Wim Vansevenant

Wim Vansevenant
	Wim Vansevenant
To person
Date of birth	23rd December 1971
nation	Belgium
discipline	Street
Team (s)
1995–1998 ; 1999 ; 2000 ; 2001 ; 2002 ; 2003–2008	WordPerfect ; Vlaanderen 2002-Eddy Merckx ; Collstrop-De Federale Verzekeringen ; Farm Frites ; Mercury-Viatel ; Silence-Lotto
Most important successes
	a stage Tour du Vaucluse 1996
	Last updated: April 16, 2012

Wim Vansevenant (born December 23, 1971 in Diksmuide , Belgium ) is a Belgian cyclist . He is the record holder of the Red Lantern in the Tour de France .

Career

Vansevenant began his professional career in 1995 with Team Vlaanderen in 2002 . He drove there until he switched to Collstrop in 1999. After that, he drove for one year at TVM-Farm Frites , Mercury and Palmans-Collstrop . Since 2003 he has been driving for the Belgian team Lotto-Domo or Davitamon-Lotto or Predictor-Lotto or Silence-Lotto .

In April 1997, Vansevenant was found to have a too high hematocrit value, which can be taken as an indication of the possible use of erythropoietin as a doping agent , but does not constitute evidence of this.

He took part in a grand tour six times . In 2000 he rode the Giro d'Italia , and from 2004 to 2008 the Tour de France .

At the Tour de France in 2005 he was penultimate. In 2006, 2007 and 2008 he reached the finish line last in the overall ranking (“ Red Lantern ”). He is the only one in over 100 years of Tour de France history who has managed to win the Red Lantern three times. Due to serious doping allegations against the leaders of the Tour de France in 2007, he was jokingly proposed as the new wearer of the yellow jersey . This came from the thought that Vansevenant was the last in the field to be the most likely to have given up doping. He himself often showed himself proud of this record and said publicly that this title would be just as difficult to achieve and immortalized in later years as the yellow jersey, which would put far too much pressure on him personally. And who would want to talk to the people in midfield? The last one is much more interesting. He actually became a popular interviewee and gained popularity.

In 2008 he ended his active career.

In July 2011, he was supposed to work for his former Omega Pharma-Lotto team at the Tour de France as a caretaker for VIP guests, but when it became known that a package of doping drugs addressed to Vansevenant had been intercepted and an investigation had been started, the Collaboration ended immediately.