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Sport	Cycling
Name	De Vlaeminck — De Muynck
Subtitle	When the Team Leaders No Longer Command Respect
Number	09-09
Info	At the finish of the 1976 Tour of Italy in Milan, only 19 seconds separated Felice Gimondi from Johan De Muynck: the latter was beaten more by circumstances than by any lack of ability. The previous month, this unknown Belgian had suddenly made a name for himself during the Tour of Romandy where he had defeated the leader Roger De Vlaeminck as well as Eddy Merckx with a lead of almost 3 minutes. But De Muynck was to pay dearly for such impudence, and was cautioned by his sports manager Franco Cribiori. Until then, this 27-year-old Flemish cyclist, always rather shy and reserved, had not been much noticed. De Muynck had modestly accepted his role as second to Roger De Vlaeminck, first with Flandria then with Brooklyn where they met up again in 1974. But De Muynck's sudden spurt was not to the liking of his captain, who until that moment had led the Italian field. Diplomatically, Cribiori tried to smooth over any differences before the start of the Giro race, but secretly he was not displeased to be able to field a team which included an ex- cellent climber (De Muynck) and two men with a redoubtable finish (De Vlaeminck and Patrick Sercu): rivalry between these last eventually became so strong that they broke definitively. De Muynck led at Matera on the 6th day and he became overall leader once more, with a 25-second lead over Gimondi on the evening of the 19th stage which was won by the Spaniard Andrès Gandarias at Torri del Vaiolet. This day on which five mountain passes had to be negotiated proved fatal for De Vlaeminck who was clearly outdistanced. Piqued at being forced to surrender the lead to a junior member of his team, he chose to abandon the race the following day, as did Ronald De Witte. With the help of Giancarlo Bellini, one of the few to stay with him, De Muynck courageously defended his pink jersey. But a bad fall and an excess of effort left him in poor condition for the 28 km uphill climb at Arcore on the morning of the last day. Joseph Bruyère won the stage but De Muynck had to concede 44 seconds to a supercharged Felice Gimondi.
Photo Info	De Vlaeminck /left) and De Muynck: or the difficulty of becoming one of the greats of cycle racing
Copyright	© 1977, Editions Rencontre S.A. Lausanne Photos Mondosport Printed in Italy 03 005 09-09