Frans De Mulder

Frans De Mulder
De Mulder with Groene Leeuw-SAS in 1959
Personal information
Full nameFrans De Mulder
Born(1937-12-17)17 December 1937
Kruishoutem, Belgium
Died5 March 2001(2001-03-05) (aged 63)
Deinze, Belgium
Team information
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Professional teams
1959–61Groene Leeuw-SAS
1961–63Wiel's-Groene Leeuw
Major wins
Grand Tours
Vuelta a España
General classification (1960)
4 individual stages (1960)

One-day races and Classics

National Road Race Championships (1960)
Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (1961)

Frans De Mulder (17 December 1937 in Kruishoutem – 5 March 2001 in Deinze) was a professional road racing cyclist from Belgium between 1958 and 1963.[1]

De Mulder is most famous for winning the overall title and four stages the 1960 Vuelta a España. He bested fellow countryman Armand Desmet and Spaniard Miguel Pacheco across 3566 km in 17 stages.[2]

A medical examination in 1963 revealed that he had a shortage of red blood cells. After a six-month rest period, De Mulder no longer had the strength to return. At the age of just 26, he disappeared from the peloton.[3]

After his cycling career, luck wasn't on his side. In a serious accident in the port of Antwerp, a heavy cable snapped and landed on him, paralyzing his arm. He died in 2001 from a heart attack at the age of just 63.[4]

His brother Marcel De Mulder was also a professional cyclist.[5]

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour 1960 1961 1962
Vuelta a España 1 DNF
Giro d'Italia
Tour de France DNF
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References

  1. ^ "Frans De Mulder". FirstCycling.com. 2023.
  2. ^ "Palmarès de Frans De Mulder (Bel)". Memoire-du-cyclisme.eu (in French). Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  3. ^ Sys, Jacques (2020). "Frans De Mulder - Blitzcarrière". Top 1000 van de Belgische wielrenners (in Dutch). Lanoo. pp. 189–190. ISBN 9789401467254.
  4. ^ "Frans De Mulder 1937 - 2001". servicekoers.be (in Dutch). 1 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Frans De Mulder (1937-2001)". ronnydeschepper.com (in Dutch). 5 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Frans De Mulder". ProcyclingStats. 2022.