- Was a Belgian road racing cyclist, from Grobbendonk, in the Flemish Campine or Kempen region.
- Herman Vanspringel grew up in Oevel, where his parents had a farm. He was the eighth of ten children. Later the family moved to Grobbendonk, where he went to school until he was fourteen. Only later did he become interested in cycling: he got a racing bike and soon won a few small, local competitions with it. Then his career as a cyclist started.
- Van Springel was an accomplished time-trial rider, almost winning the Tour de France in 1968. He was beaten in the last stage by Dutch rider Jan Janssen in a time-trial. This remains as one of the closest races in Tour de France history.
- He won the Green Jersey in the 1973 Tour de France without winning a single stage.
- In the autumn of 1968, he won the classic Giro di Lombardia.
- He won a record seven editions of the marathon Bordeaux-Paris.
- Van Springel cycled through the 1970s and ended his career at the end of the 1981 season.
- In the seventeen years that Herman Vanspringel was a professional cyclist, he won a total of 136 road races.
- He achieved podium finishes in all three of the grand tours with second place in the 1968 Tour de France and 1971 Giro d'Italia, and third place in the 1970 Vuelta a España.
- With seven victories in 1970, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1981, Herman Vanspringel is the record man in the Bordeaux-Paris monster stage. At about 2 am with sleepy eyes, gathering was blown in the darkness of Bordeaux. From Poitiers the riders cycled 560 km behind the derny to Paris. Vanspringel won all his competitions with the same pacer, Gaston Dewachter. In 1974 he shared the first prize with the Frenchman Régis Délépine after being sent the wrong way. His last win, at almost 38 years old, was achieved in a record 13 hours 35 minutes 18 seconds or 47.2 km per hour over the distance of 584.5 km.
- After his career he became a salesman. He continued to do this job until he retired at 65.
- Herman Vanspringel had three daughters and also had a son who died at the age of 18.
- Three times a week he went cycling on the Netedijk between Bouwel and Duffel. He also regularly cycled with Eddy Merckx.
- Flemish TV-maker and presenter, Marc Uytterhoeven, motivated by the 1968 Tour, founded a Herman Van Springel fan club.
- He wore the Maillot Jaune during four stages of the 1968 Tour de France and for three stages in 1973.
- He was honored with a book Herman Vanspringel 68 by Mark Uytterhoeven as well as a statue in Grobbendonck.
- Before he became a professional cyclist Herman Van Springel was a diamond cutter by trade.
- After retiring, Herman Van Springel owned a restaurant and bakery.
- Belgian champion in 1971, he also won the Tour of Lombardy (1968), Ghent-Wevelgem (1966) and Paris-Tours (1979).
- His career was shadowed by his crushing 1968 Tour de France loss. The 38-second gap was the tightest winning margin on the Tour until 1989 when Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by eight seconds.
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