Alberic Schotte
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Alberic "Briek" Schotte (September 19, 1919, Kanegem - April 4, 2004, Kortrijk) was a Belgian professional cyclist. His generation of cyclists, that of the 40s and 50s, is called the "Flandriens".
Born and raised in West Flanders, he was nicknamed "Iron Briek" (IJzeren Briek) because of his incredible stamina.
One of the greatest cycling champions of the 40s and 50s, he was twice World Champion (in 1948 and 1950), won the last stage of the 1946 Tour de France and finished second in the epic 1948 edition, behind the unapproachable Gino Bartali.
His specialty, however, were one-day races: he twice won the Ronde van Vlaanderen (1942, 1948), Paris-Tours (1946, 1947) and Paris-Brussels (1946, 1952). Symbolically enough, he died on the day of the 2004 Tour of Flanders. The commentators during the race said that this couldn't be a coincidence: "God must have been one of Briek's greatest fans".
He also won the inaugural Challenge Desgrange-Colombo, a season-long competition intended to identify the world's best road racing cyclist, in 1948.
After his retirement as a professional cyclist in 1959, he remained active as a team coach for 30 years, mostly for the Flandria team.
| Preceded by: Theo Middelkamp |
World Road Racing Champion 1948 |
Succeeded by: Rik Van Steenbergen |
| Preceded by: Rik Van Steenbergen |
World Road Racing Champion 1950 |
Succeeded by: Ferdi Kubler |
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