Willy Van Neste (born 10 March 1944) is a retired Belgian professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

who competed as a professional from 1966 to 1976. He participated in seven editions of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

, where he won a stage in the 1967 Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification for the following day. Other career highlights include winning the

Four Days of Dunkirk The Four Days of Dunkirk () is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Despite the name of the race, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has been held over a 5 or 6 day period for ...

in 1970, the

Züri-Metzgete Züri-Metzgete (Zürich German; ; ) was a European Classic cycle races, Classic cycle race held annually in Zürich, Switzerland, and continued as a non-professional mass participation event from 2007 until 2014. It was a race with a long history ...

in 1972 and

Grand Prix de Fourmies The Grand Prix de Fourmies is a bicycle race held in the Fourmies commune of France. From 2005 to 2019 it was organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2021, it joined the UCI ProSeries The UCI ProSeries is the second tier men's ...

in 1967. He also finished second in the 1968

Gent–Wevelgem Gent–Wevelgem, officially Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields, is a road bicycle racing, road cycling race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic cycle races, classic races part of the Flemish Cycling Week, run in late ...

and the 1970 Amstel Gold Race.

Major results

;1965 :Tour de Namur ;1966 :Flèche Ardennaise :Wavre – Liège ;1967 :Arras :Lokeren Criterium :Wieze :Zwevezele :

: ::Winner stage 2 ::Wearing

yellow jersey The general classification of the Tour de France is the most important classification of the race and determines the winner of the race. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification has worn the yellow jersey ( ). History For the first t ...

for one day :GP Fourmies ;1969 :Ronse – Doornik – Ronse ;1970 :Zwevezele :Four days of Dunkerque ;1971 :De Panne :Kortrijk :Westrozebeke ;1972 : Zürich-Metzgete

External links

* * Belgian male cyclists Belgian Tour de France stage winners 1944 births Living people Cyclists from West Flanders People from Wingene 20th-century Belgian sportsmen {{Belgium-cycling-bio-1940s-stub