Patrick Sercu

Patrick Sercu was a Belgian cyclist who was active on the road and track between 1961 and 1983. On track, he won the gold medal in the 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics, as well as three world titles in the sprint in 1963, 1967 and 1969. On the road, he earned the green jersey in the 1974 Tour de France. Sercu is the record holder for the number of six-day track race victories, having won 88 events out of 223 starts between 1961 and 1983; several of these wins were with cycling great Eddy Merckx. He also won six stages at the Tour de France and eleven stages at the Giro d'Italia.
With 38 national and 15 European championship titles, he is considered as one of the most successful track cyclists ever.
In total, he won no less than 1,206 races, of which 168 road races and 1,038 track races.

Biography

Early life

At a young age, Patrick Sercu was pushed towards the track by his father Albert, himself a successful rider. "He was afraid I would break down too quickly on the road", Patrick Sercu himself said about that.
With his fast legs, Sercu was also born for explosive work on the track. In 1962, aged 18, he won his first national titles, in the sprint and madison events. At 19, Sercu became world amateur sprint champion in Rocourt, near Liège.
A year later, the still very young Sercu captured gold at the kilometre in Tokyo, his only participation in the Games as only amateurs were allowed to compete in the cycling events at the time. That year, he was the star attraction at the Manchester Wheelers' Club Race Meet at the Fallowfield track in Manchester.

Professional career

After the Olympics, professional life and also increasingly the road races beckoned for Sercu. Super team Solo–Superia, which also included Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy and Rik Van Steenbergen, brought in the West-Fleming.
While on the road he still lacked power and speed, on the track he was increasingly successful. Between 1965 and 1969, he won two more golds and two more silver medals at the World Sprint Championships, each time after a duel with his Italian rival Giuseppe Beghetto.
He was also an instant winner in the Six Days. With Eddy Merckx at his side, he won his first of 11 Six Days in Ghent in 1965. Until the early 1980s, Sercu would remain the uncrowned king of the Six Days.
With 88 final victories, Sercu leads the eternal rankings. "It's Merckx's fault there weren't more", he later said jokingly. After all, Merckx could not ride a full winter programme due to his busy schedule.
Gradually, Sercu began to find his feet on the road as well. In 1970, he rode his first major tour, the Giro, and took his first stage win. Twelve more stage wins in the Italian Tour would follow in the following years.
By the mid-1970s, Sercu had become one of the most renowned sprinters in the peloton. In his first participation in the Tour at the age of 30, he snatched 3 stages as well as the green jersey. Three years later, he would bring his total in the Tour to six stage wins. By then, he had already won the overall classification of another stage race Giro di Sardegna in 1970, and the points classification of the Critérium du Dauphiné and La Méditerranée in 1977.

Retirement

Patrick Sercu retired from competitions in 1983. He became organizer of six days events and omniums all over the world, and director of the Six Days of Ghent and the former Six Days of Hasselt. After a few years with unstable health, Sercu died on 19 April 2019, aged 74.

Riding Style

Sercu had the special quality not only to have a very fast sprint, but he could also maintain that top speed for a long time. He celebrated his greatest success there with one kilometer time trial, where he often outwitted the stockier, more explosive types in a long sprint. It earned him the world records in the shorter distances. Moreover, everything seemed to come very easily to him, often to the chagrin of his opponents. With his unequalled recuperation ability, he was able to participate in more than ten six-days in a winter season. In the years that he combined the track with the road, he competed in more than 200 races every year.
The six-day combination with Eddy Merckx was a success. Merckx was able to maintain a high, constant pace for a long time, while Sercu often finished it off with his final sprint.

Major results

Road

;1964
;1965
;1966
;1967
;1968
;1969
;1970
;1971
;1972
;1973
;1974
;1975
;1976
;1977
;1978
;1979
;1980

Track

;1962
;1963
;1964
;1965
;1966
;1967
;1968
;1969
;1970
;1971
;1972
;1973
;1974
;1975
;1976
;1977
;1978
;1979
;1980
;1981
;1982
;1983

Records

Overview

World Record flying 500 m time trial : 1964
World Record 1 km time trial : 1964
World Record flying 1 km time trial: 1967
World Record 1 km time trial: 1972
World Outdoor Record flying 1 km time trial: 1973
Most European championships wins: 15
Most national track championships wins: 38
Most Six Days wins: 88
Most Six Days of Ghent wins: 11
Most Six Days of London wins: 9
Details

World records

Six-day wins

Timeline

Nr	Year	Race	Partner	Win
1	1965	Ghent	Eddy Merckx	1
2	1966	Frankfurt	Klaus Bugdahl	1
3	1967	Cologne	Klaus Bugdahl	2
4	1967	Montréal	Emile Severeyns	1
5	1967	Ghent	Eddy Merckx	2
6	1967	Münster	Klaus Bugdahl	3
7	1967	Charleroi	Ferdinand Bracke	1
8	1968	Rotterdam	Peter Post	1
9	1968	London	Peter Post	2
10	1968	Frankfurt	Rudi Altig	1
11	1968	Dortmund	Rudi Altig	2
12	1969	Bremen	Peter Post	3
13	1969	Antwerp	Peter Post and Rik Van Looy	4
14	1969	London	Peter Post	5
15	1969	Dortmund	Peter Post	6
16	1969	Frankfurt	Peter Post	7
17	1969	Charleroi	Norbert Seeuws	1
18	1970	Cologne	Peter Post	8
19	1970	Bremen	Peter Post	9
20	1970	London	Peter Post	10
21	1970	Ghent	Jean-Pierre Monseré	1
22	1971	Rotterdam	Peter Post	11
23	1971	London	Peter Post	12
24	1971	Berlin	Peter Post	13
25	1971	Frankfurt	Peter Post	14
26	1971	Ghent	Roger De Vlaeminck	1
27	1972	London	Tony Gowland	1
28	1972	Dortmund	Alain van Lancker	1
29	1972	Ghent	Julien Stevens	1
30	1973	Cologne	Alain van Lancker	2
31	1973	Milan	Julien Stevens	2
32	1973	Dortmund	Eddy Merckx	3
33	1973	Grenoble	Eddy Merckx	4
34	1973	Ghent	Graeme Gilmore	1
35	1974	Antwerp	Eddy Merckx	5
36	1974	London	René Pijnen	1
37	1974	Dortmund	René Pijnen	2
38	1975	Bremen	René Pijnen	3
39	1975	Antwerp	Eddy Merckx	6
40	1975	Berlin	Dietrich Thurau	1
41	1975	Grenoble	Eddy Merckx	7
42	1975	Ghent	Eddy Merckx	8
43	1975	Zürich	Günter Haritz	1
44	1976	Rotterdam	Eddy Merckx	9
45	1976	Antwerp	Eddy Merckx	10
46	1976	Milan	Francesco Moser	1
47	1976	Dortmund	Freddy Maertens	1
48	1976	Maastricht	Graeme Gilmore	2
49	1977	Copenhagen	Ole Ritter	1
50	1977	Antwerp	Freddy Maertens	2
51	1977	London	René Pijnen	4
52	1977	Berlin	Eddy Merck	11
53	1977	Munich	Eddy Merckx	12
54	1977	Ghent	Eddy Merckx	13
55	1977	Zürich	Eddy Merckx	14
56	1977	Maastricht	Eddy Merckx	15
57	1978	Berlin	Dietrich Thurau	2
58	1978	Frankfurt	Dietrich Thurau	3
59	1978	Grenoble	Dietrich Thurau	4
60	1978	Munich	Gregor Braun	1
61	1978	Ghent	Gerrie Knetemann	1
62	1979	Cologne	Gregor Braun	2
63	1979	Rotterdam	Albert Fritz	1
64	1979	Hanover	Albert Fritz	2
65	1979	London	Albert Fritz	3
66	1979	Berlin	Dietrich Thurau	5
67	1979	Dortmund	Dietrich Thurau	6
68	1979	Munich	Dietrich Thurau	7
69	1979	Zürich	Albert Fritz	4
70	1979	Bremen	Albert Fritz	5
71	1980	Copenhagen	Albert Fritz	6
72	1980	Copenhagen	Albert Fritz	7
73	1980	Berlin	Gregor Braun	3
74	1980	Dortmund	Gregor Braun	4
75	1980	Ghent	Albert Fritz	8
76	1980	Herning	Gert Frank	1
77	1981	Cologne	Albert Fritz	8
78	1981	Copenhagen	Albert Fritz	9
79	1981	Milan	Francesco Moser	2
80	1981	Grenoble	Urs Freuler	1
81	1981	Ghent	Gert Frank	2
82	1982	Rotterdam	René Pijnen	5
83	1982	Copenhagen	René Pijnen	6
84	1982	Antwerp	Roger De Vlaeminck	2
85	1982	Berlin	Maurizio Bidinost	1
86	1982	Munich	René Pijnen	7
87	1983	Rotterdam	René Pijnen	8
88	1983	Copenhagen	Gert Frank	3