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Emile Daems

Emile Daems
Daems after winning stage 5 of the 1962 Tour de France
Personal information
Full nameEmile Daems
Born(1938-04-04)4 April 1938
Genval, Belgium
Died17 October 2024(2024-10-17) (aged 86)
Wavre, Belgium
Team information
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeSprinter
Professional teams
1960–1962Philco
1963–1965Peugeot–BP–Englebert
1966Solo–Superia
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
Four individual stages (1961, 1962)
Giro d'Italia
Two individual stages (1960)

Other stage races

Giro di Sardegna (1961)

One-day races and Classics

Giro di Lombardia (1960)
Milan–San Remo (1962)
Paris–Roubaix (1963)
Giro dell'Appennino (1960)
Giro del Ticino (1961, 1962)

Emile Daems (4 April 1938 – 17 October 2024) was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist.[1]

He began his professional career in 1959. Daems, rather small in stature, was very adept at sprinting.

When Daems signed his first professional contract in 1960, it was with the small Italian team Philco. He immediately sprinted to two stage victories in the Giro d'Italia and also won the Tour of Lombardy.

In his neo-professional year, Daems was also included in the Belgian selection for the World Championship on the Sachsenring, Germany. But because Daems had won a criterium at the Sachsenring a few years earlier, he was the only Belgian to refuse to do work for team leader Rik Van Looy (who eventually became world champion). Daems finished 19th.[2]

In the following years, the headstrong Daems would win the stage race Giro di Sardegna (1961), the Monuments Milan-San Remo (1962) and Paris-Roubaix (1963) and 4 stage victories in the Tour de France.[3]

In the 1962 Tour de France, he distinguished himself with three victories, first in Saint-Malo and then in Aix-en-Provence, each time solo. But it was especially during the mountainous 18th stage, between Juan-les-Pins and Briançon, that he impressed. Although he was mainly a classics rider, he managed to join the leading group on the col de l'Izoard (last climb of the day), twenty seconds behind Federico Bahamontes. He finally won in Briançon in a sprint of seven riders, ahead of Bahamontes, Jacques Anquetil, Raymond Poulidor and the yellow jersey Joseph Planckaert.[4]

After a short career of six years, aged 28, Daems quit racing and opened a restaurant. But cycling remained his great love.[5]

Daems died in Wavre on 17 October 2024, at the age of 86.[6]

Major results

Daems winning stage 4 in the 1961 Tour de France in Charleroi

As Amateur

1956
1st National Road Championships - Interclubs road race
2nd Brussels–Nivelles
1957
1st Hoeilaert–Leuven–Hoeilaert
1st Brussels–La Louvière–Brussels
1st Rund um den Sachsenring
3rd Rund um die Hainleite
1958
1st Overall Tour de Berlin
Winner 4 stages
1st Overall GP Général Patton Juniors
1st GP Victor Bodson
1st Tour des Quatre-Cantons
1st Namur–Namêche
1st Bruxelles–La Louvière–Bruxelles
1959
1st Tour of Flanders indepentents

As Professional

1960
1st Giro di Lombardia
1st Giro dell'Appennino
1st Nationale Sluitingsprijs
1st Stages 9a and 19 Giro d'Italia
1st Stage 16 Roma–Napoli–Roma
1st Tour de l'Ouest
1st Trofeo Longines (TTT)
2nd Ronde van Brabant
3rd Heistse Pijl
3rd Six Days of Brussels (with Willy Vannitsen)
1961
1st Overall Giro di Sardegna
1st Stage 3 Tour de France
1st Giro del Ticino
1st GP Dr. Eugeen Roggeman
1st GP Brabant Wallon
3rd Grote Prijs Beeckman-De Caluwé
4th Tour of Flanders
1962
1st Milan–San Remo
1st Stage 2a Paris–Nice
13th Overall Tour de France
1st Stages 5, 16 and 18
2nd points classification
1st Stage 5 Giro di Sardegna
1st Giro del Ticino
1st Flèche Halloise
1st Omloop van Limburg
3rd Six Days of Brussels (with Emile Severeyns)
1963
1st National Road Championships - Interclubs road race
1st Paris–Roubaix
1st Stages 5 and 7 Mi-Août en Bretagne
1st Vilvoorde–Houtem
1st Boucles Roquevairoises
3rd Brabantse Pijl
1964
1st Omloop der Zennevallei
2nd Gullegem Koerse
1965
1st National Road Championships - Interclubs road race
1st Circuit du Tournaisis
2nd GP Stad Vilvoorde
3rd Grote Prijs Jef Scherens
3rd Tour of Leuven

References

  1. ^ "Emile Daems". FirstCycling.com. 2022.
  2. ^ "Hij stopte op zijn 28ste met koersen, maar won wel Milaan-Sanremo, Parijs-Roubaix én Lombardije: Belgische wielerlegende Emile Daems overleden" [He retired from racing at 28, but won Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix and Lombardy: Belgian cycling legend Emile Daems has passed away]. Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 18 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Wielerwereld rouwt om Emile Daems, eigenzinnige winnaar van de Primavera, Parijs-Roubaix en Lombardije". Sporza (in Dutch). 18 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Palmarès d'Emile Daems (Bel)". Memoire-du-cyclisme.eu (in French). Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  5. ^ "Paris-Roubaix : vainqueur en 1963, le Belge Émile Daems est décédé". lavoixdunord.fr (in French). 18 October 2024.
  6. ^ Thirion, Stéphane (18 October 2024). "Le peloton belge en deuil : Emile Daems est décédé". Le Soir. Retrieved 19 October 2024.