Freddy Maertens

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**Freddy Maertens**
Personal information
Full name	Freddy Maertens
Date of birth	February 13, 1952 (1952-02-13) (age 56)
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), won 16 stages Vuelta a España 1977 (including 13 stages) Paris-Nice 1977
Infobox last updated on:
April 16, 2007

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

Freddy Maertens (born 13 February 1952 in Nieuwpoort) was a Belgian professional racing cyclist and twice world road cycling 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 Tour de France, 1978 Tour de France and 1981 Tour de France). 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:

Maertens is believed to have been one of the best sprinters in the world, and is credited with having nurtured another great sprinter Sean 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.

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.

[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.)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Hennie Kuiper	World Road Racing Champion 1976	Succeeded by Francesco Moser
Preceded by Bernard Hinault	World Road Racing Champion 1981	Succeeded by Giuseppe Saronni
Preceded by José Pesarrodona	Winner of the Vuelta a España 1977	Succeeded by Bernard Hinault
Preceded by Rik Van Linden	Winner of the green jersey in the Tour de France 1976	Succeeded by Jacques Esclassan
Preceded by Jacques Esclassan	Winner of the green jersey in the Tour de France 1978	Succeeded by Bernard Hinault
Preceded by Rudy Pevenage	Winner of the green jersey in the Tour de France 1981	Succeeded by Sean Kelly
Awards
Preceded by Robert Van De Walle	Belgian Sportsman of the Year 1981	Succeeded by Jacky Ickx