Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx, better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an unequalled eleven Grand Tours, all five Monuments, setting the hour record, three World Championships, every major one-day race other than Paris–Tours, and extensive victories on the track.
Alberic "Briek" Schotte was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist, one of the champions of the 1940s and 1950s. His stamina earned him the nickname "Iron Briek".
Jean-Pierre "Jempi" Monseré was a Belgian road racing cyclist who died while champion of the world.
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".
Henri "Rik" Van Looy is a Belgian former professional cyclist of the post-war period, nicknamed the King of the Classics or Emperor of Herentals. He was twice world professional road race champion, and was the first cyclist to win all five 'Monuments': the most prestigious one-day classics – a feat since achieved by just two others. With 379 road victories he's second to Merckx only. He is ninth on the all-time list of Grand Tour stage winners with thirty-seven victories.
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.
Patrick Sercu was a Belgian cyclist who was active on the road and track between 1961 and 1983. On track, he won the gold medal in the 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics, as well as three world titles in the sprint in 1963, 1967 and 1969. On the road, he earned the green jersey in the 1974 Tour de France. Sercu is the record holder for the number of six-day track race victories, having won 88 events out of 223 starts between 1961 and 1983; several of these wins were with cycling great Eddy Merckx. He also won six stages at the Tour de France and eleven stages at the Giro d'Italia.
Belgium competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. 61 competitors, 60 men and 1 woman, took part in 36 events in 13 sports.
The 1970 Tour de France was the 57th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 27 June and 19 July, with 23 stages covering a distance of 4,254 km (2,643 mi). It was the second victory for Belgian Eddy Merckx, who also won the mountains classification, and nearly won every major jersey for a 2nd year in a row but finished second in the points classification behind Walter Godefroot by five points. The previous year only one rider was able to keep him within 20:00 and in 1970 a mere four other riders were within 20:00, with only debutant Joop Zoetemelk finishing inside 15:00 of Merckx.
The 1969 Tour de France was the 56th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 28 June and 20 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of 4,117 km (2,558 mi). The participant teams were no longer national teams, but were once more commercially sponsored. The race was won by Eddy Merckx who absolutely dominated the rest of the field. As an example in 1967 nine riders finished within 20:00 of the winner, in 1968 nineteen riders were within 20:00 but in 1969 the 10th place rider was +52:56, the 20th place rider was +1:17:36 and only Roger Pingeon finished inside 20:00 of Merckx.
Walter Godefroot is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer and former directeur sportif of Team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile Team.
Molteni was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team from 1958 until the end of 1976. It won 663 races, many of them earned by its most famous rider, Eddy Merckx. Other riders included Gianni Motta and Marino Basso, who contributed 48 and 34 wins respectively. The Molteni family continues in cycling with sponsorship of Salmilano.
Cycle racing is a popular sport in Belgium. It is governed by the Royal Belgian Cycling League since 1882, which became a founding member of the International Cycling Association in 1892 and later of the Union Cycliste Internationale in 1900. Since 2002, the Royal Belgian Cycling League is composed of the Wielerbond Vlaanderen (WBV), which governs the cycle racing in Flanders and of the Fédération Cycliste Wallonie-Bruxelles (FCWB), which governs the cycle racing in Wallonia and Brussels. Belgium has been one of the major countries in different categories of cycle racing over the years, including road cycling and cyclo-cross. The best Belgian cyclist of all times, Eddy Merckx, nicknamed the Cannibal, has won all of the three grand tours and all of the five monuments of cycling. He also won the UCI Road World Championships three times and set the hour record, among other achievements.
The 61st running of the Tour of Flanders cycling race in Belgium was held on 3 April 1977. Belgian Roger De Vlaeminck won in a two-man sprint before Freddy Maertens, although the latter was later disqualified for an illegal bike change. The race started in Sint-Niklaas and finished in Meerbeke.
The 60th running of the Tour of Flanders cycling race in Belgium was held on Sunday 4 April 1976. Belgian Walter Planckaert won before Francesco Moser and Marc Demeyer. It was the last time the race started in its original starting place, Ghent. The finish was in Meerbeke (Ninove).
The 57th running of the Tour of Flanders cycling race in Belgium was held on Sunday 1 April 1973. Belgian Eric Leman won the classic ahead of Freddy Maertens and Eddy Merckx. The race started in Ghent and finished for the first time in Meerbeke (Ninove). 37 out of 174 riders arrived.
The 54th running of the Tour of Flanders cycling race in Belgium was held on Sunday 5 April 1970. Belgian Eric Leman won ahead of Walter Godefroot and Eddy Merckx, winning his first of three in the classic The race started in Ghent and finished in Gentbrugge. 37 out of 173 riders arrived.
The Men's Individual Road Race of the 1974 UCI Road World Championships cycling event took place on August 25 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The route consisted of twenty-one laps around a circuit that contained two climbs within it, totaling to a length of 262.5 km (163.1 mi). Belgian Eddy Merckx won the race, while French riders Raymond Poulidor and Mariano Martínez finished second and third, respectively. This was Merckx's third victory in the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships, equaling the record. In addition, he also completed the Triple Crown of Cycling, which consists of winning two Grand Tour races and the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in a calendar year.
The Omloop van Oost-Vlaanderen was a post WW II-men's cycling race organized for the last time in 1979. The start and finish place was Ertvelde.
