Walter Godefroot

Cyclist infobox
ridername = Walter Godefroot


fullname = Walter Godefroot
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1943|7|2
country = Belgium
currentteam =
discipline = Road
role = Manager
ridertype = One-day specialist
proyears = 1965–1966
1967–1969
1970
1971–1972
1973–1975
1976 –1979
proteams = Wiel's
Flandria-De Clerck
Salvarani
Peugeot
Flandria-Carpenter
Ijsboerke
manageyears = 1991–2005
2006–2007
manageteams = T-Mobile
Team Astana
majorwins = Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1967)
10 stages, Tour de France
Green jersey, Tour de France (1970)
Ronde van Vlaanderen (1968-78)
Paris-Roubaix (1969)
Bordeaux-Paris (1969-76)
1 stage, Giro d'Italia (1970)
2 stages, Vuelta a España (1971)
flagicon|BEL National Champion
updated = June 26, 2008

Walter Godefroot (born 2 July 1943) is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif of the T-Mobile Team, a professional cycling team. In his competitive cycling days, Godefroot was a specialist in the one-day classic cycle races, winning three of the five 'monuments' of cycling: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1967), Paris-Roubaix (1969), and the Ronde van Vlaanderen (1968, 1978).

Besides winning the green jersey at the 1970 Tour de France, Godefroot was the first rider to win the final stage at the 1975 Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées.

Godefroot has been disqualified three times during his career because of anti-doping controls. On May 25, 2007 Bjarne Riis, winner of the 1996 Tour de France and member of Team Telekom of which Godefroot was the coach, admitted to using EPO. Riis claims Godefroot turned a blind eye to drug use on the team. [cite web|url=http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=309530&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__sport/|title=Former Tour de France winner Riis admits doping|date=2007-05-25|accessdate=2007-05-26]

Before the 2006 season, Walter Godefroot stepped down as team manager and retired from cycling and Olaf Ludwig became the new T-Mobile team manager. After the exclusion of Team Astana from the 2006 Tour de France, at the request of Alexandre Vinokourov, Godefroot returned to the peloton when he accepted the management of Team Astana.

Major achievements

;1964: brca – Summer Olympics Men's Road Race ;1965: BEL National Road Race Championship;1966: 2nd, Omloop Het Volk;1967: Stage 1 – Tour de France: Liège-Bastogne-Liège;1968: Tour de France:: Stage 3b win:: Stage 9 win:: 2nd, Points Classification: Ronde van Vlaanderen: Gent-Wevelgem: 2nd, Paris-Tours: 3rd, Paris-Roubaix;1969: Bordeaux-Paris: Paris-Roubaix: Grote Scheldeprijs;1970 – Salvarani: Tour de France:: ", Points Classification winner:: Winner stages 4 and 5A: Stage 8 – Giro d'Italia: Züri-Metzgete: 2nd, Ronde van Vlaanderen: 2nd overall, Tour of Belgium;1971 – Peugeot: Stage 9 – Tour de France: Stage 7 – Vuelta a España: Stage 8 – Vuelta a España;1972 – Peugeot: BEL National Road Race Championship: Stage 5a – Tour de France;1973 – Carpenter: Tour de France:: Stage 5 win:: Stage 16a win: 2nd, Paris-Roubaix;1974: Rund um den Henninger Turm: Züri-Metzgete: Four Days of Dunkirk;1975 – Flandria: Stage 22 (Champs-Élysées) – 1975 Tour de France;1976: Bordeaux-Paris;1978: Ronde van Vlaanderen

References