Walter Godefroot is a retired Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif

Directeur sportif

A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...

 of , later known as T-Mobile Team, professional team.

Godefroot was a specialist in one-day classic cycle races

Classic cycle races

The classic cycle races are one-day professional cycling road races in the international calendar. Most of the events, all run in western Europe, have been fixtures on the professional calendar for decades and the oldest ones date back to the 19th Century. They are normally held at roughly the same...

, winning three 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

1970 Tour de France

The 1970 Tour de France was the 57th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 19, 1970. It consisted of 23 stages over 4366 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.589 km/h....

, Godefroot was the first to win the final stage on the Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France.

Godefroot was disqualified three times for doping. On 25 May 2007 Bjarne Riis

Bjarne Riis

Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...

, winner of the 1996 Tour de France

1996 Tour de France

The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd Tour de France, starting on June 29 and ending on July 21, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day ....

 and member of Team Telekom of which Godefroot was coach, admitted using EPO

Erythropoietin

Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...

. Riis claims Godefroot turned a blind eye to drug use on the team.

Godefroot stepped down as team manager before the 2006 season. Olaf Ludwig

Olaf Ludwig

Olaf Ludwig is a former German racing cyclist. His career began at the SG Dynamo Gera/ Sportvereinigung Dynamo. As an East German, he raced as an amateur until reunification of Germany allowed him to become professional with Panasonic team...

 became manager. After the exclusion of from the 2006 Tour de France

2006 Tour de France

The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd Tour de France, taking place from July 1 to July 23, 2006. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis....

, Godefroot returned to the peloton when became manager of Astana.

In his racing days he was called 'The Bulldog of Flanders'.

Major achievements

1964

– Summer Olympics Men's Road Race

Belgium at the 1964 Summer Olympics

Belgium competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. 61 competitors, 60 men and 1 woman, took part in 36 events in 13 sports.- Gold:* Gaston Roelants — Athletics, Men's 3,000 m Steeplechase...

1965

National Road Race Championship

1966

2nd, Omloop Het Volk

1967

Stage 1 – Tour de France

1967 Tour de France

The 1967 Tour de France was the 54th Tour de France, taking place June 29 to July 23, 1967. It consisted of 22 stages over 4780 km, ridden at 35.018 km/h...

Liège–Bastogne–Liège

1968

Tour de France

1968 Tour de France

The 1968 Tour de France was the 55th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 21, 1968. It consisted of 22 stages over 4684.8 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.894 km/h...

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

Grote Scheldeprijs

The Scheldeprijs is a Flanders Classics cycling race which starts in Antwerp and finishes in Schoten. The event, ranked at 1.HC on the UCI European calendar, is seen as a race for sprinters, held on flat roads over roughly 200 kilometres. The race is one circuit of 155 kilometres into the...

1970 – Salvarani

Tour de France

1970 Tour de France

The 1970 Tour de France was the 57th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 19, 1970. It consisted of 23 stages over 4366 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.589 km/h....

Maillot vert, Points Classification winner

Winner stages 4 and 5A

Stage 8 – Giro d'Italia

Giro d'Italia

The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

Züri-Metzgete

2nd, Ronde van Vlaanderen

2nd overall, Tour of Belgium

Tour of Belgium

The Tour of Belgium is a four-day bicycle race which is held annually in Belgium.It was held annually between 1908 and 1981, except during both world wars. Between 1982 and 1990 several of races were not organised and none at all during the decade 1991 to 2001...

1971 – Peugeot

Stage 9 – Tour de France

1972 Tour de France

The 1972 Tour de France was the 59th Tour de France, taking place July 1 to July 22, 1972. It consisted of 20 stages over 3846.6 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.371 km/h. The long awaited clash between Eddy Merckx and Luis Ocaña after Ocaña crashed on Col de Menté in the 1971 Tour de...

Stage 7 – Vuelta a España

Vuelta a España

The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...

Stage 8 – Vuelta a España

1972 – Peugeot

National Road Race Championship

Stage 5a – Tour de France

1972 Tour de France

The 1972 Tour de France was the 59th Tour de France, taking place July 1 to July 22, 1972. It consisted of 20 stages over 3846.6 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.371 km/h. The long awaited clash between Eddy Merckx and Luis Ocaña after Ocaña crashed on Col de Menté in the 1971 Tour de...

1973 – Carpenter

Tour de France

1973 Tour de France

The 1973 Tour de France was the 60th Tour de France, taking place June 30 to July 22, 1973. It consisted of 20 stages over 4140.4 km, ridden at an average speed of 33.918 km/h. After winning the 1973 Vuelta a España and the 1973 Giro d'Italia, Eddy Merckx did not participate in the Tour...

Stage 5 win

Stage 16a win

2nd, Paris–Roubaix

1974

Rund um den Henninger Turm

Züri-Metzgete

Four Days of Dunkirk

Four Days of Dunkirk

The Four Days of Dunkirk is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Confusingly, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has usually been held over a 5 or 6 day period. Since 2005, the race is organised as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe...

1975 – Flandria

Stage 22 (Champs-Élysées

Champs-Élysées stage in Tour de France

The Tour de France has finished on the Champs-Élysées every year since 1975. In the first edition of 1903, the finish was at Ville d'Avray; from 1904 to 1967 in Parc des Princes track and from 1968 to 1974 at the Vélodrome de Vincennes track.-History:...

) – 1975 Tour de France

1975 Tour de France

The 1975 Tour de France was the 62nd Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 20, 1975. It consisted of 22 stages over 3999 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.899 km/h. Eddy Merckx was attempting to win his sixth Tour de France, but became a victim of violence. Many Frenchmen were...

1976

Bordeaux–Paris

1978

Ronde van Vlaanderen