Fred De Bruyne

Fred De Bruyne
	De Bruyne at the 1956 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Fred De Bruyne
Born	Alfred De Bruyne; 21 October 1930; Berlare, Belgium
Died	4 February 1994 (aged 63); Seillans, France
Team information
Discipline	Road, track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist
Amateur team
1953	Independent
Professional teams
1953-1956	Mercier-Hutchinson
1957	Carpano-Coppi
1958	Carpano
1959	Peugeot-BP
1960	Carpano
1961	Barati
Managerial teams
1978	Flandria–Velda–Lano
1979-1982	DAF Trucks
1983	Jacky Aernoudt Meubelen
Major wins
	Grand Tours Tour de France 6 individual stages (1954, 1956) Other stage races Paris–Nice (1956, 1958) One-day races and Classics Milan–San Remo (1956) Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1956, 1958, 1959) Tour of Flanders (1957) Paris–Roubaix (1957) Paris–Tours (1957) Sassari–Cagliari (1957) Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne (1961) Other Challenge Desgrange-Colombo (1956, 1957, 1958)

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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.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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 You have called {{Contentious topics}}. You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:

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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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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^[6]
A cycling route In het wiel van Fred De Bruyne in Berlare, Belgium^[7]

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

^ "Fred De Bruyne". FirstCycling.com. 2023.
^ ^a ^b Pro Cycling, Stats (1 July 2022). "Alfred de Bruyne". procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
^ "Palmarès d'Alfred De Bruyne (Bel)". Memoire-du-cyclisme.eu (in French). Retrieved 31 December 2021.
^ "Fred De Bruyne 1930-1994". servicekoers.be (in Dutch). 30 August 2023.
^ "Maniak met eindeloze passie voor de fiets" [Maniac with endless passion for the bike]. Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 16 July 2004.
^ "Memorial Fred De Bruyne". FirstCycling.com. 2023.
^ "In het wiel van Fred De Bruyne - fietsroute". beleefberlare.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 August 2023.