Belgian Motocross Legend Joël Robert Has Passed Away Aged 77

CREDIT: @PiejeMR / Twitter

BELGIAN motocross legend Joël Robert has passed away aged 77 after it was reported the six-time world champion died from contracting coronavirus at the beginning of the year.

Motocross pioneer Joël Robert has died in a hospital in Gilly, Charleroi. Robert became world champion six times between 1964 and 1972, a record that lasted until the era Stefan Everts.

Joël Robert was known as both a natural rider and a force of nature which he proved by becoming world champion in the 250 cc class at the tender age of 21 and the class that would dominate through the 1960s and into the early 1970s.

Robert took the title in 1964 for the Czech brand CZ and also in 1968 and 1969 before switching to Suzuki, where three more consecutive titles followed.

Robert’s big rival, especially in Belgium, was Sylvain Geboers and there is a legendary anecdote in which chain smoker Robert puts out his cigarette on the steering wheel of Geboers just before the start of one particular in which he went on the win.

Sadly, Robert had his foot taken off in 2018 due to diabetes. He also suffered from lung problems and suffered a few strokes.

At the beginning of the year, he ended up in hospital with coronavirus. There his condition deteriorated rapidly. He was put into a coma and eventually his candle, like the cigarette on Geboers’s steering wheel, quietly extinguished.


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Written by

Matthew Roscoe

Originally from the UK, Matthew is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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