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Historic Overview Walter Godefroot

Rider

Overall Rank60
NameWalter GODEFROOT
Country
  Belgium
Date of birth02-Jul-1943 - Gent (Oost Vlaanderen)
ContemporiesView Contemporary Ranking

Biography

Walter Godefroot

Walter Godefroot (born 2 July 1943) is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif of Team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile Team.

As amateur cyclist, he won the bronze medal in the individual road race of the 1964 Summer Olympics after his young compatriot Eddy Merckx was caught in the final. Both men turned professional in 1965 and Walter Godefroot was presented as Merckx's bane in his early days, winning several races ahead of him: the Belgian championship in 1965, Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1967) and Paris–Roubaix (1969).

But Godefroot eventually didn't have Merckx's abilities in stage races and concentrated on the separate stages in the grand tours. He won ten stages in the Tour de France, including the stage on the Champs-Élysées in 1975 where the Tour finished for the first time, and the green jersey in the 1970 Tour de France, one stage in the 1970 Giro d'Italia and two stages in the 1971 Vuelta a España.

Being a specialist in one-day classic cycle races, he won another Belgian champion title in 1972, two Tours of Flanders at ten-year intervals in 1968 and 1978, two Bordeaux–Paris in 1969 and 1976 and had numerous runner-ups in other classics.

Remarkably, Godefroot informed the Tour de Flandres organization about the existence of the Koppenberg. From 1976, the hill was included in the course of the race.

At the end of his career, following the classics campaign in April 1977, he tested positive for a doping product along with several other top riders.

In 1981, Godefroot and his wife started a cycling shop in Deurle which still exists today.

He managed the Capri-Sonne-Koga Miyata, T-Mobile and Astana teams. He was notably the sports director of Bjarne Riis, Jan Ullrich and Erik Zabel during the victorious Tour de France editions in 1996 and 1997, although Riis and Zabel later admitted they used EPO in the 1996 Tour de France.

Godefroot stepped down as team manager before the 2006 season and was replaced by Olaf Ludwig. After the exclusion of Astana–Würth from the 2006 Tour de France, Godefroot returned to the peloton when he became manager of Astana. His contract was not renewed when it ran out in July 2007. He then withdrew from professional cycling.

In his racing days he was called 'The Bulldog of Flanders'.

source - Wikipedia

Badges

10 2 2 2 5 2 50

Major Victories

Ronde van Vlaanderen 1968, 1978
Paris - Roubaix 1969
Liège - Bastogne - Liège 1967
Gent - Wevelgem 1968
Dwars door Vlaanderen 1966, 1968
Rund um den Henninger Turm 1974
Meisterschaft von Zürich 1970, 1974
Bordeaux - Paris 1969, 1976
Scheldeprijs - Schoten 1969
Porto - Lisboa 1967
Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau - Gippingen 1969
Nokere Koerse 1967
4 Jours de Dunkerque 1974
Tour de France - stages 1967 (1), 1968 (2), 1970 (2), 1971 (1), 1972 (1), 1973 (2), 1975 (1)
Giro d'Italia - stages 1970 (1)
Vuelta a España - stages 1971 (2)
Paris - Nice - stages 1968 (2), 1973 (1)
Dauphiné Libéré - stages 1969 (1)
Tour de Romandie - stages 1967 (1)
Tour de Suisse - stages 1967 (1), 1968 (1), 1969 (1)
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - stages 1966 (5)
Vuelta a Andalucia - Ruta del Sol - stages 1968 (2), 1973 (1)
G.P. du Midi-Libre - stages 1966 (1)
4 Jours de Dunkerque - stages 1974 (1), 1977 (1)
Setmana Catalana - stages 1971 (1)
More results

Seasons

Walter Godefroot - Scores by Season

Year Team Score Rank
1. 1964 Individual 216 225
2. 1965 Wiel's - Groene Leeuw 316 172
3. 1966 Wiel's - Gancia - Groene Leeuw 1258 29
4. 1967 Flandria - De Clerck 1790 14
5. 1968 Flandria - De Clerck 2882 5
6. 1969 Flandria - De Clerck - Krüger 1621 16
7. 1970 Salvarani 2604 5
8. 1971 Peugeot - BP - Michelin 1407 22
9. 1972 Peugeot - BP - Michelin 700 77
10. 1973 Flandria - Carpenter - Shimano 1847 12
11. 1974 Carpenter - Confortluxe - Flandria 1177 33
12. 1975 Carpenter - Confortluxe - Flandria 1145 30
13. 1976 IJsboerke - Colnago 1275 28
14. 1977 IJsboerke - Colnago 1046 37
15. 1978 IJsboerke - Gios 862 45
16. 1979 IJsboerke - Warncke Eis 479 103
Overall: 20625 60