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 Bronze medal olympic.svg 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 MaillotBélgica.PNG 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
 * Jersey green Epic Series.svg 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 Silver medal blank.svg National Road Race Championships
 * 2nd Köln-Aachen-Köln
 * 2nd GP Flandria
 * 3rd GP Union Dortmund


 * 1970
 * Tour de France
 * Jersey green Epic Series.svg 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 MaillotBélgica.PNG 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 Silver medal blank.svg Madison (with Norbert Seeuws)
 * 3rd Six Days of Antwerp


 * 1974
 * 1st Rund um den Henninger Turm
 * 1st Züri-Metzgete
 * 1st Jersey pink.svg 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 Bronze medal blank.svg 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