Freddy Maertens (born 13 February 1952) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

former professional

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling s ...

who was twice world road race champion. His career coincided with the best years of another Belgian rider,

Eddy Merckx Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (, ; born 17 June 1945), better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victorie ...

, and supporters and reporters were split over who was better.Van Walleghem, Rik; Zwart-Wit (B) 2012 Maertens' career swung between winning more than 50 races in a season to winning almost none and then back again. His life has been marked by debt and alcoholism. It took him more than two decades to pay a tax debt. At one point early in his career, between the 1976 Tour and 1977 Giro, Maertens won 28 out of 60 Grand Tour stages that he entered before abandoning the Giro due to injury on stage 8b. Eight Tour stage wins, thirteen Vuelta stage wins and seven Giro stage wins in less than one calendar year.

Personal life

Maertens was the son of what his wife, Carine, described as a hard-working middle-class couple:Maertens, Carine, in introduction to Van Walleghem, Rik; Zwart-Wit (B) 2012 Gilbert Maertens and Silonne Verhaege. His mother was the daughter of a shipbuilder in Nieuwpoort harbour. She had a grocery and newspaper shop, which delivered newspapers. Gilbert Maertens, the son of a self-employed bill-sticker, was a flamboyant and restless man who was a member of the local council and on the committee of the town football club. He ran a laundry with a staff of four behind his wife's shop. Maertens is one of four brothers: he, Mario, Luc and Marc. Marc also rode as a professional. Maertens went to the St-Bernadus college in Nieuwpoort. He read enthusiastically and showed a talent for languages. He could make himself understood in French, Italian and English as well as his native Dutch by the time he turned professional. He then went to the Onze Lieve Vrouw oly Mothercollege in

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

. Maertens and Carine Brouckaert met at a cycling club dance when she was 15. She had been sewing shoes for her father, a cobbler, since the previous year. The two were introduced by

Jean-Pierre Monseré Jean-Pierre "Jempi" Monseré (8 September 1948 – 15 March 1971) was a Belgium, Belgian road racing cyclist who died while champion of the world. Career Early life As a child, the energetic Monseré excelled in different sports like foot ...

and his wife, Annie. Carine was Annie's niece. She had never heard of Maertens. They married in November 1973 and rented a house in Lombardsijde. She said: "I got to know a young boy who was more adult than his years and who knew what he wanted: to be a professional bike rider. I fell for him. Not because I thought he could become a great rider but because I felt straight away that I could play a role in his life, that he needed me. Three years later we were married. Our dream had started. We didn’t know then that it would turn into a nightmare". On 25 May 1979 he flew to the United States to see a doctor, to confirm that he had no drug problems. He and a medical advisers flew from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

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in a

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long- range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 197 ...

. Maertens mentioned to his colleague, Paul de Nijs, that one of the engines made an odd noise. After Maertens disembarked in New York the plane continued towards Chicago but crashed on take-off when an engine fell off, killing 279.

Amateur career

Maertens rode his first race at Westhoek when he was 14, in 1966. The field included riders of 17 and 18, including some from France. The race was open to riders who did not have a licence from the Belgian federation, the BWB. He had trouble riding in a group. His second race went better. Among the riders he beat was

Michel Pollentier Michel Pollentier (born 13 February 1951 in Diksmuide, West Flanders) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. He became professional in 1973. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1977 Giro d'Italia. Pollentier is ...

, later a friend and a team colleague as a professional. Maertens continued to ride unlicensed races in 1967. In 1968 he took his first licence from the BWB, riding in the ''nieuweling'' or beginners' class. He won 21 times and came second 19 times to a rider named Vandromme. Maertens asked his father permission to leave school in his second year as a junior, or under-19, rider. He won 64 times as a junior. His father made him promise that he would train regardless of the weather.

Relationship with father

Gilbert Maertens gave his son his first bike, which Freddy Maertens described as "a second-hand thing that he’d got from a beach business for a bargain". Not until he won a race on that would he get a better one. The author, Rik Van Walleghem, said: "The training school that Maertens went through with his father was hard. Horribly hard. Gilbert never lost sight of anything. He knew how much and how often his son trained, what he ate and drank, how much he slept, who he went around with. He imposed a merciless regime. And he had an eye open for the slightest thing that would obstruct his son’s progress. He worried, for instance, that Freddy’s male hormones would get the better of his son and drive him into the arms of bewitching young girl who’d put the slides under his mission. Women were the devil’s work; it had been like that in the Garden of Eden and little had changed since". Gilbert caught his son flirting with a girl and took revenge by cutting his racing bike in half. He intervened with the army, when his son was called for

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

, to ask that he not be given an easier time because of his reputation. Maertens' relationship with his father affected the rest of his life. He rode well only when he had a dominant figure behind him: first his father, then Briek Schotte and then Lomme Driessens. His wife described him as trusting and vulnerable, that he needed care because otherwise he would be "like a bird waiting for a cat".

Professional career

Maertens won 50 times as a senior, including the national championship at Nandrin. In 1970 he came second to the Frenchman, Régis Ovion, in the world amateur championship. He competed in the individual road race at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

. He turned professional in 1972. The frame-maker Ernest Colnago and the former champion

Ercole Baldini Ercole Baldini (26 January 1933 – 1 December 2022) was an Italian cyclist. As an amateur he won an Olympic gold medal in the road race and the world title in the individual pursuit on track, both in 1956.Flandria bicycle company. Flandria already sponsored Maertens' club, SWC Torhout, and Maertens rode a Flandria bike. Claeys came to the Maertens house with his team manager, Briek Schotte, a legend in Belgian cycling. Claeys offered Gilbert Maertens a concession for Flandria bikes, allowing him to sell them without first buying them. Maertens pushed his son to sign a contract for 40,000 francs a month as an amateur and then double in his first full year as a professional. The family needed the bike concession because Silonne Maertens had fallen ill and closed her shop. Maertens said: "I would have preferred to go to SCIC and Colnago but my father said, 'You have to do something for us too.'" Colnago and Baldini had promised more money and a gentle start as a professional. But with Flandria Maertens rode more than 200 road races a year and on the track and in cyclo-cross in the winter.Procycling, UK, issue 1 He suffered what he called the poor organisation and penny-pinching attitude of Claeys and his Flandria company. He also complained about the weight of Flandria frames; rather than ride them, he had his frames made in Italy, by Gios Torino, and had them painted in Flandria colours. He was never paid in 1979, his last season with Flandria, which had failed. It was the start of financial troubles with tax officials (see below). Rik Van Wallaghem says Maertens' was naïve as a new professional. Belgian racing was dominated by Eddy Merckx and

Roger De Vlaeminck Roger De Vlaeminck (; born 24 August 1947) is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist. He was described by Rik Van Looy as "The most talented and the only real classics rider of his generation". Nicknamed “The Gypsy” because he was bo ...

. Maertens did not observe an unwritten rule that new professionals establish themselves gradually and not try to humiliate established riders. Instead, Maertens, just 21, charged in and upset everyone by demanding they make room for him and make room quickly". What Van Wallaghem saw as his blunder was greeted, he said, by Belgian journalists eager to write of something else after years of Merckx's international domination. That worsened relations between them.

1973 world championship

Relations between the riders and their fans reached their nadir on 2 September 1973 in the world road championship around the Montjuich climb near Barcelona. Maertens had said he was not willing to ride for Merckx. That angered Merckx's supporters who, Maertens said, six times threw cold water over his legs. Merckx broke clear on a hill. Maertens said none of the others took up the chase and so he chased by himself. Merckx was angry that Maertens, in his view, had sabotaged his chances of winning. Maertens was the better sprinter. The two were unable to cooperate and were caught by Luis Ocaña and Felice Gimondi. Maertens agreed to lead Merckx in the sprint and allow him to win. He would be well paid, he understood – "a fantastic offer." But Maertens rode too fast for Merckx to stay with him. Gimondi rode in Maertens' shelter instead. Maertens realised too late and Gimondi won. Enmity between Merckx and Maertens lasted decades. It ended in 2007 when the two met in a hotel in France. "I was smoking a cigarette and he asked me for a cigarette. He said to me, 'Freddy, we have to talk about Barcelona.' I said, 'I think so too.' And then we spoke about it for three hours and we shook hands and everything was over".

Lomme Driessens

Guillaume "Lomme" Driessens was one of three father figures in Maertens' life (see above). He started as a masseur and soigneur for

Fausto Coppi Angelo Fausto Coppi (; 15 September 1919 – 2 January 1960) was an Italian cyclist, the dominant international cyclist of the years after the Second World War. His successes earned him the title ''Il Campionissimo'' ("Champion of Champions ...

. Riders in his care won the Tour seven times. He was a team director from 1947 to 1984. He died in 2006. Maertens said: "There was my father, then in the beginning as a professional I had Schotte, then I had Driessens...” Driessens provoked the rivalry between Maertens and Merckx by insisting that far from Maertens' having betrayed Merckx by chasing him, Merckx had ensured that Maertens did not win. He had, he said, hidden his exhaustion and therefore his ability to win so as to mislead Maertens into losing. The historian Olivier Dazat said Merckx had dropped Driessens as manager of his teams and that Driessens had never forgiven him. Driessens had directed his Romeo-Smith team to ride all year against Rik Van Looy in similar circumstances and now he wanted his revenge against Merckx. Maertens said: "I enjoyed working with Driessens. There were no problems. When you work with Driessens there are no problems. A lot of people complained about Driessens, saying he took the racers' money, that he did this, he did that. But in the morning, he was the first to wake you, he prepared your food. He was a fabulous organiser". He was a dominant figure whose wish to control extended to standing over Carine Maertens to tell her she was not cooking minestrone correctly. Freddy Maertens said Driessens' visits and interventions meant they were no longer bosses in their own house.

Equipment war

The world championship at Barcelona was complicated by commercial interests. Professional cycling had been dominated by an Italian component maker, Campagnolo. A Japanese rival,

Shimano , originally and later , is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company for cycling components, fishing tackles and rowing equipment, who also produced golf supplies until 2005 and snowboarding gear until 2008. Named after founder Shozaburo ...

, had recently entered the market. It supplied the Flandria team and designed a range of components specifically for it. Of the Belgian team, Maertens and

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 ...

used Shimano; Merckx and the others used Campagnolo. The Belgian world championship team was training on the championship circuit two days before the race, along with some of the Italian team. Maertens said what he called the "big boss" 'grand patron'' since dead, at Campagnolo amed in his biography as Tullio Campagnolodrove beside the group and shouted "Sort it out between you but Shimano mustn't be allowed to win the championship".L'Equipe, 9 July 2001 Maertens said Gimondi won because he pushed him into the barriers at the finish. When he demanded Belgian officials protest, he said, they answered: "We can't do that to our Italian friends".

1974 world championship

Maertens alleges that a

laxative Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...

was put in his drink during the world championship in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

in 1974. He was handed it while he was in the lead with

Bernard Thévenet Bernard Thévenet (; born 10 January 1948) is a retired professional cyclist. His sporting career began with ACBB Paris. He is twice a winner of the Tour de France and known for ending the reign of five-times Tour champion Eddy Merckx, though bo ...

and Constantino Conti. He said his masseur, Jef D’Hont, had told Gust Naessens – Merckx's soigneur – that he was going to eat and asked him to hand a bottle to his rider. Maertens took the bottle because he trusted Naessens, with whom he worked from 1981 to 1983. Maertens said: "I got confirmation of that from Gust Naessens. I asked him, 'What did you do in Montreal?'" He said Naessens replied: "It was normal, Freddy. I was asked to give you your drink and I put something in it. You were too good for my guy, so I put something in it to block you". Merckx won. Naessens, now dead, was also

Tom Simpson Thomas Simpson (30 November 1937 – 13 July 1967) was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists. He was born in Haswell, County Durham, and later moved to Harworth, Nottinghamshire. Simpson began road cycling as a teenager b ...

's soigneur when he died in the Tour de France of 1967. The following year he was banned from working in cycling for two years.

1976 world championship

Maertens started favourite for the 1976 world championship, held at

Ostuni Ostuni ( nap, label= Barese, Ostune; scn, label=Salentino, Stune) is a city and '' comune'', located about 8 km from the coast, in the province of Brindisi, region of Apulia, Italy. The town has a population of about 32,000 during the win ...

, in Italy.Chany, Pierre (1988) La Fabuleuse Histoire de Cyclisme, vol 2, Nathan, France He came to the race in good form and with the Belgian team lined in his support. His rival, Eddy Merckx, was in decline. The race was over hilly eight laps, a total of 288 km. The first moves came on the last lap.

Yves Hézard Yves Hézard (born 20 October 1948) is a French former professional road bicycle racer. His sporting career began with CSM Puteaux. Major results ;1969 : national Military Road Race Championship ;1971 :Vailly-sur-Sauldre ;1972 :Ambert :Four Da ...

attacked, followed by Francesco Moser and

Joop Zoetemelk Hendrik Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk (; born 3 December 1946) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in T ...

. Maertens made his move seven kilometres later, with Tino Conti. Maertens and Conti regained the leaders in seven kilometres. Moser attacked twice again and Maertens stayed with him. Zoetemelk and Conti lost ground. Moser realised he had no chance in a sprint with Maertens. The Belgian won by two lengths.

1977 Tour of Flanders

The Ronde van Vlaanderen museum in

Oudenaarde Oudenaarde (; french: Audenarde ; in English sometimes ''Oudenarde'') is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, H ...

has in its window a lettered brick with the name of each year's winner. The 1977 race is shown as won by Roger De Vlaeminck. But above it is another, that reads: "Moral winner: Freddy Maertens." Freddy Maertens was disqualified during the race after changing his bike on the Koppenberg hill. But he was not withdrawn from the race and he carried on riding with De Vlaeminck, a rival in another team. Maertens knew he could not win and he rode the last 80 km with De Vlaeminck in his shelter. Maertens says De Vlaeminck promised 300,000 francs, which De Vlaeminck denies. He says they never discussed money. Maertens says De Vlaeminck paid 150,000 francs, which Maertens gave to Michel Pollentier and Marc Demeyer for their help. Maertens expected a further 150,000 for his own services. De Vlaeminck says they never discussed money and the argument has never closed.

Successes

Freddy Maertens often benefited by the help of his team-mates, Michel Pollentier and

Marc Demeyer Marc Demeyer (19 April 1950 – 20 January 1982) was a professional road racing cyclist from Avelgem, Belgium. He died of a heart attack at the age of 31. Demeyer turned professional in 1972 for the Flandria team managed by Briek Schotte. He ...

. They cleared a path through the bunch in the style of an earlier sprinter,

Rik Van Looy Henri "Rik" Van Looy (born 20 December 1933 in Grobbendonk) is a Belgian former professional cyclist of the post- war period, nicknamed the ''King of the Classics'' or ''Emperor of Herentals'' (after the small Belgian city where he lived). He ...

.Dazat, Olivier (1987), Seigeneurs et Forçats de Vélo, Calmann-Lévy (France) Journalists called them the

Three Musketeers 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

. In 1976 he won eight stages of the Tour de France. He won the

points classification The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and again in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

and

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

''1977 Vuelta'' Maertens won the 1977

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...

by winning 13 stages, half the total. He imposed his will "like a South American dictator", according to the writer Olivier Dazat. He won the prologue time-trial and led the race from start to finish. 14 of the 20 stages were won by Flandria, with Pollentier taking the other stage win. ''1977 Giro'' Maertens again took the lead at the start by winning the prologue. He kept it until

Francesco Moser Francesco Moser ( or ; ; born 19 June 1951), nicknamed "Lo sceriffo" (The sheriff), is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia six times including his win in the 1984 edition. Moser wa ...

became the race leader on stage five. Maertens was expected to take the lead again after

Mugello The Mugello is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, in Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Fl ...

, when there would be a time-trial. He had already won seven stages. The finish at Mugello ended in a crash. Michel Pollentier led Marc Demeyer into the last few hundred metres, with Maertens behind Demeyer. One by one they moved aside to let Maertens through. But he crashed, with

Rik Van Linden Rik Van Linden (born 28 July 1949 in Wilrijk, Antwerp) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer. He won the points classification in the 1975 Tour de France, ahead of Eddy Merckx. Van Linden also won several stages in all of the three Grand Tour ...

, and broke a wrist. He abandoned the race and the rest of the team would have returned to Belgium had Maertens not persuaded them otherwise. ''Wilderness years'' There followed a wilderness period in which he did little of note. He started big races but often stopped after 100 km, or was dropped on unremarkable hills. It made his performance in the

1981 Tour de France The 1981 Tour de France was the 68th edition of the Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 19 July. The total race distance was 24 stages over . It was dominated by Bernard Hinault, who led the race from the sixth stage on, increasing h ...

and victory in the 1981 world championship in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

the more remarkable and was regarded as one of the greatest comebacks in cycling history. In the Tour he won the points classification as well as five stages including the final stage into Paris. In the world championship he finished in front of Giuseppe Saronni and Bernard Hinault, two short and stocky riders like himself. Journalists wondered whether the era of tall, lean riders such as Merckx, Gimondi, and De Vlaeminck was over. A year later his record faded again. He rarely finished races and shone only in round-the-houses races, where his contract fees were needed to pay his tax debts. He did not defend his title in the 1982 world championship at Goodwood, saying he had injured his knee on a gate. He became fatter and rode for small teams for equally small salaries. Olivier Dazat said: "His employers sacked him and others stepped in to benefit from the publicity. Freddy often forgot to go to races and was fired again. The press and those around him begged him to stop". ''Other successes'' As well as the Tour, Vuelta and Giro, his stage race victories included

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlookin ...

(1977), the Four Days of Dunkirk (1973, 1975, 1976 and 1978), the Tour of Andalucia (1974, 1975), Tour of Belgium (1974, 1975),

Tour de Luxembourg The Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.Pro race, the highest rating below the World Tour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), th ...

(1975), Tour of Sardinia (1977) and Vuelta y Catalunya (1977). Despite his sprinting dominance, Maertens never won a one-day

classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

, coming closest with second places in the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

(1973) and

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège, also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five '' Monuments'' of the European professional ...

(1976). He was disqualified from second place in the 1977 Ronde after changing his bike on the Koppenberg climb. Maertens also won the season-long Super Prestige Pernod International in 1976 and 1977.

Riding style

Maertens was an aggressive rider who pushed high gears. He frequently rode 53 x 13 or 14. He was a talented time-triallist and an excellent sprinter. He nurtured another sprinter Sean Kelly. His time-trial record includes winning the

Grand Prix des Nations The Grand Prix des Nations was an individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa ...

in 1976.

Financial problems

Maertens and his wife were naïve about money. Carine Maertens said money "flooded in" when her husband reached the top as a professional. Maertens estimated his earnings throughout his career as 10–15 million French francs, "which was a lot of money in the 1970s". Carine Maertens said: "We let ourselves be sweet-talked by sponsors, team directors, managers, architects, accountants, tax advisers, bankers, investment advisers, doctors. We believed all these people. We believed them because they dressed well and they’d been to school and they could talk well. We had no experience with money, fame, celebrity. We built far too large a villa, we borrowed money until we were raw, we invested in businesses we knew nothing about. We were honest people who trusted others, who never knew there was such nastiness in the world. By the time we realised what was happening, our bank accounts had been plundered. We had a chic villa and not a franc between us". The Flandria team was riding the Giro d'Italia when it heard rumours of trouble at the Flandria company. He received only half his salary in 1978 and none of the cash to be paid without its being registered in the accounts. In 1979, he was not paid at all. He lost money entrusted to others to invest, including 500 000 francs in the Flandria Ranch, run by his sponsor. He also lost 750 000 francs in a furniture business which burned down. By then he was being challenged by the tax authorities. He won little of significance. He said he was riding for nothing during the day and spending every evening with lawyers. He still disputes the tax that the government demanded. He and his wife lost their house, their car and their furniture. He owed interest on interest and lost all he had. He calculated his tax bill at 30 million francs lmost US$1 million He insisted he owed 1.5 million francs S$50,000 He spent long periods without a job and without unemployment benefit and his wife cleaned houses. The problems lasted 30 years. They ended on 10 June 2011. He felt so bitter about Paul Claeys – "not a good guy; he promised and promised and...” – that he refused to attend his funeral in 2012.

Doping

Maertens told ''L'Équipe'' that "like everyone else", he had used amphetamines in round-the-houses races but he insisted that he had ridden without drugs in big Tours – not least because he knew he would be tested for them. He was angry when Belgian television used his photograph as a backdrop to discussions about drug-taking in the sport. Rumours intensified when Maertens' successes became erratic. Maertens was caught in drugs tests. He was first found positive after Professor Michel Debackere perfected a test in 1974 for pemoline, a drug in the amphetamine family that riders believed to be undetectable. He was disqualified in the Flèche Wallonne of 1977 and found guilty the same year in the Tour de France, the Tour of Belgium and the Tour of Flanders. He also had a positive finding for cortisone in 1986. Michel Pollentier is quoted as saying: "I told him I could see only one way out for him: to see a psychiatrist, advice he considered stupid. I’ve never hesitated to confess that I spent three weeks under the surveillance of Dr Dejonckheere at the St-Joseph clinic at Ostend and that after treatment I stayed under his control for another two years. Why hide it? It’s impossible to come out of a situation like that without the help of a doctor."

Alcohol

Maertens drank champagne during races. And he was for a while salesman for Lanson, a champagne company. Journalists saw crates of champagne at his house and interpreted them as confirmation that he had a drinking problem. Legend says that on the Friday before the world championship at Goodwood, England, he asked his taxi driver to join him for a pint of beer, "because he sweating so much." Lomme Driessens said: "Too much wine and not enough riding, that's his problem." Maertens told a reporter, Guy Roger, that the stories were exaggerated. But he acknowledged later that he did have a problem. He attended meetings of

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

until word spread that he was there. Now he drinks only non-alcoholic drinks. His body, he said, reacted quickly to alcohol and he could get drunk on a single glass of beer.

Retirement

Maertens retired at the age of 35 in 1987 after deciding during a training ride that he no longer wanted to train in the wind and rain of

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

. He worked as a salesman after retiring, including in Belgium and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

for Assos, a Swiss clothing company. He left Assos, he said, when supplies became erratic. He kept a distance from the sport. His weight rose to 100 kg. In 2000 he began to work in the Belgian National Cycling Museum ('Nationaal Wielermuseum') in his hometown

Roeselare Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The ...

. Many visitors of the museum liked the presence of a real world champion during their visit. In 2008 he moved to the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen (

Center) in

. In 2017, after health problems, he retired. He works when possible as a volunteer or special guest in both museums. The museum in Roeselare is now renamed to 'KOERS. Museum of Cycle Racing'. The bicycle shop "Maertens Sport" in

Evergem Evergem () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of , Doornzele, Ertvelde, Evergem proper, , Kluizen, , Sleidinge and . In 2021, Evergem had a total population of 35,791. Demogra ...

on the outskirts of

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

is owned by Freddy's brother Mario.

Career achievements

Major results

;1971 : 1st MaillotBélgica

Road race, National Amateur Road Championships : 2nd Silver medal blank

Road race, UCI Road World Amateur Championships ;1972 : 1st

GP Roeselare The GP Roeselare (officially Grote Prijs van de Bank van Roeselare en West-Vlaanderen) was a post WW II-men's cycling race organized for the last time in 1976. The start and finish place was Roeselare (West Flanders, Belgium). The competition's ...

: 1st Omloop van de Westhoek : 2nd

Ronde Van Vlaanderen Beloften Ronde Van Vlaanderen Beloften ( en, Tour of Flanders U23) is a Flanders Classics road bicycle race. It is the version of the Tour of Flanders for under-23 riders and is usually contested a week after the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Ludovic Capelle is t ...

: 4th

Circuit des Frontières The Circuit des Frontières was a one-day road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road ...

: 5th

Flèche Ardennaise The Flèche Ardennaise is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in June in the province of Liège, Belgium. Since 2010, the race is organized as a 1.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle ...

;1973 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall Four Days of Dunkirk ::1st Stage 5b ( ITT) : 1st

Scheldeprijs The Scheldeprijs is a cycling race in Flanders and the Netherlands which starts in Terneuzen, crosses the Scheldt River, and finishes in Schoten. Until 2018 it was held entirely in Belgium. The event, ranked as a 1.HC race on the UCI Europe Tour, ...

: 1st Brussels-Meulebeke : 1st Leeuwse Pijl : 1st Omloop van de Westkust : 1st

Tour du Condroz The Tour de Condroz was a Belgian cycling race organized for the last time in 1978. With Brussels as starting place, the major part of the course was situated in the Condroz region of the Ardennes, Liège. Nandrin was the finish place. The c ...

: 2nd

Road race,

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

: 2nd

Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne is an annual single-day road cycling race in Belgium. It is held one day after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, on the last Sunday of February or the first of March, and completes the opening weekend of the Belgian cycling season ...

: 2nd

Elfstedenronde The Elfstedenronde is a one-day road cycling race held annually in Belgium. It was held originally from 1943 until 1989, and returned in 2017 as the Bruges Cycling Classic. The race has also been called the Tour des Onze Villes and the Circuit des ...

: 2nd Tour of the Flemish Ardennes : 3rd

Dwars door België Dwars door Vlaanderen ''( en, Across Flanders)'' is a semi-classic road bicycle race in Belgium, held annually since 1945. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, both in West Flanders. Since 2017 the event is included in the UCI W ...

: 3rd

Rund um den Henninger Turm Rund is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Cathleen Rund (born 1977), German swimmer * Hanno Rund (1925–1993), German mathematician * Thorsten Rund (born 1976), German road and track cyclist See also * Rand (surname) Rand ...

: 3rd Omloop van de Grensstreek (Ledegem) : 3rd

Omloop van Oost-Vlaanderen The Omloop van Oost-Vlaanderen was a post WW II-men's cycling race organized for the last time in 1979. The start and finish place was Ertvelde (East Flanders, Belgium). The competition's roll of honor includes the successes of Rik Van Looy, Wa ...

: 4th

E3 Prijs Vlaanderen E3 Saxo Bank Classic, previously known as E3 BinckBank Classic, E3 Harelbeke, Harelbeke–Antwerp–Harelbeke and E3-Prijs Vlaanderen, is an annual road cycling race in Flanders, Belgium. The race starts and finishes in Harelbeke, covering 203 ki ...

: 5th

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the ' Monuments' or classics of th ...

: 5th

Gent–Wevelgem Gent–Wevelgem, officially Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields, is a road cycling race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic races part of the Flemish Cycling Week, run in late March on the last Sunday before the To ...

: 8th Road race, National Road Championships : 8th

Amstel Gold Race The Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic road cycling race held in the province of Limburg, Netherlands. It traditionally marks the turning point of the spring classics, with the climbers and stage racers replacing the cobbled classic ...

: 9th

Grand Prix de Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, ...

;1974 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st Stages 1 & 2 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

Vuelta a Andalucía The Vuelta a Andalucía (Tour of Andalusia) or Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race first held in 1925. Since 2005, it has been a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour. The race became a part of the new UCI P ...

::1st Prologue a & b, Stages 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6 : 1st

Grote Prijs Jef Scherens Grote Prijs Jef Scherens is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Leuven, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race is named after the seven-time professional sprint world c ...

: 1st

Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (Championship of Flanders) or Koolskamp Koerse is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Koolskamp (part-municipality of Ardooie), West Flanders, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a ...

: 1st

Omloop van Midden-Vlaanderen The Omloop van Midden-Vlaanderen was a men's cycling race organized for the last time in 1976. The start and finish place was Deinze (East Flanders, Belgium). The competition's roll of honor includes the successes of Patrick Sercu and Freddy Mae ...

: 1st

Nokere Koerse Nokere Koerse is a European semi classic single day cycle race held in the Belgian region of Flanders. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Starting in 2016 it was a 1.HC event. The Nokere Koerse was cr ...

: 1st

Tour of Belgium The Tour of Belgium ( nl, Ronde van België; french: Tour de Belgique) is a five-day bicycle race which is held annually in Belgium, and is part of the UCI ProSeries. It was held annually between 1908 and 1981, except during both world wars. Bet ...

::1st Stages 2, 3 & 4 : 1st Brussels-Meulebeke : 2nd

: 2nd

Critérium des As The ''Critérium des As'' (''Race of the Aces'') was a cycle race that was generally held at the end of the season, with entry by invitation only, for the leading riders of the season. Competitors rode behind pacers on tandems or motorcycles. It w ...

: 3rd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk ::1st Stage 3b ( ITT) : 3rd

Brabantse Pijl The Brabantse Pijl ( en, Brabant Arrow, french: italic=yes, Flèche Brabançonne or ''Flèche Branconne'') is a Flanders Classics road bicycle race held annually in Flemish Brabant and in Walloon Brabant, Belgium. Since 2005, the race has been or ...

: 3rd

: 4th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre : 4th

: 4th

Coppa Ugo Agostoni The Coppa Ugo Agostoni is a semi classic European bicycle race held in Lissone, Italy. The race is held in memory of Italian cyclist Ugo Agostoni, winner of prestigious classic Milan–San Remo, killed during World War II. It is also called ''Gi ...

: 4th

: 5th Paris–Tours : 5th

Boucles de l'Aulne Boucles de l'Aulne is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in May or June around Châteaulin, in the region of Brittany, France. Since 2006, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a s ...

: 6th Overall

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of the season, it is considered to be an important prep ...

: 6th

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week betw ...

: 6th

: 7th

: 8th Omloop Het Volk : 9th

Milan–San Remo Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...

: 9th

;1975 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Stages 1a ( ITT), 1b & 2 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Stages 1a, 1b, 5, 6 & 7b : 1st Jersey pink

Overall Four Days of Dunkirk ::1st Stage 3b ( ITT) : 1st

: 1st Paris–Tours : 1st

Paris–Brussels The Brussels Cycling Classic (known until June 2013 as Paris–Brussels) is a semi classic European bicycle race, one of the oldest races on the international calendar. History Paris–Brussels was first run on 12 August 1893 as an amateur eve ...

: 1st

: Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ::1st Jersey green

Points classification ::1st Prologue, Stages 1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4 & 7b ( ITT) : 1st Brussels-Meulebeke : 1st

: 2nd

Trofeo Baracchi The Trofeo Baracchi was a major Italian cycling race that ran for 50 years. It was created by Mino Baracchi, in memory of his father Angelo who was a great cycle racing fan. Originally (from 1941) an amateur individual time trial, from 1944 it wa ...

(with

) : 2nd Hyon-Mons : 3rd Madison (with

), National Track Championships : 3rd

: 3rd

Gran Premio di Lugano The Gran Premio di Lugano ( en, Grand Prix of Lugano) is a road bicycle race held annually in Lugano, Switzerland. Prior to 1981 it was held as an individual time trial but in recent years it has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe ...

: 3rd

: 4th

Milano–Torino Milano–Torino is a semi classic European single day cycling race, between the northern Italian cities of Milan and Turin over a distance of 199 kilometres. The event was first run in 1876 making it the oldest classic race in the world. The ev ...

: 4th

: 5th

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia ( en, Tour of Lombardy), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cy ...

: 5th Overall

::1st Stage 2 : 6th

: 8th

: 9th

;1976 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Road race,

: 1st

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Jersey pink

Overall Four Days of Dunkirk ::1st Stage 2b ( ITT) : 1st Super Prestige Pernod International : 1st

: 1st

: 1st Züri–Metzgete : 1st

: 1st

(with

) : 1st

: 1st Six Days of Dortmund (with

Patrick Sercu Patrick Sercu (27 June 1944 – 19 April 2019) was a Belgian cyclist who was active on the road and track between 1961 and 1983. On track, he won the gold medal in the 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics, as well as three world titl ...

) : 1st Stage 1b

Escalada a Montjuïc The Escalada a Montjuïc (in Catalan, English: ''Scaling of Montjuïc'', Spanish: ''Escalada a Montjuïc'') was a one-day, two-stage road bicycle racing race held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain since 1965. It was held in the middle of October, as ...

: 2nd

: 2nd G.P Betekom : 3rd Madison (with

), National Track Championships : 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 1a ( ITT) : 3rd

: 4th Overall

::1st Prologue, Stages 2, 3, 4, 6a & 6b : 4th

: 5th

: 6th

Grand Prix of Aargau Canton Grand Prix of Aargau Canton (german: Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau) is a semi classic European bicycle race held in Aargau canton, one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. The race consists of fifteen laps around the Swiss town o ...

: 7th Overall

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...

::1st

Points classification ::1st Jersey white

Combination classification ::1st Prologue & Stage 1 : 8th Overall

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

::1st

Points classification The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...

::1st Prologue, Stages 1, 3 ( ITT), 7, 18a, 18b, 21 & 22a ( ITT) ::Held Jersey yellow

after Prologue & Stages 1–8 : 8th Overall

Ronde van Nederland The Tour of the Netherlands ''(Dutch: Ronde van Nederland)'' was a road bicycle racing stage-race in the Netherlands, founded in 1948. It's an annual race since 1975. Because of the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005, it was replaced by the Enec ...

::1st Stages 5a & 5b ( ITT) : 1st Liedekerkse Pijl ;1977 : 1st Jersey orange

Overall

::1st

Sprints classification ::1st Prologue, Stages 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11a ( ITT), 11b, 13, 16 & 19 : 1st Jersey white

Overall

::1st Prologue, Stages 1a, 1b, 2 & 7b ( ITT) : 1st MaillotVolta

Overall

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; en, Tour of Catalonia, es, Vuelta a Cataluña, link=no) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of th ...

::1st

Points classification ::1st Prologue, Stages 1, 3b, 4b & 7a ( ITT) : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme The Catalan Cycling Week (''Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme'' in Catalan) was a multi-stage road bicycle race held in Catalonia, Spain. Held annually from 1963 until 2005, it was run as a 2.HC race on the UCI Europe Tour in the second half of March. ...

::1st Stages 1b, 4, 5a & 5b ( ITT) : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

Giro di Sardegna Giro di Sardegna (Tour of Sardinia) was a stage road bicycle race held on the island of Sardinia, an Italian region. It was rated 2.1 on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing i ...

::1st Stage 1 : 1st MaillotBélgica

National Derny Championships : 1st Super Prestige Pernod International : 1st Omloop Het Volk : 1st

Trofeo Laigueglia The Trofeo Laigueglia is an early season road bicycle race held annually in Liguria, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race was organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is held about ten days after the opening to the Italian season, the G ...

: Giro d'Italia ::1st Prologue, Stages 1, 4, 6a, 6b, 7 & 8a ::Held Jersey pink

after Prologue & Stages 1–4 ::Held Jersey violet

after Prologue & Stages 1–8b : 1st Stage 1

: 1st Stage 3

: 1st Delta Profronde : 1st

Six Days of Antwerp The Six Days of Antwerp was a six-day track cycling race held annually in Antwerp, Belgium. The Six Days has seen 55 editions, was organized from 1934 with interruptions during World War II and the years 1984 to 1986 and last held in 1994. The ...

(with

) : 2nd Omnium, National Track Championships : 1st G.P Malderen : 2nd
Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...
: 2nd

(with

) : 3rd

Omnium, European Track Championships : 3rd

: 5th

: 8th Overall

: 8th

: 9th Overall

;1978 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall Four Days of Dunkirk ::1st Stages 2a & 2b : 1st Omloop Het Volk : 1st

: 1st

Tour du Haut Var The Tour du Haut Var ( en, Tour of the Haut Var) is an early-season two-day road bicycle race in the Var department region in the south of France. Until 2008 it was run as a one-day race, part of the UCI Europe Tour. In 2009, the race transformed ...

: 1st

Châteauroux Classic The Châteauroux Classic de l'Indre Trophée Fenioux was a single-day road bicycle race held annually in August in the region of Indre, France, starting and finishing in Châteauroux. It was created in 2004 and since 2005 the race had been organ ...

::1st

::1st Stages 5 & 7 : 1st Stage 7a Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré : 1st Stage 5

: 1st Stage 2b

Vuelta a Mallorca The Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca ( en, Tour of Majorca, ca, Challenge Volta Ciclista a Mallorca) is a series of four (five until 2012) professional one day road bicycle races held on the Spanish island of Mallorca in late January or earl ...

: 1st

(with Danny Clark) : 2nd Overall

: 2nd

De Kustpijl De Kustpijl is a cycling race held annually in Belgium. It is part of UCI Europe Tour in category 1.2 The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing, classifies races according to a rating scal ...

: 3rd

Omnium, European Track Championships : 4th

: 4th

: 5th

: 6th

: 8th

: 9th

;1980 : 3rd Omloop van West-Brabant : 6th

: 6th

Trofeo Pantalica The Trofeo Pantalica was a professional road bicycle race held annually in Province of Syracuse, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the ...

;1981 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Road race,

::1st

::1st Intermediate sprints classification ::1st Stages 1a, 3, 12a, 13, & 22 : 1st Stage 4

: 3rd Omloop van West-Brabant : 7th

;1982 : 1st Hyon-Mons : 9th Overall

Three Days of De Panne 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

;1983 : 1st G.P du Printemps à Hannut : 7th

Grand Prix Pino Cerami Grand Prix Pino Cerami is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in April in Hainaut, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Giuseppe 'Pino' Cerami, after whom the race is named, is a former Belg ...

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Classics & Monuments results timeline

Major championship results timeline

Records

* Most stage wins in 1 Tour de France: 8 in

(record shared with

Charles Pélissier Charles Pélissier (20 February 1903 – 28 May 1959) was a French racing cyclist, between 1922 and 1939, winning 16 stages in the Tour de France. The number of eight stages won in the 1930 Tour de France is still a record, shared with Eddy M ...

and

) * Most stage wins in 1 Vuelta a España: 13 in 1977 * Most Grand Tour stage wins in 1 season: 20 in 1977 (13 stages in the

and 7 in the Giro d'Italia) * Most wins in Four Days of Dunkirk: 4 in 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978 * Most wins in Brussels-Meulebeke: 3 in 1973, 1974, 1975

Awards and honours

Ruban Jaune The Ruban Jaune ''(English; Yellow Ribbon)'' is a cycling title created in 1936 by Henri Desgrange, awarded to the rider recording the fastest average speed in a professional cycling race or stage longer than 200 km. The name is thought is to ...

: 1975 * Gan Challenge: 1976, 1977 * Swiss Mendrisio d'Or: 1976 *

Belgian Sportsman of the Year The Belgian Sportsman of the Year is elected at the end of each year by professional sportjournalists and former winners, annually since 1967. A Belgian Sportswoman of the Year title has been given out since 1975. Top winners include Ingrid Berghm ...

: 1981, Runner-up: 1976 * Introduced in the

UCI Hall of Fame The UCI Hall of Fame, that not to be confused with Cycling Hall of Fame or the University of California, Irvine's Hall of Fame, was launched by the ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI) in 2002 to "honor all those who by their heroic deeds or th ...

: 2002 * Memoire du Cyclisme – 20th Greatest Cyclist of all Time: 2002 * Honorary Citizen of

Middelkerke Middelkerke () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders, on the North Sea, west of Ostend. The municipality comprises the villages of Leffinge, Lombardsijde, Mannekensvere, Middelkerke proper, Schore, Sint-Pieters-Kapel ...

: 2004 * Bust in

Lombardsijde Lombardsijde, also Lombartzyde, is a district in the Belgian municipality of Middelkerke in West Flanders province, in northwestern Belgium near Nieuwpoort. Fighting occurred in and around Lombardsijde during World War I World War I (28 ...

: 2005 *

CyclingNews Cyclingnews.com is a website providing cycling news and race result owned by Future. History In 1995 Australian Bill Mitchell, a keen cyclist and professor of economics at the University of Newcastle, created the website titled "Bill’s Cycli ...

10th Sprinter of All Time: 2011 * UCI Top 100 of All Time: 3,955 points * Procyclingstats.com – All Time Wins Ranking: 10th place (147 wins)

References

External links

*
Official Tour de France results for Freddy Maertens

Personal life

Amateur career

Relationship with father

Professional career

1973 world championship

Lomme Driessens

Equipment war

1974 world championship

1976 world championship

1977 Tour of Flanders

Successes

Riding style

Financial problems

Doping

Alcohol

Retirement

Career achievements

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Classics & Monuments results timeline

Major championship results timeline

Records

Awards and honours

See also

References

External links

Further reading