Marcel Maes

Marcel Maes (born December 19, 1944 in Deurle , Belgium , † April 10, 1997 in Wondelgem , Belgium) was a Belgian racing cyclist .

Athletic career

Maes became known as an amateur rider in the 1966 cycling season when he won the Belgian spring races Gent-Staden and Omloop Het Volk . In 1967 the Belgian Cycling Federation nominated him for the three-country stage trip International Peace Tour from Warsaw via East Berlin to Prague. Although Maes did not win any of the 16 stages, he became the overwhelming overall winner by a five-minute lead. He was the first Belgian tour winner and at the same time the fastest in the history of peace cruises.

In the same year Maes became a professional driver . He joined the Dutch cycling team Willem II - Gazelle and celebrated his first professional victory in September at the Paul Borremans Grand Prix in Viane, Belgium . In the subsequent one-day race Paris – Tours , the 22-year-old had to pay tuition with 102nd place out of 112 places. The 1968 season began for Maes as the previous year had ended. At the Italian classic Milan – Sanremo he was 108 riders who had arrived. In the following stage races, the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France , he finished 34th and 49th in the overall classification. In the following years Maes played no significant role in cycling. His engagements with the Belgian cycling teams Siriki-Munck (1970), Goldor-Fryns-Elvé (1970) and Hertekamp (1972–1973) did not lead to any further success. In 1972 he was mentioned again in the sports press when he won the criterion in Lokeren , Belgium . Maes died at the age of 52.

literature

• Klaus Ullrich. Every time in May . Sportverlag Berlin, 1987, ISBN 3-328-00177-8 , pp. 272-277

Web links

• Profile at www.radsportseiten.net
• Results at www.museociclismo.it

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maik Märtin: 50 years of Course de la Paix . Agency Construct, Leipzig 1998, p. 246 .