In 1952, at the age of 21, Jozef Schils, who had just become a professional racing cyclist[1] and was still in the army, became Belgian road racing champion. He was nominated for the road world championships in Luxembourg in the same year and finished tenth.
Schils rode as a professional until 1965 and won around 40 Belgian criteria during this time. 1953 was his most successful year, in which he won Paris-Tours and the Nationale Sluitingsprijs.[2] In 1955 he won at Nokere Koerse. His nickname was "little Coppi", because Fausto Coppi had praised him. However, he turned down offers to go to Italy. In 1957, he won the Omloop der Vlaamse Gewesten in Ichtegem on a postman's bike.[3] In 1960, he switched to the French team "Mercier", which was led by Antonin Magne and in which Raymond Poulidor rode. At the end of the season he had a hard crash and he crashed again heavily in 1961. In 1965, he ended his career.[4]
Then Jozef Schils opened a café in Koekelberg, later a laundry and a bicycle shop. Jozef Schils was the father of the former professional racing cyclist Patrick Schils and was the grandfather of Dominic Schils, also a racing cyclist of note.[5]
.svg){kind=small}
