Herman van Springel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Herman Vanspringel was a Belgian cyclist (born 14 August 1943), from Grobbendonk, in the Flemish Campine region.
He was a marvellous time-trial contester, almost winning the Tour de France in 1968, but he was beaten in the last stage by Dutchman, Jan Janssen, ironically, in a time-trial. Thousands of Belgian cycling fans were frustrated by this event and foul play was not to be excluded in their view. In the autumn of that year, he won the classic Giro di Lombardia.
Though he wasn't a real winner in his career, he nevertheless won 7 editions of the marathon race Bordeaux-Paris. He also won the green jersey in the 1973 Tour de France. He kept on cycling through the seventies and ended his long lasting career at the end of the 1981 season.
Famous Flemish TV-maker and presenter, Marc Uytterhoeven, still under the impression of the 1968 Tour memories, founded a special Herman Vanspringel fan club.
