Fred De Bruyne
Alfred " Fred" De Bruyne (born 21 October 1930 in Berlare; † 4 February 1994 Seillans ) was a Belgian road bicycle racer and sports journalist.
Cycling career
Fred De Bruyne began in 1947 with the professional cycling. His strongest rival from their own country were Rik van Looy and Rik Van Steenbergen, with whom, however, he drove six-day race.
De Bruyne has won numerous road races, including three times Liège -Bastogne- Liège and the Challenge Desgrange - Colombo; he was twice the winner of Paris -Nice, and one each from Milan - San Remo, Paris -Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. He also won six stages of the Tour de France, three in 1954 and three in 1956.
As his success subsided on the street, De Bruyne also started at eight six-day race. In 1957 he won the Gent together with Van Steenbergen. 1960, at age 31, he ended his active career after a road accident.
Team leader, journalist and author
From 1961 to 1977 De Bruyne worked as a sports journalist for the Belgian television. For a long time he was regarded as the most important cycling commentator in Flanders and the Netherlands. Subsequently, he was team leader at various cycling teams and supervised including the driver Hennie Kuiper.
His last years were spent Fred De Bruyne in Provence and wrote four biographies of cyclists as well as his memoirs. In his birthplace Berlare taking place every 60 years since cycling race was renamed in 2009 in "Memorial Fred De Bruyne " and named in his later residence Seillans a place for him.
Works
- Rik Van Steenbergen, Mechelen 1963
- Rik Van Looy, Mechelen 1963
- Patrick Sercu, Borgerhout 1965
- Peter Post, Borgerhout 1965
- De memoires van Fred De Bruyne, Berchem 1978