He won the prestigious Tour of Flanders twice and Brabantse Pijl four times.
Van Hooydonck retired from professional cycling because he felt he could no longer compete with other cyclists, who were at the time starting to dope themselves, without himself cheating too.
At this time Erythropoietin (EPO) was becoming a widely used doping agent in the sport.
[1][2] He is the uncle of former professional cyclist Nathan Van Hooydonck.
One minor innovation in cycling credited to Van Hooydonk are three quarter length bibshorts.