Former T-Mobile sports director Frans Van Looy dies, aged 69

Frans Van Looy (left) celebrates T-Mobile rider Erik Zabel's win at the 2005 Paris-Tours
Frans Van Looy (left) celebrates T-Mobile rider Erik Zabel's win at the 2005 Paris-Tours (Image credit: Getty Images)

Frans Van Looy has died at the age of 69, according to reports in the Belgian media this weekend. Van Looy was a professional rider from 1972 to 1982, and a teammate of five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx. Later, he worked a sports director on the Telekom/T-Mobile team.

Since retirement, Van Looy had helped run his family's farm in Merksem, near Flanders' capital, Antwerp. However, a local government order ruled that Van Looy could no longer live at the farm, despite a petition signed by 3,000 people to preserve the residence that Van Looy had been born in, in 1950, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.