Walter Godefroot

Walter Godefroot (born 2 July 1943) is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif of , 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 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
1964
Olympic Games
3rd Men's individual road race
1st Gent-Staden
3rd Tour de Tunisie
1st Stages 1, 4, 8
Tour de Berlin
1st Stage 2
1965
1st Road race, National Road Championships
1st Omloop van het Zuidwesten
Tour du Nord
1st Stage 3 (TTT)
1st Critérium de Libramont
3rd Tielt–Antwerpen–Tielt
1966
Volta a Catalunya
1st Stages 1, 2, 4, 7, 10
Grand Prix du Midi Libre
1st Stage 1
1st GP Ninove
1st Dwars door België
Tour of Belgium
1st Stage 3
Four Days of Dunkirk
1st Points Classification
1st Maaslandse Pijl
1st Six Days of Madrid (with Emiel Severeyns)
2nd Omloop Het Volk
2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm
2nd Brussels–Meulebeke
2nd Elfstedenronde
2nd Grand Prix d'Isbergues
1967
Tour de France
1st Stage 1
Tour de Suisse
1st Stage 7
Tour de Romandie
1st Stage 1
1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
1st Porto–Lisboa
1st Nokere Koerse
1st Circuit de l'Armorique à Ploudalmézeau
1st Circuit du Maasland
1st Maaslandse Pijl
1st Berlare
2nd Gullegem Koerse
2nd Brussels–Meulebeke
2nd Omloop van de Vlasstreek
1968
Tour de France
1st Stages 3b and 9
2nd, Points Classification
1st Tour of Flanders
1st Gent–Wevelgem
1st Dwars door België
Paris–Nice
1st Stages 2 and 6
Vuelta a Andalucía
1st Stages 3 and 8
Tour de Suisse
1st Stage 2
2nd Paris–Tours
2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
3rd Paris–Roubaix
3rd Omloop van de Vlasstreek
3rd Super Prestige Pernod
1969
1st Bordeaux–Paris
1st Paris–Roubaix
1st Scheldeprijs
1st Critérium des As
1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
1st Stage 6b
1st Tour de Wallonie
1st GP d'Argovie
1st Omloop van de Fruitstreek
1st Heusden Koers
2nd National Road Race Championships
2nd Köln-Aachen-Köln
2nd GP Flandria
3rd GP Union Dortmund
1970
Tour de France
Winner points classification
1st Stages 4 and 5a
Giro d'Italia
1st Stage 8
1st Züri-Metzgete
1st Boucles de l'Aulne
1st Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
1st Grand Prix d'Aix-en-Provence
1st Critérium de Boulogne-sur-Mer
2nd Tour of Flanders
2nd overall Tour of Belgium
1st Stage 3a
3rd Gent–Wevelgem
1971
Tour de France
1st Stages 5a and 9
Vuelta a España
1st Stages 7 and 8
3rd Points Classification
Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
1st Stage 1
1st Textielprijs Vichte
2nd Leeuwse Pijl
2nd Grand Prix de Wallonie
3rd Six Days of Antwerp
1972
1st Road race, National Road Championships
Tour de France
1st Stage 5a
1st G.P d'Aalst
2nd Boucles de l'Aulne
3rd Nationale Sluitingsprijs
3rd Championship of Flanders
3rd Critérium des As
3rd Six Days of Ghent (with Graeme Gilmore)
1973
Tour de France
1st Stages 5 and 16a
Paris–Nice
1st Stage 4a
Tour of Belgium
1st Stage 1
Vuelta a Andalucía
1st Stage 6
1st Omloop der drie Provinciën
1st Omloop van Oost-Vlaanderen
1st GP Impanis-Van Petegem
1st GP Desselgem
1st Circuit du Brabant Central
2nd Paris–Roubaix
2nd Flèche Halloise
3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
3rd Bordeaux–Paris
3rd Grand Prix de Wallonie
National Track Championships
2nd Madison (with Norbert Seeuws)
3rd Six Days of Antwerp
1974
1st Rund um den Henninger Turm
1st Züri-Metzgete
1st Four Days of Dunkirk
1st Stage 3a
3rd Amstel Gold Race
3rd Elfstedenronde
1975
1975 Tour de France
1st Stage 22 (Champs-Élysées) –
1st Critérium De Panne
2nd Omloop van de Westkust
3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
3rd Rund um den Henninger Turm
3rd Ronde van Limburg
3rd Grote Prijs Marcel Kint
National Track Championships
3rd Madison (with Freddy Maertens)
1976
1st Bordeaux–Paris
Tour of Belgium
1st Stage 3
1st Omloop van Neeroeteren
Tour de Luxembourg
1st Stage 1 (TTT
2nd E3 Harelbeke
2nd Circuit des Genêts Verts
3rd Züri-Metzgete
3rd Tour du Condroz
1977
Four Days of Dunkirk
1st Stage 3
1st Hyon-Mons
1st Heusden Koers
2nd Tour of Flanders
2nd Bordeaux–Paris
2nd Milano–Torino
3rd Züri-Metzgete
1978
1st Tour of Flanders
2nd GP Stad Zottegem
2nd Grand Prix d'Aix-en-Provence
2nd GP St. Raphael
1979
1st Circuit des Frontières
Tour de Belgium
1st Stage 1 (TTT)
1st Ruddervoorde Koerse
2nd Boucles de l'Aulne
2nd Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde
3rd Berlare
Source
References
1943 births
Living people
Belgian male cyclists
Olympic cyclists for Belgium
Cyclists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for Belgium
Belgian Tour de France stage winners
Tour de France Champs Elysées stage winners
Belgian Vuelta a España stage winners
Cyclists from Ghent
Olympic medalists in cycling
Tour de Suisse stage winners
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics