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Freddy Maertens

Personal information
Full name	Freddy Maertens
Date of birth	February 13, 1952 (1952-02-13) (age 57)
Country	Belgium
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Major wins
World Cycling Champion 1976, 1981 Tour de France - Green jersey (1976,1978,1981) Tour de France - won 16 stages Vuelta a España 1977 (including 13 stages) Paris-Nice 1977
Medal record Competitor for  Belgium Road bicycle racing World Championships Gold 1976 Ostuni Elite Men's Road Race Gold 1981 Prague Elite Men's Road Race Silver 1973 Barcelona Elite Men's Road Race
Infobox last updated on:
November, 2008

Freddy Maertens (born 13 February 1952 in Nieuwpoort) was a Belgian professional racing cyclist and twice World Road Race Champion.

In Italy in 1976, he won in front of Italians Francesco Moser and Tino Conti. In Prague in 1981, he beat Italian Giuseppe Saronni and France's Bernard Hinault. He was also second in the 1973 world championship.

Maertens also won the 1977 Vuelta a España, taking more than half the stages; 13 in total, and took the spinters' maillot vert in the Tour de France three times (1976, 1978 and 1981). In 1976 he won a record-equalling eight stages of the Tour de France; the following year (1977), he took seven stages in the Giro d'Italia.

Outside the Grand Tours, his stage race victories included Paris-Nice (1977), the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque (1973, 1975, 1976 and 1978), the Tour of Andalucia (1974, 1975), Tour of Belgium (1974, 1975), Tour de Luxembourg (1975), Tour of Sardinia (1977) and Vuelta y Catalunya (1977).

However, despite his sprinting dominance during the 1970s, Maertens did not win a one-day Classic, coming closest with second places in the Ronde van Vlaanderen (1973) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1976). He was disqualified from second place in the 1977 Ronde for an illegal bike change on the Koppenberg climb. His other major one-day road race victories included:

• Gent-Wevelgem (1975, 1976)
• Paris-Brussels (1975)
• Paris-Tours (1975)
• Amstel Gold Race (1976)
• Rund um den Henninger Turm (1976)
• Züri-Metzgete (1976)
• Omloop "Het Volk" (1977, 1978)
• Grote Scheldeprijs (1973)

Maertens is believed to have been one of the best sprinters in the world, and is credited with having nurtured another great sprinter Seán Kelly during the latter's early professional career. He was also an accomplished rider in individual time trials, winning the Grand Prix des Nations in 1976.

He also won the season-long Super Prestige Pernod International competition in 1976 and 1977.

Maertens was known to have pushed high gears, which some critics say caused him to burn out early and retire at young. In response, he said that the higher gears allow him to descend without too much strain to his heart.A year after his fabulous 1981 season his career was all but on the rocks & as reigning World Champion he failed to start the 1982 edition of the race at Goodwood , the official line was that he injured his knee on a gate.

In the 1973 world championship in Barcelona, Spain, fellow Belgian Eddy Merckx accused Maertens of having chased him in the final lap while Merckx had a good chance of staying away, resulting in Italy's Felice Gimondi winning the title. Maertens responded that Merckx had sabotaged his ride because Maertens was riding Shimano components while the other two used Campagnolo. In recent interviews Maertens and Merckx said they have since reconciled their differences.

After retirement Maertens and his wife Carine had many hard years after losing much of their money and being pursued by tax authorities. Maertens was also angry when Belgian television used his photograph as a backdrop to discussions about drug-taking in the sport. He told the French newspaper 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 important races - not least because he knew he would be tested for them. He previously worked as curator of the Belgian national cycling museum in Roeselare, and now works at the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders Museum), in Oudenaarde.The bicycle shop Maertens Sport in Evergem on the outskirts of Gent is owned by Freddy's brother Mario.

Contents 1 Palmarès 2 See also 3 External links 4 Further reading

[edit] Palmarès

[edit] See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

[edit] External links

• Freddy Maertens profile at the Cycling Website
• Official Tour de France results for Freddy Maertens

[edit] Further reading

"Fall From Grace" by Freddy Maertens and Manu Adriaens, ISBN 1-898111-00-6, 1993, Ronde Publications, Hull. (Probably now out of print - but available secondhand on the net.)

Awards
Preceded by Robert Van De Walle	Belgian Sportsman of the Year 1981	Succeeded by Jacky Ickx

v • d • e Male World Road Racing Champions 1927 Alfredo Binda • 1928–1929 Georges Ronsse • 1930 Alfredo Binda • 1931 Learco Guerra • 1932 Alfredo Binda • 1933 Georges Speicher • 1934 Karel Kaers • 1935 Jean Aerts • 1936 Antonin Magne • 1937 Eloi Meulenberg • 1938 Marcel Kint • 1946 Hans Knecht • 1947 Theo Middelkamp • 1948 Briek Schotte • 1949 Rik Van Steenbergen • 1950 Briek Schotte • 1951 Ferdi Kübler • 1952 Heinz Müller • 1953 Fausto Coppi • 1954 Louison Bobet • 1955 Stan Ockers • 1956–1957 Rik Van Steenbergen • 1958 Ercole Baldini • 1959 André Darrigade • 1960–1961 Rik van Looy • 1962 Jean Stablinski • 1963 Benoni Beheyt • 1964 Jan Janssen • 1965 Tom Simpson • 1966 Rudi Altig • 1967 Eddy Merckx • 1968 Vittorio Adorni • 1969 Harm Ottenbros • 1970 Jean-Pierre Monseré • 1971 Eddy Merckx • 1972 Marino Basso • 1973 Felice Gimondi • 1974 Eddy Merckx • 1975 Hennie Kuiper • 1976 Freddy Maertens • 1977 Francesco Moser • 1978 Gerrie Knetemann • 1979 Jan Raas • 1980 Bernard Hinault • 1981 Freddy Maertens • 1982 Giuseppe Saronni • 1983 Greg LeMond • 1984 Claude Criquielion • 1985 Joop Zoetemelk • 1986 Moreno Argentin • 1987 Stephen Roche • 1988 Maurizio Fondriest • 1989 Greg LeMond • 1990 Rudy Dhaenens • 1991–1992 Gianni Bugno • 1993 Lance Armstrong • 1994 Luc Leblanc • 1995 Abraham Olano • 1996 Johan Museeuw • 1997 Laurent Brochard • 1998 Oscar Camenzind • 1999 Óscar Freire • 2000 Romāns Vainšteins • 2001 Óscar Freire • 2002 Mario Cipollini • 2003 Igor Astarloa • 2004 Óscar Freire • 2005 Tom Boonen • 2006–2007 Paolo Bettini • 2008 Alessandro Ballan • 2009 Cadel Evans

v • d • e Tour de France points classification winners 1953 Fritz Schär • 1954 Ferdinand Kübler • 1955–1956 Stan Ockers • 1957 Jean Forestier • 1958 Jean Graczyk • 1959 André Darrigade • 1960 Jean Graczyk • 1961 André Darrigade • 1962 Rudi Altig • 1963 Rik van Looy • 1964–1965 Jan Janssen • 1966 Willy Planckaert • 1967 Jan Janssen • 1968 Franco Bitossi • 1969 Eddy Merckx • 1970 Walter Godefroot • 1971–1972 Eddy Merckx • 1973 Herman van Springel • 1974 Patrick Sercu • 1975 Rik Van Linden • 1976 Freddy Maertens • 1977 Jacques Esclassan • 1978 Freddy Maertens • 1979 Bernard Hinault • 1980 Rudy Pevenage • 1981 Freddy Maertens • 1982–1983 Sean Kelly • 1984 Frank Hoste • 1985 Sean Kelly • 1986 Eric Vanderaerden • 1987 Jean-Paul van Poppel • 1988 Eddy Planckaert • 1989 Sean Kelly • 1990 Olaf Ludwig • 1991 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov • 1992 Laurent Jalabert • 1993–1994 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov • 1995 Laurent Jalabert • 1996–2001 Erik Zabel • 2002 Robbie McEwen • 2003 Baden Cooke • 2004 Robbie McEwen • 2005 Thor Hushovd • 2006 Robbie McEwen • 2007 Tom Boonen • 2008 Óscar Freire • 2009 Thor Hushovd

v • d • e Vuelta a España winners 1935–36 Gustaaf Deloor • 1937–40 Spanish Civil War • 1941–42 Julián Berrendero • 1943–44 World War II • 1945 Delio Rodríguez • 1946 Dalmacio Langarica • 1947 Edward Van Dijck • 1948 Bernardo Ruiz • 1949 Race not held • 1950 Emilio Rodríguez • 1951–54 Race not held • 1955 Jean Dotto • 1956 Angelo Conterno • 1957 Jesús Loroño • 1958 Jean Stablinski • 1959 Antonio Suárez • 1960 Frans De Mulder • 1961 Angelino Soler • 1962 Rudi Altig • 1963 Jacques Anquetil • 1964 Raymond Poulidor • 1965 Rolf Wolfshohl • 1966 Francisco Gabica • 1967 Jan Janssen • 1968 Felice Gimondi • 1969 Roger Pingeon • 1970 Luis Ocaña • 1971 Ferdinand Bracke • 1972 José Manuel Fuente • 1973 Eddy Merckx • 1974 José Manuel Fuente • 1975 Agustín Tamames • 1976 José Pesarrodona • 1977 Freddy Maertens • 1978 Bernard Hinault • 1979 Joop Zoetemelk • 1980 Faustino Ruperez • 1981 Giovanni Battaglin • 1982 Marino Lejarreta • 1983 Bernard Hinault • 1984 Éric Caritoux • 1985 Pedro Delgado • 1986 Álvaro Pino • 1987 Luis Herrera • 1988 Seán Kelly • 1989 Pedro Delgado • 1990 Marco Giovannetti • 1991 Melcior Mauri • 1992–93–94 Tony Rominger • 1995 Laurent Jalabert • 1996–97 Alex Zülle • 1998 Abraham Olano • 1999 Jan Ullrich • 2000 Roberto Heras • 2001 Ángel Casero • 2002 Aitor González • 2003–04 Roberto Heras • 2005 Denis Menchov • 2006 Alexander Vinokourov • 2007 Denis Menchov • 2008 Alberto Contador 2009 Alejandro Valverde

Persondata
NAME	Maertens, Freddy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Road bicycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH	1952-02-13
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nieuwpoort
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH