Frans_Van_Looy
Frans Van Looy
Belgian cyclist
Frans Van Looy (26 August 1950 – 20 September 2019) was a Belgian cyclist. Looy was professional from 1972 to 1982. He competed in the individual road race at the 1972 Summer Olympics.[1]
After his career as a cyclist, Van Looy worked as a team manager with Team Telekom and T-Mobile until 2006. and had helped run his family's farm in Merksem. 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.[2] After this order, which ruled his birthplace to be uninhabitable and led to his eviction, he committed suicide in September 2019.[3]