Paul Depaepe

Paul Depaepe (1957)

Paul Depaepe (born October 12, 1931 in Deurne ) is a former Belgian cyclist .

Paul Depaepe was a successful runner in his youth, but then turned to cycling. In 1953 he won the Zurich championship as an amateur and became Belgian champion in the single pursuit on the track . He was able to defend this national title as a professional in 1954 and 1955. From 1957 Depaepe concentrated increasingly on standing races and immediately became world champion , Belgian champion and runner-up European champion in this discipline in front of a home crowd in Antwerp .

In 1959 and 1961 Depaepe was again Belgian standing master and from 1961 to 1963 three times in a row European champion. In 1961 , 1962 and 1963 he was vice-world champion of the stayers. He also started in a total of 23 six-day races, but none of which he won. The best placement was in the six days of Antwerp in 1959, together with Reginald Arnold and Ferdinando Terruzzi . In 1965 he broke three vertebrae in a training accident and had to end his active cycling career. Then he worked as a pacemaker .

References and comments

1. ↑ The European championships before the founding of the "European Cycling Union" (UEC) in 1995 are considered unofficial, since up to that point they were usually invitation races in which non-European riders could also take part.
2. ↑ Op verroeste fiets naar de wereldtitel on antwerpensportmagazine.be ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Dutch)  
3. ↑ Roger de Maertelaere: Mannen van de night. 100 years of zesdaagsen. De Eecloonaar, Eeklo 2000, ISBN 90-74128-67-X , p. 204

Web links

• Paul Depaepe in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Op verroeste fiets naar de wereldtitel on antwerpensportmagazine.be ( netherlands )