As a rider, he perfectly embodied the spirit of the tough Flemish cyclists, and as a sports director, he discovered and launched Jan Ullrich and many other talents at Telekom: Walter Godefroot has left us today at the age of 82 after writing important pages in cycling history.

As a rider, he put his signature on four monuments: the Tour of Flanders in 1968 and 1978, Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1967, and Paris-Roubaix in 1969. Among his achievements, he also won the final stage of the 1975 Tour de France: he was the first in history to cross the finish line victoriously on the Champs-Élysées.

"I didn't even raise my arms. But... I shook hands with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (then president of the French Republic, ed.). I had won the first stage of my first Tour in Saint-Malo in 1967, and that day in Paris, I won the last stage of my last Tour!" he would recall, having conquered a total of ten victories in the Grande Boucle.

As a sports director, he lived his golden seasons with T-Mobile, when he won the Tour with Jan Ullrich and Bjarne Riis, and later with Astana.

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