As a fledgling teenager, he worked successively as cigar-roller in a factory, as errand boy and as bicycle mechanic.

[1] Dreaming of a cycling career like that of his idol Karel Kaers, the tall youngster started his first street race in Morkhoven on April 4, 1939, and won it.

His sporting achievements, combined with his physical appearance and natural authority made him a rider who was looked up to in the peloton, with or without fear.

In the same period he won fifteen stages in the Giro d'Italia and rode in the leader's pink jersey for nine days.

In the Vuelta a España, he achieved six stage victories and the points classification and wore the amarillo jersey for one day.

Remarkable is a 48-hour spell in 1957, when Van Steenbergen raced in the Belgian Congo, Copenhagen, Paris and Liège, winning all four events.

After his career, a newspaper calculated that Van Steenbergen rode more than 1 million kilometers on a bike, the equivalent of 25 tours around the world.

Van Steenbergen really enjoyed the atmosphere and competition in races and was noticed whistling on his bicycle on several occasions.

His background as the child of a poor family, combined with the situation in post-war Belgium undoubtedly contributed to this.

The bigger contracts in this sport and the stifling rivalry with Rik Van Looy were the main drivers of that conscious choice.

At the time he stopped cycling, Van Steenbergen owned several properties and flats in Belgium and Sardinia.

The funeral was in the Sint Pauluskerk of Westmalle, attended by about 2000 people, including Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy, Roger De Vlaeminck, Walter Godefroot, Johan De Muynck, Lucien Van Impe, Freddy Maertens and Briek Schotte.

The UCI president Hein Verbruggen and Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt also attended.