Karel Kaers (3 June 1914 – 20 December 1972) was a Belgian professional cyclist with 30 wins. Kaers was born in

Vosselaar Vosselaar () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Vosselaar proper. In 2021, Vosselaar had a total population of 11,443. The total area is 11.85 km2. There are three paris ...

. In 1934 he became the youngest world road champion, winning in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

at 20. It was the first time he had ridden the race. He also won the

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 organi ...

in 1939, and the Belgian national championship in 1937. His last race was on the track at

Ordrup Ordrup is a district of Gentofte Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located circa north of the city centre. History Ordrup was originally a small village which only consisted of eight farms and a forge. The area ...

, near

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, on 9 May 1948. He finished fourth in an omnium competition.

Youngest world champion

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 Tour de ...

is frequently described as the youngest world champion. In fact, he was only the third youngest road champion when he took the

rainbow jersey The rainbow jersey is the distinctive jersey worn by the reigning world champion in a cycling discipline, since 1927. The jersey is predominantly white with five horizontal bands in the UCI colours around the chest. From the bottom up the c ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in 1993. Armstrong was two weeks short of 22; Kaers had just turned 20.

Jean-Pierre Monseré Jean-Pierre "Jempi" Monseré (8 September 1948 – 15 March 1971) was a Belgian road racing cyclist who died while champion of the world. Career Early life As a child, the energetic Monseré excelled in different sports like football and ...

was three weeks short of 22 when he became champion in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

on 16 August 1970.

History

Karel Kaers started racing at 14 and won 37 events in his first two years, including the Belgian boys' championship on the road. He became a junior in 1931 and won the national sprint championship. He became an independent, or semi-professional, and then a full professional in 1932, riding mainly on the track until 1934. In 1934 he began riding more on the road, winning the world championship at

. That winter he rode 1m 9.6s for a standing-start kilometre and, another track record, 1m 48s for the flying-start kilometre, both on the

Vélodrome d'Hiver The Vélodrome d'Hiver (, ''Winter Velodrome''), colloquially Vel' d'Hiv', was an indoor bicycle racing cycle track and stadium (velodrome) on rue Nélaton, not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. As well as a Track cycling, cycling track, it was ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He won the 320 km Circuit of Paris road race in 1937, then rode the track again in the winter and equalled

Jeff Scherens Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

' record of 29.6s for 500 metres. He then broke the world one-mile record at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, during the six-day race, by riding 1m 49.6s. His weight, 85 kg, made him a poor climber and he never succeeded in hilly races.

Retirement

Karel Kaers ran a bar inside the entrance to the Sportpaleis track in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

after he stopped racing.Sporting Cyclist, UK, undated cutting He died in Antwerp, aged 58.

Palmarès

;1930 : U17 road champion ;1931–1932 : U19 sprint champion ;1934 : world road champion : 3rd, national sprint championship ;1935 - Francis Pélissier : 3rd, national sprint championship ;1936 - Colin : 1st, 6 Days of Paris (with

Albert Billiet Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Alber ...

) : 3rd, national sprint championship ;1937 - Alcyon, Bury : Road Race Champion : 1st,

Circuit de Paris Circuit may refer to: Science and technology Electrical engineering * Electrical circuit, a complete electrical network with a closed-loop giving a return path for current ** Analog circuit, uses continuous signal levels ** Balanced circu ...

: 3rd, national sprint championship ;1938 - Alcyon, Bury : 1st, Stage 1, Paris-Saint Etienne ;1939 - Alcyon : pursuit champion : 1st,

: 1st,

6 Days of London 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

(with

Omer De Bruycker Omer may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Omer (unit), an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem * The Counting of the Omer (''sefirat ha'omer''), a 49 day period in the Jewish calendar * Omer (Book of Mormon), a Jaredite k ...

) : 1st,

6 Days of Copenhague 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second smalles ...

(with

) : 3rd, national sprint championship ;1940 - Alcyon : 1st,

6 Day of Brussels 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

(with

) : 2nd, National motor-paced championship ;1941 : 1st,

Omloop der Vlaamse Gewesten The Omloop der Vlaamse gewesten was a men's cycling race of which the original format was organized for the last time in 1972. The race was run in variating Flemish provinces or Brussels. The competition's roll of honor includes the successes o ...

: 2nd, national sprint championship ;1942 : 1st, 3 Days of Antwerp (with

Achiel Bruneel Achiel Bruneel (19 October 1918 – 5 June 2008) was a professional track cyclist from Herenthout, Belgium. He rode different Six-days events of which he eventually won 12, remarkably with 9 different teammates. Major results ;1940 : 2n ...

: 2nd, national omnium championship ;1944 - A. Trialoux ;1947 - Magali

Teams

1933-1934: Unknown 1935: Pélissier-Hutchinson 1936: Colin-Wolber and Bristol 1937: Bury and Alcyon-Dunlop 1938: Dilecta-Wolber and Bury and Alcyon-Dunlop 1939-1940: Alcyon-Dunlop 1941-1943: Unsponsored 1944: Trialoux-Wolber 1945-1946: Unsponsored 1947: Magali 1948: Individual

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaers, Karel 1914 births 1972 deaths Belgian male cyclists UCI Road World Champions (elite men) Cyclists from Antwerp Province People from Vosselaar