Albéric Schotte

Monument to Briek Schotte in his hometown Kanegem

Albéric "Briek" Schotte (born September 7, 1919 in Kanegem (since 1976 part of the municipality of Tielt ), † April 4, 2004 in Kortrijk ) was a Belgian cyclist .

Briek Schotte, who grew up in West Flanders , is considered one of the best classic hunters of his generation. Because of his toughness against himself and his perseverance he was called Ijzeren Briek or de laatste Flandrien . The excellent sprinter won numerous Belgian and French one-day races , including twice the Tour of Flanders (1942, 1948), Paris – Tours (1946, 1947) and Paris – Brussels (1946, 1952). Schotte was also able to celebrate his greatest success twice: in 1948 and 1950 he triumphed at the UCI road world championships .

Due to his limited ability in the time trial and in the mountains, Schotte was not predestined for the big stage races . Nevertheless, he achieved second place in the Tour de France in 1948 behind the legendary Gino Bartali . The GP Briek Schotte has been held in Desselgem, Belgium, since 1941, and Schotte himself won the first three events.

In his final season, Briek Schotte drove for the Flandria team and then became sport director there . He stayed in this role until the team was disbanded in 1979.

Briek Schotte died on the morning of April 4, 2004, exactly on the day on which the Tour of Flanders, which he had won twice, was held. He is considered the father of modern cycling in Belgium and one of the country's greatest athletes.

Web links

Commons : Albéric Schotte  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Albéric Schotte in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Albéric Schotte in the Tour de France database(French / English )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Super User: Briek Schotte. In: flandriabikes.com. September 7, 1919, accessed August 16, 2015 . 
2. ↑ GP Briek Schotte on dewielersite.net