Johan Museeuw

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Johan Museeuw 2006
Johan Museeuw at the Critèrium de Leves 1997

Johan Museeuw (born October 13, 1965 in Varsenare ) is a former Belgian cyclist . He was nicknamed the Lion of Flanders and was considered the best classic hunter of his generation. His greatest successes included three victories each at the Tour of Flanders and Paris – Roubaix , two overall victories in the cycling world cup and the 1996 road world championship . At the end of his career, he admitted doping .

Career

Museeuw became a professional athlete in 1988 . His first major victories included two sprint stage wins at the 1990 Tour de France , including the finale on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées . In the following years he developed into a specialist in the classic one-day races and twice won the series of the most important one-day races, the Cycling World Cup in 1995 and 1996 . Museeuw has won the cobblestone arcades of the cycling monuments Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix three times .

With his three victories at the Tour of Flanders, he is the record winner of the race with five other drivers. His first victory came in 1993 in a two-man sprint against Frans Maassen . In the two other successes in 1995 and 1998, he finished the race after a solo escape with 1:27 minutes and 47 seconds respectively over his pursuers.

Museeuw won Paris – Roubaix in 1996 ahead of his Mapei teammates Gianluca Bortolami and Andrea Tafi , with whom he attacked on the eleventh pavé section, over 80 km from the finish and in the style of a three-way team time trial , with a lead of 2:38 minutes work out fourth-placed Stefano Zanini . On the Roubaix cycle track , the riders did without a sprint and crossed the finish line in formation. The Mapei sports director Patrick Lefevere had set the order beforehand, after a telephone agreement with company owner Giorgio Squinzi . A fourth Mapei driver, Franco Ballerini , finished fifth shortly before the finish despite several punctures.

At Paris-Roubaix 2000 , Museeuw drove 60 kilometers from the finish with Frankie Andreu on his rear wheel from a smaller group. They overtook the leader Max van Heeswijk . At the Pavé sector of Ennetières , Museeuw pulled away and won the race with a 15 second lead over his pursuers. For Museeuw, his second victory meant something special, as he had injured his knee so badly in a fall during Paris-Roubaix two years earlier and then infected it that there had been considerations of amputating his leg. When he won in 2000, Museeuw made his most famous gesture: At the finish line, he pointed to his outstretched left leg.

In his third Paris-Roubaix victory in 2002 , Museeuw broke away from the peloton after the Trouée d'Arenberg with George Hincapie and Steffen Wesemann and set out to pursue the leaders, whose lead was constantly melting. They overtook the leading group with 44 kilometers to go. Shortly afterwards Museeuw attacked alone and won with a lead of 3:04 minutes over Wesemann.

His most important success besides the classic victories was winning the title in the road race of the UCI Road World Championships in 1996 in Lugano . He was able to pull away with the Swiss Mauro Gianetti and beat him in the sprint.

Museeuw ended his career after the spring classics 2004 with the Scheldeprijs , which he ended after an unsuccessful attack in the main field . Before that, he finished fifth at Paris – Roubaix .

The end of his career was overshadowed by a doping affair . On the basis of phone and SMS tapping protocols that suggested that Museeuw and some other Belgian racing drivers had received and used prohibited substances from the veterinarian José Landuyt (including Aranesp and EPO ), the Museeuw, who had since resigned, was granted two-way status by the Belgian Cycling Federation in October 2004 Banned for years. In early 2007, he officially admitted that he had resorted to doping to improve performance. As part of this confession, he resigned from his position as PR manager at Quick Step at the same time . In December 2008, a court in Kortrijk found Museeuw and the other defendants guilty. He was therefore sentenced to ten months probation and payment of 15,000 euros.

Successes (selection)

Placements among the monuments of cycling

Monument to cycling 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Milan – Sanremo - 9 - 3 32 12 12 8th 40 36 - 15th 80 - - -
Tour of Flanders 62 - 2 14th 1 2 1 3 14th 1 3 33 16 2 38 15th
Paris – Roubaix - 12 16 7th 4th 13 3 1 3 - 9 1 2 1 33 5
Liège – Bastogne – Liège - - - 36 12 58 13 - 6th - - 90 - - - -
Lombardy tour - - - - - - - 13 - - - - - - - -

Awards

literature

Noel Truyers: Johan Museeuw, de Zevekote a Lugano. 1997, ISBN 90-74128-13-0 . (Flemish)

Web links

Commons : Johan Museeuw  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Johan Museeuw is retiring. schwaebische.de, April 15, 2004, accessed on October 31, 2015 .
  2. ^ Paris - Roubaix 1996. cyclingnews.com, accessed on October 31, 2015 (English).
  3. ↑ a b 2000 Paris - Roubaix bicycle race complete results. In: BikeRaceInfo. Retrieved October 31, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Johan Museeuw photo gallery and short biography by BikeRaceInfo. In: BikeRaceInfo. October 13, 1965, accessed October 31, 2015 .
  5. ↑ 2002 Paris - Roubaix bicycle race complete results. In: BikeRaceInfo. Retrieved October 31, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Imprisonment for Museeuw. sport1.de, December 3, 2008, accessed October 19, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Museeuw, Johan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Varsenare , Belgium