Roger De Vlaeminck is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist. He was described by Rik Van Looy as "The most talented and the only real classics rider of his generation". Nicknamed "The Gypsy" because he was born into a family of traveling clothiers, he is known for exploits in the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix race, but his performances in other "Monument" races gave him a record that few can match. His record in Paris–Roubaix earned him another nickname, "Monsieur Paris–Roubaix".
Jan Raas is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, he also won the Tour of Flanders in 1979 and 1983, Paris–Roubaix in 1982 and Milan–San Remo in 1977. He won ten stages in the Tour de France. In six starts, Raas won the Amstel Gold Race five times. In his entire career he competed in 23 of the highly contested "Monument" Races and he finished on the podium in almost half of them: 1st place four times and 3rd place six times.
Freddy Maertens is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist who was twice world road race champion. His career coincided with the best years of another Belgian rider, Eddy Merckx, and supporters and reporters were split over who was better. Maertens' career swung between winning more than 50 races in a season to winning almost none and then back again. His life has been marked by debt and alcoholism. It took him more than two decades to pay a tax debt. At one point early in his career, between the 1976 Tour and 1977 Giro, Maertens won 28 out of 60 Grand Tour stages that he entered before abandoning the Giro due to injury on stage 8b. Eight Tour stage wins, thirteen Vuelta stage wins and seven Giro stage wins in less than one calendar year.
Andrei Tchmil is a retired Soviet, Moldovan (1992–1994), Ukrainian (1994–1998) and Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the men's individual road race at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Jelle Nijdam is a Dutch former professional road cyclist. Nijdam turned professional after the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He participated in the Tour de France 10 times, winning six stages and wearing the yellow jersey for three days. Nijdam's father, Henk Nijdam, was a professional cyclist from 1962 to 1969, who won the 1962 world amateur track pursuit championship. He also competed in the individual pursuit and team pursuit events at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Michel Pollentier is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer.
Frans De Mulder was a professional road racing cyclist from Belgium between 1958 and 1963.
Eddy Planckaert is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Planckaert enjoyed perhaps his best year by capturing the green jersey at the 1988 Tour de France and winning the Tour of Flanders. In 1990, he won Paris–Roubaix, his second monumental classic, with the closest finish in the race's history beating Canadian Steve Bauer by less than a cm. A strong sprinter, Planckaert is one of the riders with stage wins at all three cycling Grand Tours.
Wilfried Peeters is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. Nowadays, he is sportif director of the Quick Step team. During his cycling-career, he was a major help for Johan Museeuw in classics such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix.
Wilfried Nelissen is a Belgian former road racing cyclist, who specialised as a sprinter.
Gilbert Desmet, nicknamed Smetje van Lichtervelde, was a Belgian cyclist who was professional from 1952 to 1967. In the 1956 Tour de France, he wore the yellow jersey for two days, and in the 1963 Tour de France he wore it for nine days. Desmet won 101 professional races, including Paris–Tours, La Flèche Wallonne and Four Days of Dunkirk. His best result in the Tour de France was his 4th place in 1962. He finished second in the 1959 Paris–Roubaix. In total, Desmet won 101 professional races.
Edwig Van Hooydonck is a former professional road racing cyclist from Belgium. 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. He is the uncle of former professional cyclist Nathan Van Hooydonck.
Edward Sels is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was professional from 1963 to 1972, winning 35 races. He was road champion of Belgium in 1961 (Military) and 1964. He won seven stages in the Tour de France and one in the Giro d'Italia. He wore the yellow jersey for two days in the 1964 Tour de France. His sister, Rosa Sels, was a cyclist too.
Marc Demeyer was a professional road racing cyclist from Avelgem, Belgium. Although known as the "master servant" for Freddy Maertens, the powerful Demeyer was able to win 60 professional road races. He died of a heart attack at the age of 31.
Guido Reybrouck is a Belgian former road bicycle racer. He is an older brother of Wilfried Reybrouck and the cousin of Gustave Danneels.
Daniel Willems was a Belgian road bicycle racer. Health problems ended his career in 1986. He competed in the team time trial event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, track cyclist and directeur sportif. He is an uncle of Frank Vandenbroucke. He was a prologue specialist, winning 19 prologues throughout his career.
Frans Melckenbeeck is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. In 1962, Melckenbeeck won one stage of the Tour de France, and in 1963 he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He won 4 stages in the 1964 and 1965 Vuelta a España. Melckenbeeck also competed in the team pursuit at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Marc Sergeant is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the team time trial event at the 1980 Summer Olympics. After Sergeant stopped his cycling career, he became team manager at Lotto–Soudal. He left his management role at the end of the 2021 season. Sergeant finished a total of 6 times in the top 10 of Tour of Flanders.
Arthur Decabooter was a Belgian professional racing cyclist, active as a professional between 1959 and 1967. Cyclist Walter Godefroot is his wife's brother-in-law.
