1950 World Championships, Official Race Poster – Road Race Winner – Briek Schotte

Wereldkampioenschappen van de Internationale Wieler Unie
Leige & Moorslede, Belgium
1950 UCI World Championships – Road & Track

A spectacular celebration of the rainbow jersey, this poster was created for the 1950 UCI World Cycling Championships in Belgium. Racers flash across an enormous arch formed from the colors of the world champion’s rainbow bands, which rise from a globe centered on Europe. Beneath the globe, the heraldic emblems of Liège and West Flanders join the Belgian tricolor and are framed by laurel branches symbolizing victory. The bold composition brings together the international reach of the championships, the identity of the host nation, and the speed of both road and track racing in a single wonderfully effective image.

The Dutch title, Wereldkampioenschappen van de Internationale Wieler Unie, translates as “World Championships of the International Cycling Union.” The K. Belgische Wielrijdersbond, Belgium’s national cycling federation, organized the championships and split them between two locations. The track events were held from August 12–16 at the Stade Vélodrome de Rocourt near Liège, while the road championships followed in Moorslede, West Flanders, on August 19 and 20. The UCI rainbow emblem and the Belgian federation’s crest appear at the bottom of the poster.

Five men’s world titles were awarded on the track at Rocourt. Britain’s Reg Harris retained his professional sprint championship, defeating Arie van Vliet and Jan Derksen; it was the second of the four professional sprint world titles Harris would win during his career. Italy’s Antonio Bevilacqua won the professional individual pursuit ahead of Wim van Est and Paul Matteoli, while Frenchman Raoul Lesueur captured the professional motor-paced championship. In the amateur events, France’s Maurice Verdeun won the sprint and Australia’s Sid Patterson took the individual pursuit title.

The road championships began on August 19 with the 175-kilometer amateur race. Australian Jack Hoobin won in 4 hours, 29 minutes and 24 seconds, defeating France’s Robert Varnajo and Italy’s Alfio Ferrari. The victory made Hoobin the first Australian to win the amateur world road championship and gave Australia its first of two titles at these championships.

The professional road race followed on Sunday, August 20, over a punishing 284-kilometer course. Forty riders started, but only twelve finished. The race combined larger loops through West Flanders—including passages near Ypres and over the Kemmelberg—with local finishing circuits around Moorslede. Belgium’s Briek Schotte broke clear from an elite leading group late in the race and rode alone to victory in 7 hours, 49 minutes and 54 seconds. Former world champion Theo Middelkamp of the Netherlands finished second, 1 minute 1 second behind, with recently crowned Tour de France winner Ferdinand Kübler of Switzerland third at 1 minute 48 seconds. Defending champion Rik Van Steenbergen, Gino Bartali and Hugo Koblet were among the prominent riders who failed to finish.

Schotte’s victory was his second professional road world championship, following his triumph at Valkenburg in 1948. Known as the archetypal Flandrien, he was ideally suited to the long, difficult course and the relentless racing style it produced. His victory on home roads made the 1950 championships one of the great occasions in Belgian cycling history, while this beautifully designed poster remains an exceptional visual record of the week in which the world’s leading road and track racers came to Belgium.

This poster has been archivally and professionally linen-backed.

Virtually all original vintage posters of this era were viewed as temporary advertising and were printed on very thin paper. While expensive, linen backing is a conservation method used to mount, stabilize, preserve, and protect vintage posters, allowing them to be displayed or framed without compromising their value.