Stage races Knut Knudsen (born 12 October 1950) is a retired Norwegian road and track cyclist.

At the 1972 Olympics he also placed fifth in the 100 km team time trial on the road.

[1] He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships in 1972 and 1973.

He won six stages of the Giro d'Italia and wore the Maglia Rosa leader's jersey twice, becoming the first Norwegian to do so and the only wearer until Andreas Leknessund managed the same feat some 42 years after Knudsen last held it.

He was chosen the world's best time trial cyclist by two biggest sporting magazines from 1979 to 1981.