Patrick Sercu

Patrick Sercu was a Belgian cyclist who raced on both the track and the road between 1961 and 1983 and is regarded as one of the most successful track riders in history. He won the 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics, his only Games, and took three world sprint titles, in 1963, 1967 and 1969. As a professional he became the record holder for six-day race victories, with 88 wins from 223 starts, several of them partnered with Eddy Merckx. On the road he was a sprinter who won the green jersey at the 1974 Tour de France, six Tour stages and a dozen or more stages of the Giro d'Italia. By his own count he won more than twelve hundred races. After retiring he organised six-day events, including the Six Days of Ghent, and died in 2019.