Frans Van Looy has died at the age of 69, according to Belgian media reports this weekend. Van Rooij was a professional rider from 1972 to 1982 and was teammates with five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx. He later served as sports director of the Telecom/T-Mobile team.

After his retirement, Van Roy ran the family farm in Melksem, near Antwerp, the capital of Flanders. However, according to Het Laatste Nieuws, Van Looy could no longer live on the farm by order of the local government, despite 3,000 people signing a petition to protect the 1950 residence where Van Looy was born.

Juan Roy went on to win the 1974 Criterium du Dauphiné and a stage victory in the 1978 Volta a Catalunya as a professional. He also won the Belgian one-day race Nationale Sluitingsprijs three times in 1974, 1975, and 1979, and was a teammate of Merckx in Molteni, Italy in 1975 and 1976.

At T-Mobile, van Rooij worked for team manager Walter Godefroot and with sport director Rudy Pevenage.

"I worked with Fran at Team Telecom for about 10 years," Pevenage said. 'It had been a long time since I saw him.' [The last time I saw him] would have been about two years ago at a race. This news is very hard."

Van Rooij was also reportedly very close to former pro rider Eric Zabel. He was on the Telecom/T-Mobile team at the same time as Van Rooij and now works as a coach for Katusha-Alpecin.

Cycling News offers its condolences to Van Looy's family and friends.