# Emile Daems

Emile Daems (4 April 1938 – 17 October 2024) was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist.
He began his professional career in 1959. Daems, rather small in stature, was very adept at sprinting.
When Daems signed his first professional contract in 1960, it was with the small Italian team Philco. He immediately sprinted to two stage victories in the Giro d'Italia and also won the Tour of Lombardy.
In his neo-professional year, Daems was also included in the Belgian selection for the World Championship on the Sachsenring, Germany. But because Daems had won a criterium at the Sachsenring a few years earlier, he was the only Belgian to refuse to do work for team leader Rik Van Looy (who eventually became world champion). Daems finished 19th.
In the following years, the headstrong Daems would win the stage race Giro di Sardegna (1961), the Monuments Milan-San Remo (1962) and Paris-Roubaix (1963) and 4 stage victories in the Tour de France.
In the 1962 Tour de France, he distinguished himself with three victories, first in Saint-Malo and then in Aix-en-Provence, each time solo. But it was especially during the mountainous 18th stage, between Juan-les-Pins and Briançon, that he impressed. Although he was mainly a classics rider, he managed to join the leading group on the col de l'Izoard (last climb of the day), twenty seconds behind Federico Bahamontes. He finally won in Briançon in a sprint of seven riders, ahead of Bahamontes, Jacques Anquetil, Raymond Poulidor and the yellow jersey Joseph Planckaert.
After a short career of six years, aged 28, Daems quit racing and opened a restaurant. But cycling remained his great love.
Daems died in Wavre on 17 October 2024, at the age of 86.

## Major results
### As Amateur
#### 1956

    1st National Road Championships - Interclubs road race
    2nd Brussels–Nivelles

#### 1957

    1st Hoeilaert–Leuven–Hoeilaert
    1st Brussels–La Louvière–Brussels
    1st Rund um den Sachsenring
    3rd Rund um die Hainleite

#### 1958

    1st Overall Tour de Berlin
       Winner 4 stages
    1st Overall GP Général Patton Juniors
    1st GP Victor Bodson
    1st Tour des Quatre-Cantons
    1st Namur–Namêche
    1st Bruxelles–La Louvière–Bruxelles

#### 1959

    1st Tour of Flanders independents

### As Professional
#### 1960

    1st Giro di Lombardia
    1st Giro dell'Appennino
    1st Nationale Sluitingsprijs
    1st Stages 9a and 19 Giro d'Italia
    1st Stage 16 Roma–Napoli–Roma
    1st Tour de l'Ouest
    1st Trofeo Longines (TTT)
    2nd Ronde van Brabant
    3rd Heistse Pijl
    3rd Six Days of Brussels (with Willy Vannitsen)

#### 1961

    1st Overall Giro di Sardegna
    1st Stage 3 Tour de France
    1st Giro del Ticino
    1st GP Dr. Eugeen Roggeman
    1st GP Brabant Wallon
    3rd Grote Prijs Beeckman-De Caluwé
    4th Tour of Flanders

#### 1962

    1st Milan–San Remo
    1st Stage 2a Paris–Nice
    13th Overall Tour de France
       1st Stages 5, 16 and 18
       2nd points classification
    1st Stage 5 Giro di Sardegna
    1st Giro del Ticino
    1st Flèche Halloise
    1st Omloop van Limburg
    3rd Six Days of Brussels (with Emile Severeyns)

#### 1963

    1st National Road Championships - Interclubs road race
    1st Paris–Roubaix
    1st Stages 5 and 7 Mi-Août en Bretagne
    1st Vilvoorde–Houtem
    1st Boucles Roquevairoises
    3rd Brabantse Pijl

#### 1964

    1st Omloop der Zennevallei
    2nd Gullegem Koerse

#### 1965

    1st National Road Championships - Interclubs road race
    1st Circuit du Tournaisis
    2nd GP Stad Vilvoorde
    3rd Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
    3rd Tour of Leuven