Julien Vervaecke

Julien Vervaecke (3 November 1899 – May 1940) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He won Paris–Roubaix, Paris–Brussels, 2 stages in the Tour de France and finished 3rd in the 1927 Tour de France. At the start of the Second World War Battle of Belgium, when a British army detachment withdrawing from the area and in the process of blowing up a bridge at Menen, where Vervaecke owned a restaurant. The British wanted to get furniture from the establishment in order to set up a roadblock, but he refused. The situation heated up because the bad temper of Vervaecke, added to the fact that he speak a poor English. He was arrested by the soldiers, taken to Park Torris in Roncq and shot dead. His body was found weeks later, so the exact date of his death is not known.

The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau investigated the case as an allied war crime. Tour de France: Winner stage 16 3rd place overall classification 1928 GP Wolber Omloop van België Tour de France: 5th place overall classification 1929 Tour de France: Winner stage 15 8th place overall classification 1930 Paris–Roubaix Tour de France: 6th place overall classification 1932 Paris–Brussels 1933 Berchem Paris–Roubaix 2nd place overall