# 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'.

## Major results

Source

### Road
#### 1964

    1st Stage 2 Tour de Berlin
    3rd Road race, Olympic Games
    3rd Overall Tour de Tunisie
       1st Stages 1, 4 & 8

#### 1965

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Omloop van het Zuidwesten
    3rd Tielt–Antwerpen–Tielt
    4th GP du Tournaisis
    7th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    8th Overall Tour du Nord
    10th Omloop van Oost-Vlaanderen

#### 1966

    1st Dwars door België
    1st Grote Prijs Beeckman-De Caluwé
    1st Maaslandse Pijl
    Volta a Catalunya
       1st Stages 1a, 1b, 3, 6a & 8
    1st Stage 3 Tour of Belgium
    1st Points classification, Four Days of Dunkirk
    2nd Omloop Het Volk
    2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm
    2nd Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    2nd Bruxelles–Meulebeke
    2nd Circuit des Onze Villes
    4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    4th Paris–Brussels
    4th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
    6th Gent–Wevelgem
    7th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre
       1st Stage 1

#### 1967

    1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    1st Nokere Koerse
    1st Maaslandse Pijl
    1st Memorial Fred De Bruyne
    1st Porto–Lisboa
    Tour de France
       1st Stage 1b
       Held after Stage 1b
    1st Stage 7a Tour de Suisse
    1st Stage 1 Tour de Romandie
    2nd Gullegem Koerse
    2nd Bruxelles–Meulebeke
    2nd Omloop van de Vlasstreek
    4th Harelbeke–Antwerp–Harelbeke
    5th La Flèche Wallonne
    6th Dwars door België
    7th Milan–San Remo
    8th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
    9th Overall Paris–Nice
    9th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne

#### 1968

    1st Tour of Flanders
    1st Gent–Wevelgem
    1st Dwars door België
    Tour de France
       1st Stages 3b & 9
       Held after Stages 5a, 9 & 11–18
    Paris–Nice
       1st Stages 2 & 6
    1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse
    2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    2nd Paris–Tours
    3rd Paris–Roubaix
    3rd Omloop van de Vlasstreek
    4th Omloop Het Volk
    4th Bruxelles–Meulebeke
    4th Baden-Baden (with Herman Vanspringel)
    6th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
    8th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
       1st Stages 3 & 8
    9th Milan–San Remo
    9th La Flèche Wallonne

#### 1969

    1st Paris–Roubaix
    1st Scheldeprijs
    1st Omloop van de Fruitstreek
    1st Heusden Koers
    1st GP du canton d'Argovie
    1st Critérium des As
    1st Bordeaux–Paris
    1st Stage 6b Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
    1st Stage 3a Tour de Suisse
    2nd Road race, National Road Championships
    3rd GP Union Dortmund
    4th La Flèche Wallonne
    5th Milan–San Remo
    5th Dwars door België
    5th Bruxelles–Meulebeke
    10th Rund um den Henninger Turm

#### 1970

    1st Züri-Metzgete
    1st Circuit de l'Aulne
    1st Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
    1st Grand Prix d'Aix-en-Provence
    Tour de France
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 4 & 5a
    1st Stage 8 Giro d'Italia
    2nd Overall Tour of Belgium
       1st Stage 3a
    2nd Tour of Flanders
    3rd Gent–Wevelgem
    4th Coppa Placci
    4th Brussels–Ingooigem
    5th Milan–San Remo
    5th Paris–Roubaix
    6th Road race, National Road Championships
    7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
    9th Rund um den Henninger Turm
    10th GP du Tournaisis

#### 1971

    1st Textielprijs Vichte
    Tour de France
       1st Stage 9
       Held after Stages 1b & 9
    Vuelta a España
       1st Stages 7 & 8
    1st Stage 1 Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
    2nd Grand Prix de Wallonie
    4th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    4th Paris–Tours
    5th La Flèche Wallonne
    9th Circuit de l'Aulne

#### 1972

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Stage 5a Tour de France
    2nd Circuit de l'Aulne
    3rd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    3rd Nationale Sluitingsprijs
    3rd Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
    3rd Critérium des As
    5th Circuit des Onze Villes
    6th Scheldeprijs
    7th Omloop Het Volk

#### 1973

    1st Omloop van Oost-Vlaanderen
    1st Omloop der drie Provinciën
    1st GP Briek Schotte
    1st Circuit du Brabant central
    Tour de France
       1st Stages 5 & 16a
    1st Stage 4a Paris–Nice
    1st Stage 5 Vuelta a Andalucía
    2nd Paris–Roubaix
    2nd Flèche Halloise
    3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    3rd Grand Prix de Wallonie
    3rd Bordeaux–Paris
    4th Gent–Wevelgem
    5th Overall Tour of Belgium
       1st Stage 1
    5th Omloop Het Volk
    6th Road race, National Road Championships
    6th Tour of Flanders
    7th La Flèche Wallonne
    7th Paris–Tours
    8th Rund um den Henninger Turm
    9th Amstel Gold Race
    10th Milan–San Remo
    10th Circuit des Onze Villes

#### 1974

    1st Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
       1st Stage 3a
    1st Rund um den Henninger Turm
    1st Züri-Metzgete
    3rd Tour of Flanders
    3rd Amstel Gold Race
    3rd Circuit des Onze Villes
    4th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    7th Milan–San Remo
    8th Gent–Wevelgem
    10th Dwars door België

#### 1975

    1st Stage 22 Tour de France
    2nd Omloop van de Westkust
    3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    3rd Rund um den Henninger Turm
    3rd Ronde van Limburg
    3rd Grote Prijs Marcel Kint
    4th Dwars door België
    8th Road race, National Road Championships
    8th Paris–Roubaix

#### 1976

    1st Bordeaux–Paris
    1st Prologue (TTT) Tour de Luxembourg
    2nd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    2nd Maël-Pestivien
    3rd Züri-Metzgete
    3rd Tour du Condroz
    4th Rund um den Henninger Turm
    5th Paris–Roubaix
    5th La Flèche Wallonne
    5th Grand Prix de Wallonie
    6th Paris–Brussels
    6th Omloop van het Leiedal
    7th Circuit de l'Aulne
    8th Overall Tour of Belgium
       1st Stage 2
    8th Tour of Flanders
    8th Herinneringsprijs Dokter Tistaert – Prijs Groot-Zottegem
    10th Milan–San Remo
    10th Grand Prix Pino Cerami
    10th Grand Prix de Monaco

#### 1977

    1st Heusden Koers
    1st Stage 3 Four Days of Dunkirk
    2nd Tour of Flanders
    2nd Milano–Torino
    2nd Bordeaux–Paris
    3rd Züri-Metzgete
    4th Gent–Wevelgem
    5th Omloop van het Zuidwesten
    6th Omloop Het Volk
    6th Omloop der Beide Vlaanderen
    6th Rund um den Henninger Turm
    8th Amstel Gold Race
    10th Road race, UCI Road World Championships

#### 1978

    1st Tour of Flanders
    2nd Herinneringsprijs Dokter Tistaert – Prijs Groot-Zottegem
    2nd Grand Prix d'Aix-en-Provence
    8th Dwars door België
    9th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    9th Critérium des As
    10th Omloop Het Volk

#### 1979

    1st Circuit des Frontières
    1st Ruddervoorde Koerse
    1st Stage 1a (TTT) Tour de Belgium
    2nd Circuit de l'Aulne
    2nd Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde
    3rd Memorial Fred De Bruyne
    6th Rund um den Henninger Turm
    8th Tour of Flanders
    8th Dwars door België
    9th Druivenkoers Overijse

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | — | — | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | — | — | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | — | 60 | 20 | — | 29 | DNF | 44 | 65 | — | 51 | — | — | — | — |

### Classics results timeline

Monuments results timeline :
| Monument | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | 7 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 21 | — | 10 | 7 | 30 | 10 | 16 | — | — |
| Tour of Flanders | — | 27 | 15 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 19 | — | 6 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | 20 | 34 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 13 | — | 2 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 15 | 11 | 13 |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | 4 | 1 | 2 | 18 | — | — | — | 3 | 14 | 3 | 12 | — | — | 30 |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | — | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | 22 | — | — | — | — | — |

### Major championship results timeline

| | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
| World Championships | 20 | — | — | DNF | 19 | 7 | 41 | DNF | 11 | — | — | 19 | 10 | 22 | DNF |
| National Championships | 1 | 13 | 27 | 17 | 2 | 6 | — | 1 | 6 | — | 8 | 11 | 11 | 16 | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |

### Criterium
#### 1965

    1st Critérium de Libramont

#### 1967

    1st Circuit de l'Armorique à Ploudalmézeau
    1st Circuit du Maasland

#### 1970

    1st Critérium de Boulogne-sur-Mer

#### 1975

    1st Critérium De Panne

### Track
#### 1966

    1st Six Days of Madrid (with Emiel Severeyns)

#### 1971

    3rd Six Days of Antwerp

#### 1972

    3rd Six Days of Ghent (with Graeme Gilmore)

#### 1973

    2nd Madison, National Track Championships (with Norbert Seeuws)
    3rd Six Days of Antwerp

#### 1975

    3rd Madison, National Track Championships (with Freddy Maertens)