Walter Godefroot

PHOTOS

A BRIEF HISTORY

Born: 2nd July 1943, Ghent, Belgium
Number of professional victories: 155

“Walter Godefroot is the only one of my adversaries who I never beat in a direct fight for victory,” declared the great Eddy Merckx.

Godefroot amassed an impressive 155 professional victories in his professional career. He won 10 Classics, most notably the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and took 10 Tour de France stage victories. He was able to win the hilly classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège, to which his heavy build was completely unsuited, defeating Merckx in 1967.

In 1970 Godefroot won the Tour de France Green jersey, and even took a mountain top victory by out sprinting Merckx. In 1975 he was the first rider to win on the Champs-Élysées, which had that year been introduced as the Tour’s regular final stage.

It is for his victories in the Northern Classics, however, that Godefroot is most famous, and which exemplify his character as a rider. Godefroot was a true flahute, a term reserved for only the hardest, toughest Flandrians such as Rik Van Looy, Roger de Vlaeminck and Sean Kelly, who excelled over the cobbles and were at their best in the foulest of weathers. Stocky in stature and somewhat dour in character, Godefroot was able to drive himself to brutal extremes. It was not uncommon for him to be physically sick after some of his victories.

Perhaps Godefroot’s greatest triumph was his spectacular victory in the epic 1969 Paris-Roubaix, in which he inflicted a crushing defeat on Merckx.

The weather conditions in this edition of the race were among the worst the race had ever experienced: not only strong winds and heavy rain, but also hail and snow. As the riders entered the cobbled Hell of the Arenberg Forest, Godefroot and Flandria teammate Roger de Vlaeminck immediately attacked. Although Merckx managed to bridge up to the two leaders, Godefroot put in a huge attack with 28km to go, sustaining an incredible 48km/h (30mph), and quickly opening up a ten second gap. Ten kilometres later, the gap was almost a minute. Merckx tried desperately to close the gap but was unable to make any impression on Godefroot, and fell further and further back. Pushing an enormous gear, Godefroot stormed into the iconic Roubaix velodrome to huge applause, crossing the line nearly three minutes ahead of the dejected Merckx. Only 35 other riders finished. Merckx offered no excuses and stated that he had simply been beaten by the better man.

After his retirement as a rider, Godefroot was famously Directeur Sportif at the Telekom team (later T-Mobile), where he guided Bjarne Riis and Jan Ullrich to back-to-back Tour de France victories.

PALMARES

1964

Finale de l’Étoile
Gand – Staden
médaille de bronze, Jeux olympiques 3e de la course en ligne des Jeux Olympiques de Tokyo

1965

MaillotBélgica.PNG Champion de Belgique sur route
Circuit du Sud-Ouest de la Flandre

1966

À travers la Belgique
1rea, 1reb, 3e, 6e et 8e étapes du Tour de Catalogne
Six jours de Madrid (avec Emile Severeyns)
Flèche mosane
Flèche du Maasland
1re étape du Grand Prix du Midi libre
3e étape du Tour de Belgique
2e du Het Volk2e du Grand Prix d’Isbergues
2e du Grand Prix de Francfort
2e du Circuit des Onze Villes
2e de Bruxelles-Meulebeke
2e du Tour de la Flandre Occidentale
4e de Liège-Bastogne-Liège

1967

Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Nokere Koerse
Flèche mosane
Porto-Lisbonne
1re étape du Tour de France
7ea étape du Tour de Suisse
2e de Bruxelles-Meulebeke
2e du Tour de la Flandre Occidentale
2e du Circuit de la région linière
5e de la Flèche wallonne
7e de Milan-San Remo
9e de Paris-Nice

1968

Tour des Flandres
Gand-Wevelgem
À travers la Belgique
2e étape du Tour de Suisse
2e et 6e étapes de Paris-Nice
3eb et 9e étapes du Tour de France
3e et 8e étapes du Tour d’Andalousie
2e du Tour de Wallonie
2e de Liège-Bastogne-Liège
2e de Paris-Tours
3e du Super Prestige Pernod
3e de Paris-Roubaix
3e du Circuit de la région linière
9e de Milan-San Remo
9e de la Flèche wallonne

1969

Paris-Roubaix
Bordeaux-Paris
Tour de Wallonie
Grand Prix de l’Escaut
Grand Prix du canton d’Argovie
Critérium des As
3ea étape du Tour de Suisse
6eb étape du Critérium du Dauphiné libéré
2e du championnat de Belgique sur route
2e du GP Flandria
3e du GP Union
4e de la Flèche wallonne
5e de Milan-San Remo

1970

Tour de la province de Reggio de Calabre
Championnat de Zurich
8e étape du Tour d’Italie
Tour de France
- Leader du classement par points
- Classement par points
- 4e et 5ea étapes
3ea étape du Tour de Belgique
2e du championnat de Belgique de l’américaine (avec Romain De Loof)
2e du Tour des Flandres
2e du Tour de Belgique
3e de Gand-Wevelgem
5e de Paris-Roubaix
5e de Milan-San Remo
7e du championnat du monde sur route