lit a candle 6h ago85 years old. I came across his name years ago reading about the 1969 Tour, one of the riders who got Van Springel through it without ever chasing his own glory. Thinking of Veronika Pingnet tonight.
Their story
Roger Cooreman was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist from Boom, in the Rupel region south of Antwerp. A strong rider in the Flemish races of the 1960s, he finished fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1965 and rode the 1969 Tour de France as a domestique for Herman Van Springel in…
Roger Cooreman was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist from Boom, in the Rupel region south of Antwerp. A strong rider in the Flemish races of the 1960s, he finished fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1965 and rode the 1969 Tour de France as a domestique for Herman Van Springel in the Mann-Grundig team. He died on 12 October 2026 at the age of 85.
Cooreman was born in Boom on 25 June 1941. He made his name in Belgian racing in the early 1960s, and in 1964 he won the Grand Prix Beeckman-De Caluwé. Belgian press reports of his death put the start of his professional career at 1963, and he raced for the Dr. Mann team, later Dr. Mann-Grundig and then Mann-Grundig, from 1965 to 1970.
His best result in one of the great one-day classics came early. In 1965 he was fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the race won that year by Carmine Preziosi. He went on to win the Grand Prix Betekom in 1966 and the Omloop van de Westkust in both 1967 and 1969, and he took second places in Nokere Koerse and the Circuit Mandel-Lys-Escaut in 1968, the year he also finished 17th in Paris-Roubaix. In 1970 he was second on a stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré.
In 1969 he was picked for the Tour de France in the Mann-Grundig team built around Herman Van Springel. Cooreman worked for his leader for three weeks, reached Paris and finished 84th overall in the Tour won by Eddy Merckx, while Van Springel won two stages and placed 18th. In 1971 he moved to Hertekamp-Magniflex, won the Grand Prix Frans Verbeeck and started the Giro d'Italia, but left the race on the second stage. It was his last season as a professional.
Cooreman later lived in Hoevenen, part of Stabroek, north of Antwerp, with his wife Veronika Pingnet. He died unexpectedly on 12 October 2026 at the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) in Edegem. The cause of death was not made public. His death was reported by the Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Nieuwsblad, which remembered him as a well-known rider of the Rupel region. A funeral service was arranged for 21 October 2026 at the Rustpunt funeral centre in Hoevenen, followed by interment in the columbarium of Hoevenen cemetery.
Biography adapted from Dutch, English and French Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Nieuwsblad (Bart Roggeman, 15 October 2026); Polderke (14 October 2026); family death notice via Gert Verhaert funeral s. Wikipedia ↗
Photos
1Roger Cooreman in the Mann-Grundig jersey in the late 1960s
by People Forever
