Gerard van Beek (1 November 1923 — 15 March 1951) was a Dutch

road cyclist Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws as ...

. He won the bronze medal in the amateurs road race at the

1947 UCI Road World Championships The 1947 UCI Road World Championships took place on 3 August 1947 in Reims, France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas region ...

. In 1948 and 1949 he won the final stage in the

Ronde van Nederland The Tour of the Netherlands ''(Dutch: Ronde van Nederland)'' was a road bicycle racing stage-race in the Netherlands, founded in 1948. It's an annual race since 1975. Because of the start of the UCI ProTour in 2005, it was replaced by the Enec ...

. Van Beek grew up in

Oostzaan Oostzaan () is a municipality and a town in the Zaanstreek, Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The municipality had a population of in . Oostzaan has a total area of of which is water. Oostzaan—together with Westzaan and Assen ...

, and road for the local cycling team D.T.S., but did not participate in races for a while, because he did not dare to, as he said later. When he did start racing he was an immediate success, and won the Ronde of Noord-Holland in 1947, and a road race from Amsterdam to Arnhem and back. In that year's world championship, in Reims, he finished third, behind two Italian racers. Van Beek became professional in 1947, after winning the bronze medal as an amateur at the

. He was selected for the

1948 Tour de France The 1948 Tour de France was the 35th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 30 June to 25 July 1948. It consisted of 21 stages over . The race was won by Italian cyclist Gino Bartali, who had also won the Tour de France in 1938. Bartal ...

and was chosen as a substitute for the

1948 UCI Road World Championships The 1948 UCI Road World Championships took place in Valkenburg, the Netherlands. For the first time, six riders per country were allowed to participate in the professional race. The Cauberg had to be climbed every lap. Briek Schotte Alberic " ...

, for professionals. In 1948 and 1949 he won the final stage in the

, and in 1949 he lost in the final of the Dutch championship to

Wim van Est Wim is a masculine given name or a shortened form of Willem and other names and may refer to: * Wim Anderiesen (1903–1944), Dutch footballer * Wim Aantjes (1923–2015), Dutch politician * Wim Arras (born 1964), Belgian cyclist * Wim Blockmans ...

, after defeating

Gerrit Schulte Gerrit Schulte (7 January 1916 – 26 February 1992) 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 ...

in the semi-final. After that, he became more of a track racer. In 1950 he finished third in the 50k race at the Dutch championships, and did couple races, particularly in Germany, with

Cor Bakker Cor Bakker (born 19 August 1961) is a Dutch pianist. Bakker was born at Landsmeer. He rose to fame playing in '' De Schreeuw van De Leeuw'', a television show starring Paul de Leeuw He has had his own Radio Show called ''Music Minded'', whic ...

and with Arie Vooren. On 15 March 1951 he had a flat tire and crashed during a six-day race in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and died later in the hospital. Van Beek was well known in his community as a progressive working-class person, participating in local pacifist groups; he was one of the first signatories for a remembrance of the

February strike The February strike ( nl, Februaristaking) was a general strike in the German-occupied Netherlands in 1941, during World War II, organised by the then-outlawed Communist Party of the Netherlands in defence of persecuted Dutch Jews and against t ...

References

1923 births 1951 deaths Dutch male cyclists Sportspeople from Volendam Sport deaths in Germany Dutch track cyclists Cyclists who died while racing Cyclists from North Holland 20th-century Dutch people {{Netherlands-cycling-bio-stub

See also

References