Alfons De Wolf

Alfons De Wolf

Eddy Planckaert and De Wolf after Dwars door België, edition 1988 (collection: KOERS. Museum of Cycle Racing)
Personal information
Born	(1956-06-22) 22 June 1956 Willebroek, Belgium
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist
Amateur team
1978	IJsboerke–Warncke Eis (stagiaire)
Professional teams
1979–1980	Lano–Boule d'Or
1981–1982	Vermeer Thijs
1983	Bianchi–Piaggio
1984	Europ Decor–Boule d'Or
1985	Fagor
1986	Skala–Skil
1987–1989	AD Renting–Fangio–IOC–MBK
1990	IOC–Tulip Computers
Major wins
Giro di Lombardia (1980) Milan–San Remo (1981) Tour de France, 1 stage Vuelta a España, 6 stages Points classification (1979)

Alfons ("Fons") De Wolf (born 22 June 1956 in Willebroek) is a retired Belgian road race cyclist, a professional from 1979 to 1990. He represented his country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.

He was forecast, with Daniel Willems, to be the successor to Eddy Merckx. De Wolf seemed to fulfill that promise by having an absolutely dominant 1979 Vuelta a España winning 5 stages including an individual time trial as well as the Points Classification, securing a top 10 place in the General Classification and then following it up by winning the 1980 Giro di Lombardia and the 1981 Milan–San Remo, the last and first classic of the season. He almost won the 1982 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, but he finally lost it to the Italian Silvano Contini in the final sprint due to a shifting error.

After winning a stage in the 1984 Tour de France, his career faded, however the stage win he claimed was an impressive individual effort in which he was able to beat the group of favorites including Bernard Hinault and eventual winner Laurent Fignon by a stunning margin of almost eighteen minutes. He helped his teammate Eddy Planckaert win the green jersey in the 1988 Tour de France. He ended his career in 1990.

He now helps his wife in her funeral parlour in Dworp, in the south of Brussels.

Although he won the Omloop Het Volk two times, De Wolf was an atypical Flemish cyclist, preferring Italian races such as Milan–San Remo to Paris–Roubaix, Gent–Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders. He was at ease in hilly races, though he was not an impressive climber. He complained that he was seen as a 'new Eddy Merckx', that the public had expected too much.

Major results

1976

1st Overall Tour de Namur

3rd Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften

4th Road race, Summer Olympics

1977

1st Kattekoers

3rd Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften

1978

1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs

1st Road race, National Amateur Road Championships

2nd Overall GP Tell

2nd Circuit de Wallonie

2nd Flèche Ardennaise

2nd Kattekoers

1979

1st Omloop Schelde-Durme

2nd Trofeo Baracchi (with Jan van Houwelingen)

2nd Leeuwse Pijl

3rd Overall Tour of Belgium

3rd Scheldeprijs

4th Overall Three Days of Bruges–De Panne

5th La Flèche Wallonne

7th Brabantse Pijl

8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

9th Overall Vuelta a España

1st Points classification

1st Stages 2, 7, 9, 16b & 19

9th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico

9th Paris–Roubaix

1980

1st Druivenkoers Overijse

1st Giro di Lombardia

1st Trofeo Baracchi (with Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke)

2nd Overall Tirreno–Adriatico

2nd Amstel Gold Race

2nd Gent–Wevelgem

2nd Circuit des Frontières

3rd Rund um den Henninger Turm

3rd Overall Vuelta a Mallorca

4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

4th GP de Fourmies

5th Overall Giro di Sardegna

6th Paris–Roubaix

6th Grand Prix des Nations

6th Züri-Metzgete

7th Omloop Het Volk

8th Paris–Brussels

10th Tour of Flanders

10th Milan–San Remo

1981

1st Six Days of Antwerp (with René Pijnen)

1st Milan–San Remo

1st Circuit des Frontières

1st Polder–Kempen

1st Stage 4 Tour of Belgium

1st Stage 6 Tour de Suisse

2nd GP Eddy Merckx

3rd Overall Paris–Nice

3rd Gent–Wevelgem

3rd Amstel Gold Race

3rd E3 Harelbeke

5th Overall Deutschland Tour

5th Züri-Metzgete

6th Brabantse Pijl

7th Road race, UCI World Championships

7th Tour of Flanders

9th Grand Prix des Nations

10th Paris–Roubaix

1982

1st Omloop Het Volk

1st Sassari–Cagliari

1st Stage 1a Three Days of Bruges–De Panne

2nd Grote Prijs Jef Scherens

2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège

3rd Gent–Wevelgem

3rd Road race, National Road Championships

3rd Ronde van Limburg

4th Rund um den Henninger Turm

8th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk

1st Stage 5a

10th La Flèche Wallonne

1983

1st Omloop Het Volk

1st Coppa Ugo Agostoni

1st Giro della Romagna

1st Giro di Toscana

1st Stage 2 Giro del Trentino

1st Stage 1 Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme

5th Overall Giro di Sardegna

8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

9th La Flèche Wallonne

1984

1st Stage 14 Tour de France

1st Stage 6 Tour of Norway

1st Stage 1 Tour de Romandie

1st Stage 3 Vuelta a Andalucía

9th GP Eddy Merckx

1985

1st Stage 9 Vuelta a España

1st Stage 2 Vuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana

1986

6th Tour of Flanders

9th De Brabantse Pijl

1988

2nd Dwars door België

7th Gent–Wevelgem

1989

3rd Road race, National Road Championships

1990

7th Nokere Koerse

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Giro d'Italia	—	DNF	—	—	49	—	—	38	—	—	70
Tour de France	—	—	11	31	—	74	DNF	—	—	102	—
Vuelta a España	9	—	—	—	—	—	81	—	—	—	—

Legend

—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish

External links

• Alfons De Wolf at Cycling Archives (archived)
• Alfons De Wolf at ProCyclingStats
• Alfons De Wolf at CycleBase
• Alfons De Wolf at Olympedia
• Official Tour de France results for Alfons De Wolf