Frans Slaats (born Waalwijk, Netherlands, 11 June 1912, died Waalwijk, 6 April 1993) was a Dutch professional cyclist who broke the world hour record.
Slaats was a prominent velodrome rider in the 1930s, especially in six-day racing. In September 1937 he set the world hour record at 45.558 km on the Vigorelli track in Milan, Italy. It was bettered the same year by the French rider, Maurice Archambaud.
Slaats was at the Buenos Aires six-day in Argentina when World War II erupted in 1939. On returning to the Netherlands when peace came in 1945, he found his four brothers had been killed by the German army.
Constant ("Stan") Ockers was a Belgian professional racing cyclist.
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 dominated the classic cycle races in the late 1950s and first half of the ‘60s.
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.
Marcel Kint was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who won 31 races between 1935 and 1951. His finest year was 1938 when he won the World Cycling Championship, three stages of the Tour de France and the season-long competition equivalent to today's UCI ProTour.
Ferdinand Bracke is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist who is most famous for holding the World Hour Record (48.093 km) and winning the overall title at the 1971 Vuelta a España in front of Wilfried David of Belgium and Luis Ocaña of Spain. He also became world pursuit champion on the track in 1964 and 1969.
Maurice Archambaud was a French professional cyclist from 1932 to 1944. His short stature earned him the nickname of le nabot, or "the dwarf", but his colossal thighs made him an exceptional rider.
Danny Stam is a Dutch former racing cyclist, who specialised in Six-day racing track cycling. He is nicknamed "De kleine diesel". He currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Women's WorldTeam Team SD Worx–Protime.
Karel Kaers was a Belgian professional cyclist with 30 wins.
Kenny De Ketele is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2007 and 2021, entirely for UCI ProTeam Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise. He won eight medals at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, including a gold medal in the Madison at the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, partnering Gijs Van Hoecke. Following his retirement, De Ketele became a directeur sportif with Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise.
Joseph "Jef" Scherens, better known as Poeske Scherens, was a Belgian professional track cyclist, specializing in sprint where he won seven World Championships.
Gerrit Schulte was a Dutch professional track bicycle racer. Between 1940 and 1960 he won 19 six-day races out of 73 starts and was one of the dominant Six days racers of his time. Schulte was as well successful in track pursuit, becoming national champion ten times, European champion twice and world champion once, in 1948, when he beat Fausto Coppi in the final. He was also successful as a road race cyclists, becoming national champion three times and winning a stage in the 1938 Tour de France. Since 1955, the Gerrit Schulte Trophy has been awarded by the national federation to the best professional rider in the Netherlands.
Willy Vannitsen was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. In 1962, Vannitsen won two stages in the 1962 Tour de France.
Graeme Gilmore is an Australian retired track cyclist. He is the father of Belgian racing cyclist Matthew Gilmore and brother in law of British racing cyclist Tom Simpson.
Moreno De Pauw is a Belgian former cyclist, who rode professionally for Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise between 2014 and 2019.
Roman Hermann is a Liechtensteiner former cyclist. He is the brother of fellow cyclists Sigmund und Peter Hermann.
Emile Severeyns was a Belgian road and track cyclist. Professional from 1953 to 1971, he won 26 six-day races. He also competed in the 1954 Giro d'Italia and the 1956 Vuelta a España.
Achiel Bruneel was a professional track cyclist from Herenthout, Belgium.
Omer De Bruycker was a Belgian racing cyclist. He was a professional from 1930 to 1947.