FREDDY MAERTENS – A CAREER OF FALLING, GETTING UP AND MOVING ON
- 29/01/2024
First name: Freddy
Last name: Maertens
Nationality: Belgium
Age: 71 years old
Date of birth: 13-02-1952
Place of birth: Nieuwpoort (West Flanders), Belgium
Freddy Maertens was an almost all-rounder with an exceptional final sprint in his legs. Only in the mountains did he fall short, making him no match for the best classification riders in the big tour. However, if he had a super day, he could hold on for a long time in the mountains, purely on strength and with a great resistance.
In 1973 Maertens’ pro career began at Flandria, for which he would ride for eight years. That team was one of the strongest teams in the peloton in the 1970s. With the other absolute top riders Marc Demeyer and Michel Pollentier, Maertens belonged to Flandria’s Three Musketeers, who made it super difficult for any other team. Maertens began his career at a time when Eddy Merckx’s was past its very best.
Freddy achieved a total of 148 UCI victories including twice the World Championship on the road (1976 and 1981), 25 stage victories in the grand tours, 3x the green jersey in the Tour (1976, 1978, 1981) and overall winner of the Vuelta in 1977. All victories he achieved after his 24th birthday.
He further expanded his palmares with victories in the Zurich Championship (1976), the Amstel Gold Race (1976), Rund um den Henninger-Turm (1976), Gent-Wevelgem (1976 – after already winning here at age 23 in 1975), the Omloop Het Volk (1977 and 1978) and E3 Prijs Harelbeke in 1978. In 1977 he was taken out of the race in the Tour of Flanders because of an unauthorized bike change on the Koppenberg. However, he continued to ride to the finish with Roger De Vlaeminck in his wheel, who easily took the win in the sprint.
Looking at his entire career, it is striking that Maertens – despite his greatness and profile as a near-all-rounder – failed to win any of the five monuments. His best years were 1976 and 1977, after which he had a relatively good year in 1978.
In 1979 and 1980 Maertens won only a few criteriums and his career seemed to end prematurely at the age of 28. He had gotten himself into financial trouble because of bad investments and this had a severe impact on his person and his performance. He had to sell his house and life was made very difficult for him by the tax auditors. Maertens went through a huge deep valley that he clawed his way out of thanks to the support of his wife Carine.
He experienced a recovery in the summer of the year 1981, in which he again performed at top level. His former team leader Lomme Driessens gave him back the confidence and brought him to the Boule d’Or team. Maertens was back to being the strong-willed and agile puncher and he rode another great Tour de France, winning five stages and the green jersey. Then, in the fall, he also became world champion in Prague for the second time and seemed to be completely back.
But in the following seasons Maertens was once again a shadow of his former self. After another year of Boule d’Or, Maertens went on to ride for various smaller teams and the candle went out further before finally quitting cycling in 1987. After his career, he worked as a sales representative for about ten years. He also worked at the Wielermuseum of Roeselare and until today as host and public relations officer for the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen in Oudenaarde.
Freddy in the peloton
In 1973 – his debut year as a pro – Freddy finished 2nd at the World Championships in Barcelona. Maertens rode alone to the escaped Merckx, Gimondi and Luis Ocaña, after which both Belgians were beaten in the sprint by Italian Gimondi. Since then, things have not clashed between Merckx and Maertens. Both gave their own version of what was agreed upon. It seemed that Merckx, did not trust Maertens and preferred to see Gimondi win rather than risk Maertens winning. With the cycling public in Belgium, however, Maertens’ popularity took a big hit. But it wasn’t only with Merckx that things didn’t go well, things with Roger De Vlaeminck were also very difficult. In the 1976 Tour of Flanders, Maertens was the only teammate with Marc Demeyer in a leading group of five. Numerical superiority thus, but Maertens and De Vlaeminck preferred to drop out of the leading group rather than risk the other winning.
Maertens regularly had champagne in his water bottle and that helped in the bunch sprints according to Freddy himself. But wasn’t that also why Freddy was involved in more than average crashes?
Elected best West-Flemish cyclist
In 2010, readers of the Krant van West-Vlaanderen proclaimed him the best West Flemish cyclist of all time. In doing so, he left other West Flemish cycling legends Briek Schotte and Johan Museeuw behind.
Text: Patrick Van Gansen
