help of a doctor." Alcohol Maertens drank champagne during races. And he was for a while salesman for Lanson, a champagne company. Journalists saw crates of champagne at his house and interpreted them as confirmation that he had a drinking problem. Legend says that on the Friday before the world championship at Goodwood, England, he asked his taxi driver to join him for a pint of beer, "because he sweating so much." Lomme Driessens said: "Too much wine and not enough riding, that's his problem." Maertens told a reporter, Guy Roger, that the stories were exaggerated. But he acknowledged later that he did have a problem. He attended meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous until word spread that he was there. Now he drinks only non-alcoholic drinks. His body, he said, reacted quickly to alcohol and he could get drunk on a single glass of beer. Retirement Maertens retired at the age of 35 in 1987 after deciding during a training ride that he no longer wanted to train in the wind and rain of Flanders. He worked as a salesman after retiring, including in Belgium and Luxembourg for Assos, a Swiss clothing company. He left Assos, he said, when supplies became erratic. He kept a distance from the sport. His weight rose to 100 kg. In 2000 he began to work in the Belgian National Cycling Museum ('Nationaal Wielermuseum') in his hometown Roeselare. Many visitors of the museum liked the presence of a real world champion during their visit. In 2008 he moved to the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders Center) in Oudenaarde. In 2017, after health problems, he retired. He works when possible as a volunteer or special guest in both museums. The museum in Roeselare is now renamed to 'KOERS. Museum of Cycle Racing'. The bicycle shop "Maertens Sport" in Evergem on the outskirts of Ghent is owned by Freddy's brother Mario. Major results 1971 1st Road race, National Amateur Road Championships 2nd Road race, UCI Road World Amateur Championships 1973 1st Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1st Stage 5b 1st Scheldeprijs 2nd Road race, UCI Road World Championships 2nd Tour of Flanders 5th Paris–Roubaix 1974 1st Overall Tour de Luxembourg 1st Stages 1 & 2 1st Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 1st Prologue a & b, Stages 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6 Tour of Belgium 1st Stages 2, 3 & 4 1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen 1st Stage 3b Four Days of Dunkirk 4th Amstel Gold Race 5th Paris–Tours 1975 1st Overall Tour of Belgium 1st Stages 1b & 2 1st Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 1st Prologue, Stages 5, 6 & 7b 1st Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1st Stage 3b 1st Paris–Tours 1st Paris–Brussels 1st Gent–Wevelgem Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1st Prologue, Stages 1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4 & 7b 2nd Amstel Gold Race 3rd Madison (with Walter Godefroot), National Track Championships 4th La Flèche Wallonne 5th Giro di Lombardia 5th Overall Paris–Nice 1st Stage 2 1976 1st Road race, UCI Road World Championships 1st Road race, National Road Championships 1st Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1st Stage 2b 1st Super Prestige Pernod International 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st Rund um den Henninger-Turm 1st Züri–Metzgete 1st Gent–Wevelgem 1st Grand Prix des Nations 1st Brabantse Pijl 1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen 1st Trofeo Baracchi (with Michel Pollentier) 1st Critérium des As 1st Six Days of Dortmund (with Patrick Sercu) 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 3rd La Flèche Wallonne 3rd Madison (with Marc Demeyer), National Track Championships 4th Overall Paris–Nice 1st Prologue, Stages 2, 3, 4, 6a & 6b 5th Tour of Flanders 7th Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Points Classification 1st