As per our instructions from Il Pirata, MFS went ahead and made a suite of Pantheon for Speed t-shirts with Sam Taylor’s illustrations. We also did a little research on the PFS with Klaus starting with The Cannibal, who is team captain. Based on what we found, that’s no surprise.
Born into a family of “traveling clothiers”, De Vlaeminck excelled in the spring classics. He won Paris-Roubaix four times, Milan-San Remo three times, and Omloop Het Volk twice. He won all the monuments, but stage races suited him too. He won Tirreno-Adriatico six times, along with twenty-two Giro stages—all while sporting glorious sideburns that made Brendan and Dylan from 90210 look like the boys they were.
These days, “The Gypsy” has slowed down, a bit, and rightly so. He became the spokesperson for the now-shuttered Hair and Beauty Clinic in Belgium, where he was the recipient of a hair transplant (online ads read “I do not like losing, so when I lost my hair I got a transplant from the Hair and Beauty Clinic. Now I feel like a winner again!”).
By all accounts, De Vlaeminck’s bike handling skills and strength on the bike were otherworldly. As was his luck: he raced for ten years as a professional before having his first puncture during a race. If scientists tried to create a cyclist who was perfectly suited for cobbled classics, they’d create De Vlaeminck.
History
- b. 24 August 1947 in Eeklo, Belgium
- Professional Career: Flandria-De Clerck-Krüger, 1969–71; Dreher, 1972; Brooklyn, 1973–77; Sanson, 1978; Gis Gelati, 1979; Boule d’Or, 1980; DAF Trucks-Cote d’Or-Gazelle, 1981–82; Gios, 1983; Gis-Tuc Lu, 1984
Palmarès
- Tour de France Stage Win: 1, 1970
- Giro d’Italia PC: 1972, 1974, 1975
- Giro d’Italia Stage Wins: 22, 1972–79
- Vuelta a España Stage Win: 1, 1984
- Tirreno-Adriatico GC: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977
- Omloop Het Volk: 1969, 1979
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège: 1970
- Paris–Roubaix: 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977
- Milan–San Remo: 1973, 1978, 1979
- Giro di Lombardia: 1974, 1976
- Tour of Flanders: 1977
- World Cyclo-cross Championships: 1975
