Gerard Debaets (17 April 1898 – 27 April 1959) was a Belgian

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

. He won the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders () may refer to the following cycle races: * Tour of Flanders (men's race) The Tour of Flanders (), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race held in Belgium every spri ...

in 1924 and 1927 and the Belgian national road race title in 1925. He also specialized in

track cycling Track cycling is a Cycle sport, bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its i ...

, winning a total of 18 six-day events, including six times the most prestigious Six Days of New York. Debaets was a resident of Fair Lawn and

North Haledon, New Jersey North Haledon (pronounced North HAIL-don) is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 8,927, an increase of ...

, where he died in 1959 of a heart attack.Staff
"Gerard Debaets Is Dead at 61; Won 18 Six-Day Bicycle Races"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 28 April 1959. Accessed 11 September 2015. "North Haledon, N. J., April 27 - Gerard Debaets, a member of NORTH HALEDON, N. J., April 27--Gerard Debaets, a member of winning teams in eighteen six-day bicycle races and the holder of several national bicycle championships, died today of a heart attack at his home, 139 Oakwood Avenue."

Major results

Road

;1923 : 1st Tour of Flanders independents ;1924 : 1st

: 1st París-Arrás Tour : 1st Overall Critérium des Aiglons :: 1st Stages 1 & 2 : 2nd

Paris–Brussels The Brussels Cycling Classic (known until June 2013 as Paris–Brussels) is a semi classic European bicycle race, one of the oldest races on the international calendar. History Paris–Brussels was first run on 12 August 1893 as an amateur eve ...

: 2nd Jemeppe–Bastogne–Jemeppe : 4th Overall Tour of Belgium : 8th Scheldeprijs : 10th

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling monument, Monuments' ...

;1925 : 1st Road race, National Interclubs Championships : 1st

: 2nd

Bordeaux–Paris The Bordeaux–Paris professional road bicycle racing, cycle race was one of Europe's classic cycle races, and one of the longest in the professional calendar, covering approximately – more than twice most single-day races. It started in north ...

: 3rd Sclessin–Houffalize–Sclessin : 4th Giro della Provincia di Milano : 5th GP Wolber : 6th

;1926 : 1st Brussels–Paris : 8th Overall Tour of the Basque Country ;1927 : 1st

: 2nd Hannover–Bremen–Hannover : 3rd Sclessin–Houffalize–Sclessin ;1928 : 2nd Criterium des As

Track

;1924 : 1st MaillotUSA

References

External links

* 1898 births 1959 deaths Belgian male cyclists Sportspeople from Fair Lawn, New Jersey People from North Haledon, New Jersey Sportspeople from Passaic County, New Jersey Belgian track cyclists Cyclists from Kortrijk {{Belgium-cycling-bio-1890s-stub