German cyclist Rudi Altig, a former world champion and who wore the Tour de France yellow jersey for a total of 18 days in four appearances in the 1960s, died on Saturday, age 79, his family said.

World champion in 1966, Altig had been fighting a serious illness, according to SID news agency, a subsidiary of AFP.

Altig also captured the 1962 Tour of Spain before retiring in 1971 and it was once estimated that in his career he had pedalled for more than one million kilometres.

Altig was married and had three children and two grand-children.

Source: AFP