Walter Godefroot

{{short description|Belgian cyclist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

{{Infobox cyclist

| name = Walter Godefroot

| image = Walter Godefroot.jpg

| caption = Godefroot at the 1997 Paris–Nice

| fullname = Walter Godefroot

| nickname = The Bulldog of Flanders

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1943|7|2}}

| birth_place = Ghent, Belgium

| currentteam = Retired

| discipline = Road

| role = Manager

| ridertype = Classics specialist

| proyears1 = 1965–1966

| proteam1 = {{UCI team code|Groene Leeuw|1965}}

| proyears2 = 1967–1969

| proteam2 = {{UCI team code|Flandria|1967}}

| proyears3 = 1970

| proteam3 = {{UCI team code|Salvarani|1970}}

| proyears4 = 1971–1972

| proteam4 = {{UCI team code|Peugeot|1971}}

| proyears5 = 1973–1975

| proteam5 = {{UCI team code|Flandria|1973}}

| proyears6 = 1976–1979

| proteam6 = {{UCI team code|IJsboerke|1976}}

| manageyears1 = 1991–2005

| manageteam1 = {{UCI team code|THR|1991}}

| manageyears2 = 2006

| manageteam2 = {{UCI team code|ONC|2006c}}

| manageyears3 = 2007

| manageteam3 = {{UCI team code|AST|2007}}

| majorwins = Grand Tours

:Tour de France

::Points classification (1970)

::10 individual stages
(1967, 1968, 1970–1973, 1975)

:Giro d'Italia

::1 individual stage (1970)

:Vuelta a España

::2 individual stages (1971)

One-day races and Classics

:{{nowrap|National Road Race Championships (1965, 1972)}}

:Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1967)

:Tour of Flanders (1968, 1978)

:Paris–Roubaix (1969)

:Gent–Wevelgem (1968)

| show-medals = yes

| medaltemplates = {{MedalCountry| {{flagu|Belgium}} }}

{{MedalSport | Men's road bicycle racing}}

{{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}}

{{MedalBronze| 1964 Tokyo | Individual road race}}

}}

Walter Godefroot (born 2 July 1943) is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif of {{UCI team code|THR|1991}}, later known as T-Mobile Team.

As amateur cyclist, he won the bronze medal in the individual road race of the 1964 Summer Olympics after his young compatriot Eddy Merckx was caught in the final.{{cite web |title=Walter Godefroot Olympic Results |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/go/walter-godefroot-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418054241/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/go/walter-godefroot-1.html |archive-date=18 April 2020 |access-date=18 August 2014 |work=sports-reference.com}} Both men turned professional in 1965 and Walter Godefroot was presented as Merckx's bane in his early days, winning several races ahead of him: the Belgian championship in 1965, Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1967) and Paris–Roubaix (1969).{{Cite web |date= |title=Godefroot: "Mijn leven is mooi geweest, maar de zon heeft niet altijd geschenen" |url=https://sporza.be/nl/2017/06/18/godefroot_-_mijn-leven-is-mooi-geweest-maar-de-zon-heeft-niet-al-1-3004387/ |website= |language=nl |publication-date=18 June 2017}}

But Godefroot eventually didn't have Merckx's abilities in stage races and concentrated on the separate stages in the grand tours. He won ten stages in the Tour de France, including the stage on the Champs-Élysées in 1975 where the Tour finished for the first time, and the green jersey in the 1970 Tour de France, one stage in the 1970 Giro d'Italia and two stages in the 1971 Vuelta a España.{{cite web |title=Walter Godefroot |url=http://www.dewielersite.be/db2/wielersite/coureurfiche.php?coureurid=4482 |accessdate=16 May 2003 |work=dewielersite.be}}

Being a specialist in one-day classic cycle races, he won another Belgian champion title in 1972, two Tours of Flanders at ten-year intervals in 1968 and 1978, two Bordeaux–Paris in 1969 and 1976 and had numerous runner-ups in other classics.

Remarkably, Godefroot informed the Tour de Flandres organization about the existence of the Koppenberg. From 1976, the hill was included in the course of the race.

At the end of his career, following the classics campaign in April 1977, he tested positive for a doping product along with several other top riders.

In 1981, Godefroot and his wife started a cycling shop in Deurle which still exists today.{{Cite web |date= |title=Fietsen Godefroot |url=https://www.fietsengodefroot.be/ |website= |language=nl}}

He managed the Capri-Sonne-Koga Miyata, T-Mobile and Astana teams. He was notably the sports director of Bjarne Riis, Jan Ullrich and Erik Zabel during the victorious Tour de France editions in 1996 and 1997, although Riis and Zabel later admitted they used EPO in the 1996 Tour de France.{{cite web |date=25 May 2007 |title=Former Tour de France winner Riis admits doping |url=http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=309530&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__sport/ |access-date=2007-05-26}}

Godefroot stepped down as team manager before the 2006 season and was replaced by Olaf Ludwig. After the exclusion of {{UCI team code|ONC|2006c}} from the 2006 Tour de France, Godefroot returned to the peloton when he became manager of Astana. His contract was not renewed when it ran out in July 2007.{{cite news |date=2 July 2007 |title=Astana und Godefroot gehen getrennte Wege |language=de |work=Der Spiegel |agency=Sport-Informations-Dienst |url=https://www.spiegel.de/sport/sonst/radsport-astana-und-godefroot-gehen-getrennte-wege-a-491907.html |access-date=16 May 2020}} He then withdrew from professional cycling.

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