Tour de France stage winner dies during 1,000km charity ride, as tributes paid to “popular figure loved by entire peloton”

Tributes have been paid to retired pro cyclist Ludo Dierckxsens, after the former Belgian champion died on Thursday while taking part in a 1,000km charity ride at the age of 60.

Dierckxsens, who won a stage at the 1999 Tour de France in his national champion’s jersey, collapsed on the Sint-Gillislaan in Dendermonde after falling ill during the ride, organised by Stand Up To Cancer in Belgium (Kom op tegen Kanker), on Thursday afternoon at around 3pm.

Emergency services, who were following the annual charity ride, arrived quickly to treat the 60-year-old, who tragically died at the scene.

“With deep sorrow, we share the news that Ludo Dierckxsens, one of our beloved road captains and former mentor, became unwell on Thursday afternoon during the afternoon stage of the 1,000km Stand Up To Cancer ride,” the organisers announced on Thursday evening.

“The emergency services arrived quickly, but unfortunately, despite all efforts he could not be saved. We are all deeply affected. Ludo has been a staple in the peloton since the first edition – a well-liked road captain, a part of our warm 1,000km family.

“This day of solidarity and connection has abruptly turned into a moment of intense grief. More than ever, we stand shoulder to shoulder. Our thoughts are with Ludo’s family and friends. We stand with them in this indescribable moment.”

 

 

 

 

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A popular figure during his 12 years as a professional cyclist in the 1990s and 2000s, Geel-born Dierckxsens’ path to the peloton was an unusual one. In 1993, at the age of 28 and while working as a painter for DAF Trucks, he finished second at the amateur Tour of Flanders, a result that earned him a spot as a stagiaire for Willy Naessens team.

The following year, he quit his job and turned pro with Swiss outfit Saxon-Selle Italia, later riding for Lotto, Lampre, and Landbouwkrediet–Colnago before eventually retiring, at the age of 41, in 2005.

Dierckxsens took six professional victories during his career, including the GP Denain, Paris-Bourges, the GP La Marseillaise, and a stage of the Tour of Austria.

His finest moments came during a breakthrough summer in 1999, when he followed up his victory at the Belgian national road race championships, where he beat Axel Merckx, with a superb solo win in Saint-Étienne at the Tour de France, clad in the black, yellow, and red of Belgium.

However, what should have been a career-defining victory was somewhat overshadowed by his subsequent six-month ban, which came after he openly revealed, during the obligatory doping control that followed his Tour stage win, that he had taken a banned corticosteroid to reduce knee pain before the race.

The Belgian champion claimed to have a prescription for the drug, and the doping tests from his Tour win returned negative. However, his Lampre team denied knowledge of this and sent Dierckxsens home from the Tour a few days later. He was later banned for six months, but allowed to keep his stage win.

After retiring in 2005, he set up his own bike shop and became an ambassador of a number of Belgian cycling brands. After selling his company in 2009, he worked as a wholesaler, while also appearing as a pundit on Flemish TV.

Following the news of his tragic death yesterday, a number of Dierckxsens’ former teammates and colleagues in the peloton, including three-time Tour of Flanders winner Johan Museeuw, paid tribute to the former pro.

“I remember Ludo as someone who always laughs,” Museeuw told Sporza. “He also always attacked and achieved his greatest victories that way. In our generation, he was one of the greatest engines.

“He was a popular figure who always went through life cheerfully. Ludo became a professional cyclist very late, but he was loved by the entire peloton. He couldn’t hurt a fly.

“I saw Ludo a bit more recently, because he was cycling a lot again,” Museeuw added, noting that they took part in a number of charity rides together in recent years.

“Then you wonder: do you really need to do all that? The answer is yes. Only the harsh reality is that someone like Ludo, always with a big smile, has to die on his bike. It is much too early that he has to leave us.”

“He was hardened by real life,” his former Lotto teammate Kurt Van de Wouwer said. “As a late pro, he still reached the top. Now riders take the step at a very young age. Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to have worked first.

“We say that to young people now, because when you realise your dream, you really realise what it entails. You are then hardened by real life.

“Compare him a bit with Thomas De Gendt. He always chose to attack. With or without results, it didn’t matter to him. Ludo had a huge goodwill factor anyway, also from his competitors. And as a teddy bear, he was very popular with the fans.”

> Tragedy at Tour of Flanders sportive as two cyclists confirmed dead, former Cofidis pro died after “collapsing” on Oude Kwaremont

Dierckxsens’ tragic death during a charity ride comes just weeks after two riders died while taking part in the Tour of Flanders sportive, including former Cofidis pro Stéphane Krafft.

Krafft, who raced for the French team between 1999 and 2001 and finished second at the U23 Paris-Roubaix, collapsed on the Oude Kwaremont after becoming unwell. Medics tried to revive him for 45 minutes before he was taken to a local hospital by helicopter, where he was pronounced dead, aged 45.