Alfred De Bruyne (21 October 1930 – 4 February 1994) was a Belgian champion

road cyclist Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...

. He won six

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

stages early in his career and went on to win many other

Monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

and stage races. He had a great deal of success early in his career during the

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

was his first Tour, his best result was making one stage podium, on stage 5 from

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

to Caen. In 1954 he finished 2nd on the final stage into Paris and won three stages along the way. In 1955 he didn't win any stages, but ended up with the highest overall classification he would ever have which was 17th. In

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

he won three stages in the first half of the Tour, but slowed a bit in the second half and couldn't add to this total. Also in 1956 he won Milan–San Remo and

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 ...

, as well as the stage race Paris–Nice early in the season. In

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

he abandoned the Tour for the first time in his career. He won both

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 th ...

and Paris–Tours that year. In

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

he rode the Giro for the first time and didn't win any stages and finished 16th overall. He won Paris–Nice, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and came in the top 10 of

Gent–Wevelgem Gent–Wevelgem, officially Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields, is a road cycling race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic races part of the Flemish Cycling Week, run in late March on the last Sunday before the To ...

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week betw ...

, Paris–Roubaix, Paris-Tours and Milan San Remo. He also won the

Challenge Desgrange-Colombo The Challenge Desgrange-Colombo was a season-long road bicycle racing competition between 1948 and 1958. There were two classifications, one for individual cyclists and another for nations. History The Challenge Desgrange-Colombo competition was ...

competition three years running, from 1956 to 1958. This was the forerunner of the Super Prestige, later replaced by the UCI Ranking Points List. After his professional cycling career he went on to write several books about some of the most important Belgian cyclists of his era and became a popular TV sports commentator, a team manager, and finally a spokesman for the cycling team.

Major results

;1954 :

: ::Winner stages 8, 13 and 22 ;1956 : Milan–San Remo :

: Paris–Nice :

: ::Winner stages 1, 6 and 10 ;1957 :

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and orga ...

: Paris–Tours :

Six days of Ghent The Six Days of Ghent ( nl, Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Gent) is a six-day track cycling race held annually in Ghent, Belgium. It takes place in the Kuipke velodrome in Ghent's ''Citadelpark''. The 2006 event from 21 November to 26 November was marred ...

;1958 :Liège–Bastogne–Liège : Paris–Nice ;1959 :Liège–Bastogne–Liège :

;1961 :

Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne is an annual single-day road cycling race in Belgium. It is held one day after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, on the last Sunday of February or the first of March, and completes the opening weekend of the Belgian cycling season ...

Books by Fred De Bruyne

Fred de Bruyne wrote following books (in Dutch) about famous cyclists: * ''Rik Van Steenbergen'', 1963 * ''Rik Van Looy'', 1963 * ''Patrick Sercu'', 1965 * ''Peter Post'', 1965 * ''De memoires van Fred De Bruyne'', 1978

References

External links

* 1930 births 1994 deaths Belgian male cyclists Belgian Tour de France stage winners Cycling announcers People from Berlare Cyclists from East Flanders Challenge Desgrange-Colombo winners {{Belgium-cycling-bio-1930s-stub