Description

Patrick Sercu

Patrick Sercu (27 June 1944 – 19 April 2019) was a Belgian cyclist who competed on both road and track from 1961 to 1983. On the track, he won the gold medal in the 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics and captured three world titles in the sprint (1963, 1967, and 1969). He claimed the green jersey on the road in the 1974 Tour de France. Sercu holds the record for the most six-day track race victories, with 88 wins out of 223 starts—many alongside the legendary Eddy Merckx. He also won six stages in the Tour de France and eleven in the Giro d’Italia.

With 38 national and 15 European championship titles, Sercu is widely regarded as one of history’s most successful track cyclists.

Early Life

From a young age, Patrick Sercu was guided toward the track by his father Albert, who was a former racer. “He was afraid I would break down too quickly on the road,” Sercu once said.

With remarkable leg speed, Sercu was a natural sprinter. At 18, he won his first national titles in the sprint and madison events. A year later, he became the world amateur sprint champion in Rocourt, near Liège. In 1964, he won Olympic gold in the kilometer time trial in Tokyo—his only Olympic appearance, as the Games at the time were open only to amateurs. That same year, he was the star attraction at the Manchester Wheelers’ Club Race Meet at the Fallowfield track.

Professional Career

After the Olympics, Sercu turned professional, joining the powerhouse Solo–Superia team alongside stars like Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy, and Rik Van Steenbergen.

Though he initially lacked the endurance and speed for road success, he quickly made his mark on the track. Between 1965 and 1969, he earned two more gold and two silver medals at the World Sprint Championships, often battling Italian rival Giuseppe Beghetto.

Sercu was an immediate success in Six Days racing. Teaming with Merckx, he won his first of eleven Six Days of Ghent titles in 1965. Until the early 1980s, he reigned as the unofficial king of the discipline. With 88 career Six Day wins, he remains atop the all-time rankings. “It’s Merckx’s fault there weren’t more,” he once joked, noting that Merckx’s road commitments limited his winter racing.

Gradually, Sercu found his form on the road. He rode his first Giro d’Italia in 1970 and won a stage—twelve more Giro stage wins followed. By the mid-1970s, he was one of the peloton’s top sprinters. He won three stages and the green jersey in his first Tour de France at age 30. By 1977, he had notched six career Tour stage wins and added overall wins in races like the Giro di Sardegna (1970) and points classifications in the Critérium du Dauphiné and La Méditerranée.

Retirement

Patrick Sercu retired from competition in 1983. He went on to organize six-day races and omniums worldwide, serving as director of both the Six Days of Ghent and the former Six Days of Hasselt. After several years of health issues, he passed away on 19 April 2019 at the age of 74.

Riding Style

Sercu was known for his rare ability to combine a fast sprint with the endurance to maintain top speed over longer distances. This made him a standout in the kilometer time trial, where he often outlasted more explosive riders. His seemingly effortless style frustrated many rivals. Thanks to his extraordinary recovery abilities, he often competed in over ten six-day events each winter and rode more than 200 races annually when combining track and road seasons.

His pairing with Merckx in Six Days racing was ideal—Merckx set a relentless tempo, and Sercu finished with a killer sprint. Over his career, Sercu amassed an astonishing 1,206 wins: 168 on the road and 1,038 on the track.

Source: Wikipedia

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Each jersey is one of a kind; please look carefully at the photos to determine the condition.