Fred De Bruyne

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Alfred De Bruyne (21 October 1930 – 4 February 1994) was a Belgian champion road cyclist. He won six Tour de France stages early in his career and went on to win many other Monuments and stage races.

De Bruyne had a great deal of success early in his career during the Tour de France. 1953 was his first Tour, his best result was making one stage podium, on stage 5 from Dieppe 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, De Bruyne won three stages in the first half of the Tour, but slowed a bit in the second half and could not add to this total. Also in 1956 he won Milan–San Remo and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, as well as the stage race Paris–Nice early in the season. In 1957 De Bruyne abandoned the Tour for the first time in his career. He won both Paris–Roubaix and Paris–Tours that year. In 1958 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, La Flèche Wallonne, Paris–Roubaix, Paris-Tours and Milan San Remo.

Fred De Bruyne also won the Challenge Desgrange-Colombo competition three years running, from 1956 to 1958. This was the forerunner of the Super Prestige Pernod, 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.

In 1988 he finally left cycling behind and moved with his wife to the Provence in France. However, their happiness was short-lived, barely six years later, in February 1994, De Bruyne died of a heart attack after a lingering illness.

Riding style 
De Bruyne cycled on intelligence and competition insight, and only attacked when he was very sure. But then he also went very explosive and fast. In contrast to his gentle nature, the talkative De Bruyne was maniacal as a cyclist. ''On the bike, I was actually a beast'', De Bruyne once let slip. He was not known as the great top talent, but his intelligence and innate discipline enabled him to amass a brilliant record.

Major results

Road
1953
1st Tour of Flanders independents
1st Bosbeek-Brussegem independents
1st Blanden independents
2nd Gent-Wevelgem independents
1953
1st Gentbrugge
1954
 1st Berlare (nl)
Tour de France
1st Stages 8, 13 and 22
1st Omloop van Oost-Vlaanderen
1st Criterium of East-Flanders
2nd GP Stad Vilvoorde
2nd Schelde–Dender–Leie
4th Circuit des six provinces (fr)
1st Stage 2
6th Paris–Tours
9th Road race, UCI World Championships
1955
1st Omloop van Midden-België
 1st GP Frans Melckenbeek (nl)
2nd Giro di Lombardia
2nd Paris–Tours
2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen
1st Stage 2
3rd Tour du Sud-Est
1st Stage 4
3rd Grand Prix du Midi Libre
4th Nationale Sluitingsprijs
6th Brussels–Ingooigem
1956
1st Milan–San Remo
1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
1st Overall  Paris–Nice
1st Stages 1 and 5
Tour de France
1st Stages 1, 6 and 10
1st Challenge Desgrange-Colombo
2nd Boucles de l'Aulne
2nd Paris–Roubaix
4th Paris–Tours
5th Road race, UCI World Championships
5th Bordeaux–Paris
9th Giro di Lombardia
9th Paris–Brussels
1957
1st Tour of Flanders
1st Paris–Roubaix
1st Paris–Tours
 1st Berlare (nl)
1st Sassari–Cagliari
1st Challenge Desgrange-Colombo
2nd Milan–San Remo
2nd Milano–Torino
4th Paris–Brussels
5th Road race, UCI World Championships
8th Roma–Napoli–Roma
1st Stage 8
1958
1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
1st Overall  Paris–Nice
 1st Berlare (nl)
1st Challenge Desgrange-Colombo
2nd Paris–Tours
2nd Boucles de l'Aulne
2nd Omloop van Limburg
3rd Gent–Wevelgem
4th La Flèche Wallonne
4th Paris–Brussels
6th Milan–San Remo
6th Gran Premio di Lugano
6th Paris–Roubaix
7th Giro del Lazio
10th Tour of Flanders
1959
1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
2nd Omloop Het Volk
2nd Boucles de l'Aulne
5th Bordeaux–Paris
6th Paris–Roubaix
6th Paris–Brussels
1960
8th Schelde–Dender–Leie
1961
1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
5th Overall Giro di Sardegna

Track

1955
3rd Six days of Ghent (with Reginald Arnold)
1957
1st Six days of Ghent (with Rik Van Steenbergen)
3rd Six Days of Paris (with Willy Vannitsen & Leon Van Daele)
1958
2nd Six Days of Brussels (with Reginald Arnold)
1959
1st Six days of Ghent (with Rik Van Steenbergen)

Honours 

 A square, Place Fred De Bruyne in Seillans, France
 A race, Memorial Fred De Bruyne in Berlare, Belgium
 A cycling route In het wiel van Fred De Bruyne in Berlare, Belgium

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