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Roger De VlaeminckRoger De Vlaeminck was one of the greatest professional cyclists in the history of the sport. Nicknamed “The Gypsy” because of his dark good looks, he is best known for exploits in the cobbled classic Paris-Roubaix race but his record in the other “Monument” one day races gives him a record that very few can match. His fantastic record in Paris-Roubaix earned him another nickname, that of “Monsieur Paris-Roubaix”. Born in the East Flanders town of Eeklo in Belgium on 24th August 1947, Roger’s first love was football, he was playing centre forward for F.C. Eeklo when he left school and he could have made a career in that sport, however his elder brother Eric was having success as a pro cyclist and this persuaded the younger De Vlaeminck to try his hand at cycling. He raced as a junior in 1965, gaining just one win but 1966 saw him rack up 25 victories. Roger and Eric spent their winter’s riding cyclo-cross with a fair amount of success and in 1968 in Luxembourg the brothers made history when Eric became World professional cyclo-cross champion and Roger took the amateur version on the same day. 1968 also saw Roger earn selection for the road race at the Mexico Olympics but he finished a disappointing 18th place. Roger turned professional at the start of the 1969 season with the Flandria-Declerck team and had one of the most amazing starts to a pro cycling career when he won the Belgium semi classic Het Volk in his first professional race. Roger’s career ran parallel with the greatest cyclist of all time, Eddy Merckx and he battled for the ascendancy with Merckx throughout his career. De Vlaeminck rode Paris-Roubaix on 14 occasions, winning four times (1972, 1974, 1975, 1977), finished second four times, third once, fifth once, seventh twice and abandoned the race only once in 1980. His skill as a cyclo cross rider made him an expert on the tough cobbles of northern France which the race crosses. Roger De Vlaeminck is one of only three riders who won all the five “Monument” one day races in their careers, the other two are fellow Belgians Rik Van Looy and Eddy Merckx. The five “Monuments” are Paris-Roubaix, Lige-Bastogne-Lige, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Milan-San Remo and the Giro di Lombardia. The only major one day race he did not win was the World Road Race Championship, his best performance in this was second to the Dutchman Hennie Kuiper in 1975. In the three major Tours, he rode the Tour de France on three occasions winning one stage, that being stage 6 in 1970 between Amiens and Valenciennes, he took the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia on three occasions as well as several stage wins over the years. He took a stage win in the Vuelta a Espaa in his final season in 1984. In 1975 he became World Professional cyclo cross champion. His career lasted 15 years (retiring in 1984) and he had 257 victories. De Vlaeminck is still involved in cycling. He has been coaching cyclo cross riders for many years, in April 2004 he quit his job as coach to the John Saey-Deschacht cyclo-cross team in Belgium so he could spend more time with his family, However he was tempted back to the sport in November 2004 as an advisor to the Zimbabwe cyclo cross team as they prepare for the world championships in St. Wendel, Germany at the end of January 2005. Major Victories Further Reading "Roger De Vlaeminck" by Raphael Luchon published by Kennedy Brothers, Keighley, Yorkshire De Vlaeminck, Roger
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