Alfons Deloor (his name is also given as "De Loor") (3 June 1910 - 23 March 1995) was a Belgian

racing cyclist Cycle sport is Competition, competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing ...

. He reached second place at the

1936 Vuelta a España The 1936 Vuelta a España was the 2nd Vuelta a España.This cycling race took place from 5 May to 31 May 1936. The race was composed of 21 stages over and was ridden at an average of . The second edition of the Vuelta began under a volatile polit ...

behind his brother Gustaaf, and won the 1938 Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

Biography

Alfons Deloor was the fourth of five sons. Their father worked as a farmhand during the season, and in the coal mines of Hainaut otherwise. The family lived in

De Klinge De Klinge is a Belgian town and part of the municipality of Sint-Gillis-Waas in the province of East Flanders (Oost-Vlaanderen), is located on the border with the Netherlands province of Zeeland and within the non-administrative region known as th ...

, a small

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

town near the border with the Netherlands. Alfons and his younger brother Gustaaf were taught to ride a bike by their elder brother Edward. His first cycling success came in 1931, finishing ninth in

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège, also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Monuments'' of the European professional r ...

. He went on to finish second in the 1932 Tour of Flanders. The same year, he was tenth in

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Monuments' or classics of the ...

, which he improved upon in the 1933 edition by finishing sixth. In the

1933 Tour de France The 1933 Tour de France was the 27th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 27 June to 23 July. It consisted of 23 stages over . This race featured the introduction of the mountains competition, in which cyclists were challenged to cl ...

, he finished 27th, and he was fourth in the 1933 Tour of Flanders and second in the

Tour of Belgium The Tour of Belgium ( nl, Ronde van België; french: Tour de Belgique) is a five-day bicycle race which is held annually in Belgium, and is part of the UCI ProSeries. It was held annually between 1908 and 1981, except during both world wars. Betw ...

. In 1934, he ended in second place in the

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; en, Tour of Catalonia, es, Vuelta a Cataluña, link=no) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of th ...

, where he won the second stage, and third in the Tour of Belgium. He finished 6th in the

1935 Vuelta a España The 1st edition of Vuelta a España took place from 29 April to 15 May 1935, and consisted of 14 stages and , the winning average speed was . The Vuelta began and ended in Madrid, Spain. The field consisted of 50 riders including 33 Spanish rider ...

, which was won by his brother Gustaaf. That same year he finished 7th in

and tenth in

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlookin ...

. The

next year "Next Year" is a song released as the last single from the third Foo Fighters' album ''There Is Nothing Left to Lose''. History A shorter version (running at just 3:21 compared to the original's 4:36) was released as a single in 2000 and wa ...

, he finished second behind his brother, and won the 14th stage. It is the only time that two brothers ended first and second in any of the three

Grand Tours In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...

. That same year he ended sixth in the

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...

and third in

. His most major win came in 1938, bringing home

. His career was brutally ended by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and afterwards he became a crane driver, mainly working on building and maintaining dykes.

Notes

External links

* 1910 births 1995 deaths Belgian male cyclists Cyclists from Hainaut (province) People from Manage, Belgium {{Belgium-cycling-bio-1910s-stub