Dhaenens excelled several times in the Paris–Roubaix classic race; finishing second in 1986 and third the following year. Dhaenens won the 1990 World Championship Road Race, held in Utsunomiya, Japan, ahead of Dirk De Wolf of Belgium and Gianni Bugno of Italy. In 1992, Dhaenens was forced to stop his career because of heart problems. For a long time, he was in the service of the PDM cycling team, usually as tactical captain. Dhaenens was known for his calm, reserved attitude.
He died in 1998, at the age of 36, from head injuries sustained in a car accident in Aalst while driving to the finish of the Tour of Flanders bicycle race.[1] From 1999 to 2007, the Grand Prix Rudy Dhaenens was held in his honour in late March, in Nevele, Belgium.
Roger De Vlaeminck is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist. He was described by Rik Van Looy as "The most talented and the only real classics rider of his generation". Nicknamed "The Gypsy" because he was born into a family of traveling clothiers, he is known for exploits in the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix race, but his performances in other "Monument" races gave him a record that few can match. His record in Paris–Roubaix earned him another nickname, "Monsieur Paris–Roubaix".
Andrei Tchmil is a retired Soviet, Moldovan (1992–1994), Ukrainian (1994–1998) and Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the men's individual road race at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Alfons ("Fons") De Wolf is a retired Belgian road race cyclist, a professional from 1979 to 1990. He represented his country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
Peter van Petegem is a former professional road racing cyclist. Van Petegem last rode for Quick Step-Innergetic, in 2007. He lived in Horebeke. He was a specialist in spring classics, one of ten riders to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix in the same season. He also earned a medal at the World Championship on two occasions; taking the silver in 1998 and winning the bronze in 2003. His last race was the GP Briek Schotte in Desselgem on 11 September 2007.
André Dierickx is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist who competed between 1969 and 1981. He competed in the individual road race at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He also won the La Flèche Wallonne in 1973 and 1975, the 1971 Tour de Luxembourg, the 1978 Tour of Belgium and the 1973 Züri-Metzgete among other races.
Walter Godefroot is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif of Team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile Team.
Wilfried Peeters is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. Nowadays, he is sportif director of the Quick Step team. During his cycling-career, he was a major help for Johan Museeuw in classics such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix.
Frank Hoste is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1977 until 1991. He won the points classification in the Tour de France in 1984.
Gilbert Desmet, nicknamed Smetje van Lichtervelde, was a Belgian cyclist who was professional from 1952 to 1967. In the 1956 Tour de France, he wore the yellow jersey for two days, and in the 1963 Tour de France he wore it for nine days. Desmet won 101 professional races, including Paris–Tours, La Flèche Wallonne and Four Days of Dunkirk. His best result in the Tour de France was his 4th place in 1962. He finished second in the 1959 Paris–Roubaix. In total, Desmet won 101 professional races.
Adri van der Poel is a retired Dutch cyclist. Van der Poel was a professional from 1981 to 2000. His biggest wins included six classics, two stages of the Tour de France and the World Cyclo-Cross Championships in 1996. He also obtained the second place and silver medal in the World Road Championships in 1983 behind Greg LeMond and five second places in the World Cyclo-Cross championships. The Grand Prix Adrie van der Poel is named after him.
Raymond Impanis was a Belgian professional cyclist from 1947 to 1963. He won Paris–Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders, Gent–Wevelgem and three stages in Tour de France.
Edwig Van Hooydonck is a former professional road racing cyclist from Belgium. He won the prestigious Tour of Flanders twice and Brabantse Pijl four times. Van Hooydonck retired from professional cycling because he felt he could no longer compete with other cyclists, who were at the time starting to dope themselves, without himself cheating too. At this time Erythropoietin (EPO) was becoming a widely used doping agent in the sport. He is the uncle of former professional cyclist Nathan Van Hooydonck.
Johan Capiot is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist. He was a professional rider from 1986 to 2000. His son Amaury is also a professional cyclist.
Marc Demeyer was a professional road racing cyclist from Avelgem, Belgium. Although known as the "master servant" for Freddy Maertens, the powerful Demeyer was able to win 60 professional road races. He died of a heart attack at the age of 31.
Roger Swerts is a Belgian former road bicycle racer. As an amateur he placed 18th in the individual road race at the 1964 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal at the 1965 UCI Road World Championships. He turned professional later in 1965.
Marc Sergeant is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the team time trial event at the 1980 Summer Olympics. After Sergeant stopped his cycling career, he became team manager at Lotto–Soudal. He left his management role at the end of the 2021 season. Sergeant finished a total of 6 times in the top 10 of Tour of Flanders.
Tom Van Asbroeck is a Belgian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Israel–Premier Tech. He was previously a member of the Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise team, between 2012 and 2014. He was named in the start list for the 2015 Vuelta a España. In May 2018, he was named in the startlist for the Giro d'Italia. In August 2020, he was named in the startlist for the 2020 Tour de France.
Oliver Naesen is a Belgian professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale. Considered a specialist of the one-day classics, he won the 2017 Belgian National Road Race Championships, as well as the Bretagne Classic in 2016 and 2018. He is the brother of fellow racing cyclist Lawrence Naesen.
Michel Vanhaecke is a Belgian former cyclist. He competed in the individual road race at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Tom Desmet is a Belgian former cyclist, who competed professionally from 1991 until 2002. He is the son of professional cyclist Armand Desmet.
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