Henri Van Lerberghe

Henri Vanlerberghe (sometimes Van Lerberghe) (Lichtervelde, 29 January 1891 – Lichtervelde, 10 April 1966) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. In 1919, he won the third edition of the Tour of Flanders.

Vanlerberghe was nicknamed "The deathrider from Lichtervelde" , because at the start of most races he would tell his opponents he would ride them to death. Van Lerberghe attacked early in the race, which made him popular amongst cycling fans, but this cost him a lot of energy, and he rarely was able to compete in the end of the race. In the fifth stage, the individual cyclists left fifteen minutes later than the cyclists in teams, but because the cyclists in teams were slow, Van Lerberghe was able to reach them, and beat them to win the stage.

During the 1919 Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Vanlerberghe attacked with 120 km to go against the wind, and it looked like one of his chanceless efforts. He saw a helper with a bag of food for Marcel Buysse, and after he convinced the helper that Buysse was already out of the race, Vanlerberghe took the food. Later, he had to stop because a train had stopped at a crossing. Vanlerberghe did not wait for the train to leave, but entered the train with his bicycle and left at the other side. He reached the finish with a margin of 14 minutes, the largest margin in the history of the Tour of Flanders.

Major results Source:

1910 3rd Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen 1912 1st Tielt–Antwerpen–Tielt 1913 1913 Tour de France: Winner stage 5 1914 2nd Tour of Flanders 1919 1st Tour of Flanders 3rd overall Circuit des Champs de Bataille 1920 2nd Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen