Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | José Samyn |
Born |
Quiévrain, Belgium |
May 11, 1946
Died | August 28, 1969 Zingem, Belgium |
(aged 23)
Team information | |
Discipline | Road |
Role | Rider |
Major wins | |
1 stage 1967 Tour de France |
José Samyn (11 May 1946 – 28 August 1969) was a French professional road bicycle racer who died during a race in Zingem, Belgium.
Samyn was born in Quiévrain, Belgium to a Belgian mother and French father, he took French nationality in 1964 . As an amateur, he won the 1965 French Military Cycling Championship. In 1967, he won a stage of the Tour de France. The following year, however, a dope test carried out during the Tour proved positive. Samyn was expelled from the race, suspended for one month and fined.
He was the first winner of the GP Fayt-le-Franc, and after his death at Zingem the race was renamed Le Samyn (or Memorial Samyn) in his honor.