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Michel Pollentier
Pollentier at the 1976 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name
Michel Pollentier
Born
(1951-02-13) 13 February 1951 (age 73) Diksmuide, Belgium
Team information
Current team
Retired
Discipline
Road
Role
Rider
Professional teams
1973–1978
Flandria–Carpenter–Shimano
1979–1980
Splendor–Euro Soap
1981
Vermeer Thijs
1982–1984
Safir–Marc
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
3 individual stages (1974, 1975, 1976)
Giro d'Italia
General classification (1977)
1 individual stage (1977)
Vuelta a España
2 individual stages (1977, 1984)
Stage races
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (1978)
Tour de Suisse (1977)
One-day races and Classics
National Road Race Championships (1977, 1978)
Tour of Flanders (1980)
Michel Pollentier (born 13 February 1951 in Diksmuide, West Flanders) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer.
He became professional in 1973. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1977 Giro d'Italia.[1] Pollentier is one of just three Belgian riders to win the Giro, the others being Eddy Merckx and Johan de Muynck.
In the 1978 Tour de France, he was the Belgian national champion when he won the stage arriving in Alpe d'Huez, took the yellow jersey and would have been involved in a battle with Joop Zoetemelk and eventual winner Bernard Hinault for the remainder of the race as the three were within +0:30 of one another. However, he was accused of foul play in the succeeding doping test, having used what was described politely as a pear-shaped tube (in fact a condom) of different urine held under the armpit and connected by a plastic tube to give the impression of urinating.[2] Pollentier was uncovered after another rider at the test had trouble operating his own system of tubes and aroused the suspicion of the doctor, who then demanded Pollentier lift his jersey to show if he too was cheating. He was put out of the Tour immediately.[2]
The affair took away most of Pollentier's credibility in international cycling. Even though he won the 1980 edition of the Tour of Flanders[3] and he also came 3rd in the 1982 Vuelta a España where he was the beneficiary of a doping incident when the initial winner was disqualified bringing him to 2nd overall.[4] 1984 was his last professional season; he finished outside the top 10 at the Vuelta and won the final grand tour stage of his career.
After his cycling career, Pollentier became a car tyre garage owner and founded a cycling school.
In "Seigneurs et Forcats du Velo" by Olivier Dazat, Pollentier is quoted as saying that he and another named Belgian cycling champion of the era had trouble after their careers because of drugs they had taken while racing. Dazat quotes him as saying: "I've never hesitated to confess that I spent three weeks under the surveillance of Dr Dejonckheere at the St-Joseph clinic at Ostend and that after treatment... I stayed under his control for another two years. Why hide it? It's impossible to come out of a situation like that without the help of a doctor.'
^"Michel Pollentier – Rider Statistics Giro d'Italia – By: CyclingFever.com – The International Cycling Social Network". cyclingfever.com.
^ ab"BBC SPORT – FUNNY OLD GAME – Nags on the fags and dodgy doping". BBC. 27 July 2001.
^"RONDE VAN VLAANDEREN.HTM". Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
MichelPollentier (born 13 February 1951 in Diksmuide, West Flanders) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. He became professional in 1973...
1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 MichelPollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens...
1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 MichelPollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens...
group. His second race went better. Among the riders he beat was MichelPollentier, later a friend and a team colleague as a professional. Maertens continued...
1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 MichelPollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens...
1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 MichelPollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens...
contract. Hazard's parents accepted the offer from Lille head of academy Jean-Michel Vandamme with hopes that the training facilities in France would be better...
barring that team from riding the Tour. In 1978 the Belgian rider MichelPollentier became race leader after attacking on the Alpe d'Huez. He was disqualified...
that had been up for lease. In May 1948, Jenny gave birth to twins: a boy, Michel, and a girl, Micheline. As a child Eddy was hyperactive and was always playing...
Surprisingly, Merckx was in second place in that time trial, beaten by MichelPollentier. In the last stage, Poulidor increased the margin to Lopez Carril...
1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 MichelPollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens...
908 km (2,428 mi). The 1978 Tour had a high-profile doping case when MichelPollentier was caught in an attempt to cheat the doping test, after he had won...
squad started a project titled Casa Hogar, an idea of delegation leader Michel D'Hooghe. Casa Hogar is a home for street children in the Mexican industrial...
1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 MichelPollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens...
1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 MichelPollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens...
biggest names in Belgium: Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens and MichelPollentier. MichelPollentier of Belgium was caught trying to cheat the drugs control with...
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