Eric Vanderaerden

Eric Vanderaerden (born February 11, 1962 in Herk-de-Stad ) is a former Belgian cyclist .

Vanderaerden was a specialist in individual time trials and classic one-day races , where he benefited from his strengths in the mass sprint. He began his professional career in 1983 and finished it in 1996 with a total of 138 race wins.

Career

After Vanderaerden had already achieved some notable successes in the amateur and junior sector, such as the victory in the Tour of Flanders for drivers under 23 years of age in 1981 and the military world title in road racing in 1982, he switched to the professional camp at the beginning of the 1983 season.

There he won in his first year as a pro, both winning the prologue of the Tour de France as well as two stages in the Vuelta a España . In addition, he was able to beat the eventual winner Bernard Hinault in a 32-kilometer individual time trial during the Tour de France 1985 . In total, he was able to record five stage victories in the Tour de France between 1983 and 1985. He also rode in the overall leader's yellow jersey for five days during the Tour de France in 1983 and 1985 . In 1986 he was able to win the points classification , which is awarded with the green jersey , although he did not manage to win a single stage.

In the further course of his career, Vanderaerden concentrated on the one-day classics . In 1985 he won the Tour of Flanders and Gent-Wevelgem . Two years later he was also on the list of winners at Paris-Roubaix .

Other notable successes are five overall victories at the Three Days of De Panne , four of them in a row between 1986 and 1989, as well as two victories each at the GP Eddy Merckx and across Flanders .

After the end of his active career, Vanderaerden became sporting director of the small team Yawadoo-Colba-ABM in 2005 , where his brother Gert and his son Michael are under contract. In August 2006, with the start of the Tour of Britain , he took over the position of sporting director for the British Continental Team DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed .

His nicknames were "Het verdriet van België" and "De La Terra" .

family

Vanderaerden's father, Lucien, was a professional cyclist, as were his younger brothers Danny and Gert . His son Michael Vanderaerden , who was born in 1987, has since started a career as a cyclist.