Edwig Van Hooydonck

Edwig Van Hooydonck (born 4 August 1966) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Belgium. He won the prestigious Tour of Flanders twice and Brabantse Pijl a record four times.

From Gooreind, Wuustwezel, Van Hooydonck was a striking image on the bike with a 6’4” frame and red hair. He was a success from a young age, winning 30 out of 31 races in one junior season. He was signed by racing manager Jan Raas while still a teenager, and as a 20-year-old in 1987 won Brabantse Pijl, three months into his professional career. He made his debut that year at the Tour of Flanders, finishing 27th but placed fifth as a debutant at 1987 Paris-Roubaix.^[1]

Van Hooydonck won the 1989 Tour of Flanders at the age of 22 years-old, the youngest Belgian winner of the race crying with emotion at the finish line, which he later described as "joy and suffering".^[2][1] He also went on to earn a podium place with third overall that year at the 1989 Paris-Roubaix race.^[3]

In 1990, he placed second at the 1990 Omloop Het Volk, the first classic race in Belgium of the season.^[4] He then placed third at Paris-Roubaix behind Steve Bauer and Eddy Planckaert.^[1]

Having placed third at the 1991 Omloop Het Volk,^[5] Van Hooydonck won the Tour of Flanders again in 1991. His prowess on the Bosberg climb on the race led him to be nicknamed "Eddy Bosberg". His attack on the climb that year earned him the victory by 45 seconds over Johan Museeuw and Rolf Sørensen.^[2]

In stage races, he wins included a stage of the 1992 Vuelta a España, as well as wins in the Tour of Romandie and Tour of Luxembourg in 1993.^[3] Van Hooydonck won the Brabantse Pijl four times throughout his career with his fourth victory at the 1995 edition setting a new record number of victories in the race, surpassing the previous record holder Johan Capiot.^[6]

Shortly prior to his retirement in 1996 he placed second at 1996 Dwars door België and Brabantse Pijl, but retired from racing in May 1996 aged 29 years-old.^[1][3] Van Hooydonck retired from professional cycling because he felt he could no longer compete with other cyclists, who were at the time starting to dope themselves, without himself cheating too. At this time Erythropoietin (EPO) was becoming a widely used doping agent in the sport.^[7][8] Speaking in 2015, his former rival Johan Museeuw said "in my time, maybe two per cent of riders didn’t take EPO, Edwig van Hooydonck is one of them.”^[1]

One minor innovation in cycling credited to Van Hooydonk are three quarter length bibshorts. After he had aggravated a knee problem during the 1989 Tour of Flanders, he had cycling shorts made that stretched below the knee, as an alternative to bandaging the knee.^[9][10]

He is the uncle of former professional cyclist Nathan Van Hooydonck.^[11]

• Palmarès by cyclingbase.com Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine