Stan Ockers

Constant ("Stan") Ockers (3 February 1920 – 1 October 1956) was a Belgian professional racing cyclist.

He was runner-up in the Tour de France in 1950 and 1952, and the best sprinter in that Grand Tour in 1955 and 1956. In 1955 he won the Classic "Ardennes double" by winning La Flèche Wallonne and the Liège–Bastogne–Liège in the same year. At this time, the races were run on successive days as "Le Weekend Ardennais". He also won the World Cycling Championship that year.

Ockers did not have the most congenial riding style - he was known as a crafty cyclist who often took advantage of other people's work - but he more than made up for this through his contact with the public. Stan Ockers always remained himself, had time for everyone and thus became one of the most popular riders of his generation, together with Rik Van Steenbergen and the young Rik Van Looy.

At the opening of the 1956 Antwerp track season, Ockers crashed heavily. He did not see how Ernest Sterckx had returned to the track after a mechanical failure, looked back and drove full into his opponent. Ockers suffered a fractured skull and four broken ribs. The Antwerp folk hero fell into a coma, regained consciousness twice more but died of his injuries two days later on 1 October. Antwerp was in mourning, even 11-year-old Eddy Merckx was in shock at the death of his great idol. Tens of thousands of Antwerp people saluted the corpse of their Stanneke whose body was buried in Antwerp Sportpaleis.

A year later, a monument was built in Les Forges, Sprimont, in the south of Belgium.

Career achievements Major results Road

1941 1st Scheldeprijs 1st Antwerp Province championship 1943 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 3rd Schaal Sels 1944 1st Bruxelles-Everbeek 4th Overall Omloop van België 1946 1st Scheldeprijs 1st Heist-op-den-Berg 1st Bruxelles–Sint-Truiden 1st Antwerp Province championship 5th Gent–Wevelgem 1947 3rd Overall Tour de Suisse 4th La Flèche Wallonne 5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 6th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 1948 1st Overall Tour of Belgium 2nd Omloop der Vlaamse Ardennen 2nd Dwars door West-Vlaanderen 3rd Gullegem Koerse 1949 7th Overall Tour de France 1950 2nd Overall Tour de France 1st Stage 4 2nd Critérium des As 7th Road race, UCI World Road Championships 8th Overall Challenge Desgrange-Colombo 8th Road race, National Road Championships 1951 5th Overall Tour de France 6th Bordeaux–Paris 1952 2nd Overall Tour de France 2nd Overall Roma–Napoli–Roma 1st Stage 4a 2nd Overall Vuelta a Argentina 1st Stage 3 2nd La Flèche Wallonne 3rd Overall Challenge Desgrange-Colombo 6th Overall Giro d'Italia 10th Road race, UCI World Road Championships 10th Road race, National Road Championships 1953 1st La Flèche Wallonne 2nd Overall Roma–Napoli–Roma 1st Stage 4 2nd Critérium des As 2nd Overall Week-end ardennais 2nd Gran Premio di Lugano

3rd Overall Challenge Desgrange-Colombo 4th Giro di Lombardia 4th Bordeaux–Paris 6th Overall Giro d'Italia 1954 1st Schaal Sels 2nd Paris–Roubaix 5th Bordeaux–Paris 6th Overall Tour de France 1st Stage 11 6th Milan–San Remo 1955 1st Road race, UCI World Road Championships 1st Overall Challenge Desgrange-Colombo 1st Overall Week-end ardennais 1st La Flèche Wallonne 1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège 1st Trophée Gentil 1st Stage 1b (TTT) Driedaagse van Antwerpen 2nd Overall Tour de Suisse 2nd Grand Prix Martini 2nd De Drie Zustersteden 2nd Bruxelles–Couvin 3rd Critérium des As 5th Paris–Brussels 8th Overall Tour de France 1st Points classification 9th Paris–Tours 1956 1st Overall Roma–Napoli–Roma 1st Stages 1b, 3b, 4b, 5a & 5b 2nd Tour of Flanders 2nd Bordeaux–Paris 2nd Grand Prix Martini 3rd Overall Challenge Desgrange-Colombo 4th Road race, UCI World Road Championships 4th La Flèche Wallonne 5th Classica Sarda 6th Gent–Wevelgem 8th Overall Tour de France 1st Points classification 1st Stage 19 9th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1st Stages 5 & 9 10th Milan–San Remo

Track

1948 3rd Six Days of Antwerp (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 1951 1st Six Days of Brussels (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 1953 1st Prix de Salon (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 3rd Six Days of Brussels (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 1954 1st Six Days of Ghent (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 2nd Six Days of Brussels (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 2nd Six Days of Berlin (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 3rd Six Days of Antwerp (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 1955 National Championships

1st Six Days of Antwerp (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 2nd Six Days of Ghent II (with Ferdinando Terruzzi) 2nd Six Days of Brussels (with Jean Brankart) 3rd Six Days of Ghent I (with Rik Van Steenbergen) 1956 1st Six Days of Antwerp (with Reginald Arnold and Jean Roth)

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish

Awards and honours

Trophée Edmond Gentil: 1955 Grote Prijs Stan Ockers, a derny race in Antwerp: from 1956 Memorial monument in Sprimont, Liège (la Côte des Forges): 1957 Grand Prix Stan Ockers, a cycle race in France: 1957-1963 Stan Ockers Classic, a criterium in Antwerp: from 1963 A street, Stan Ockersstraat in Borgerhout, Antwerp Stanneke a song by Hugo Matthysen: 1990 Mémorial Stan Ockers, a race organized by Cyclo-Club de Beaufays from 1996 Introduced in the UCI Hall of Fame: 2002 Mémoire du Cyclisme - Ranking of the Greatest Cyclists (44th place): 2002 Commemorative plaque in Borgerhout, Antwerp: 2006 CyclingRanking - Overall all time ranking (43rd place): 2022