Jozef „jef" Schils (4 September 1931, in

Kersbeek-Miskom Kortenaken () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Hoeleden, Kersbeek-Miskom, Kortenaken proper, Ransberg and Waanrode. On January 1, 2014, Kortenaken had a total population ...

– 3 March 2007, in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

) was a Belgian cyclist. In 1952, at the age of 21, Jozef Schils, who had just become a professional racing cyclist and was still in the army, became Belgian road racing champion. He was nominated for the road world championships in Luxembourg in the same year and finished tenth. Schils rode as a professional until 1965 and won around 40 Belgian criteria during this time . 1953 was his most successful year, in which he won ''Paris-Tours'' and the ''National Sluitingsprijs'' . In 1955 he won at ''Nokere Koerse'' . His nickname was "little Coppi", because Fausto Coppi had praised him. However, he turned down offers to go to Italy. In 1960, however, he switched to the French team " Mercier ", which was led by Antonin Magne and in which Raymond Poulidor drove. At the end of the season he had a hard crash and again in 1961. In 1965, he ended his career. Then Jozef Schils opened a café in Koekelberg , later a laundry and a bicycle shop. Jozef Schils was the father of the former professional racing cyclist Patrick Schils and was the grandfather of Dominic Schils, also a racing cyclist of note.

Major results

Source: ;1952 : MaillotBélgica

Belgian Road Champion : Tour de Romandie ::Stage 3a ;1953 :

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m, ...

:National Closing Price :Grand Prix of Walloon Brabant :Grand Prix of Haspengouw ;1954 :Tour of Hesbaye :Three sister cities :Brussels-Bost :Grand Prix of Brabant Wallon :4th Paris-Brussels ;1955 :Nokere Koerse :Grand Prix of Vilvoorde :Hoeilaart-Diest-Hoeilaart :8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège :8th Paris–Tours ;1956 :Brussels Ingooigem :Scheldt-Dender-Lys :Salt Cup :2nd Western Circuit ;1957 :Flemish Region Tour : Flèche Halloise :Brussels-Bost :2nd Mandel-Lys-Scheldt Circuit :2nd Brussels-Ingooigem :3rd Coppa Bernocchi ;1958 :

Tour of the Netherlands 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 Eneco To ...

::Stage 5 :Tour du Levant ::Stage 3 (TTT) :Three days of Antwerp ::Stage 3 :Antwerp-Genk :GP Marvan ::Stage 1 ::3rd overall :2nd Milan-Mantova :2nd Flandria GP :2nd National Closing Price :4th Tour of Lombardy ;1959 :Circuit of the three provinces :Tour du Levant ::Stages 1b and 5 ;1960 :Flèche hesbignonne-Cras Avernas :Grand Prix of Isbergues : Tour of Belgium ::Stages 2 and 4b :Circuit of Basse-Sambre :Grand Prix of Zottegem :Tour du Nord ::Stage 4 :2nd Paris-Valenciennes :2nd Escaut-Dendre-Lys :2nd Salt Cup :3rd GP Flandria :3rd Circuit of East Flanders ;1961 :Hoegaarden-Antwerp-Hoegaarden ;1962 :Flèche hesbignonne-Cras Avernas :Grand Prix of Zottegem :3rd Race of the grapes :3rd Escaut-Dendre-Lys :10th La Flèche Wallonne ;1963 :2nd Circuit du Houtland ;1964 :2nd Grand Prix Pino Cerami

References

1931 births 2007 deaths Belgian male cyclists Cyclists from Flemish Brabant People from Kortenaken Articles lacking reliable references from October 2017 Articles needing cleanup from October 2017 {{Belgium-cycling-bio-1930s-stub