with the Dutch cycling federation. De Roo repeated the Autumn Double in 1963.
In 1965 De Roo left Anquetil’s team and signed a two-year contract with the Dutch Televizier squad, which included Gerben Karstens.
De Roo spent the last two years of his career (1967 and 1968) with Willem II-Gazelle, riding in the company of Rik van Looy and Peter Post in the last days of their careers. He rode the 1967 Tour de France as part of the Dutch national team and finished 76th.
Jo de Roo retired at the end of 1968 at 31. His last victory was on 25 June 1968 in Zomergem.