Ferdinand Bracke

Ferdinand Bracke (born 25 May 1939) is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist who is most famous for holding the World Hour Record (48.093 km) and winning the overall title at the 1971 Vuelta a España in front of Wilfried David of Belgium and Luis Ocaña of Spain. He also became world pursuit champion on the track in 1964 and 1969.

Biography
Bracke was born in Hamme East Flanders, Belgium, on 24 May 1939. A rouleur and time trialist, he emerged as an amateur in 1962 by winning the tenth stage of the Peace Race. In May of the same year he won the Grand Prix des Nations, a time trial race. He turned pro on 26 September 1962, joining the Peugeot-BP-Dunlop team headed by Gaston Plaud.

In the following years he obtained numerous prestigious victories on road: he won the Trofeo Baracchi, together with Eddy Merckx, in 1966 and 1967, a stage in the 1966 Tour de France and the final time trial of the 1976 Tour de France. He finished in third place in the general classification at the 1968 Tour de France. In 1971 he won the Vuelta a España, beating compatriot Wilfried David (who placed second) and Spaniard Luis Ocaña (who placed third).

He became world champion in track pursuit in 1964 in Paris and again in Antwerp in 1969, then winning second place in 1972 and 1974 and placing third in 1973. On 30 October 1967 he recorded the hour record with 48,093 kilometers at the Olympic Velodrome in Rome, becoming the first cyclist to reach the milestone of 48 kilometers. The record, broken the following year by Ole Ritter, remained the best performance on track below 600 meters of altitude for a long time.

In 1978 he ended his cycling career and took over a furniture business with his wife. On 17 February 1979, Bracke was bid farewell to cycling at a cycling gala in the Sports Palace in Ghent.

Honours
In 1967 Bracke was voted Belgian Sportsman of the Year (the first in history to receive this award) and was awarded the Belgian Sports Merit Award.

Road

 * 1961
 * 1st Overall Tour of Austria amateurs
 * 1st Stages 1 & 2a (TTT) Etoile Hennuyère
 * 1st Stage 2 Ronde van Limburg amateurs
 * 1st Stage 2b (ITT)Tour de Wallonie


 * 1962
 * 1st Grand Prix des Nations (ITT)
 * 1st Stage 10 Peace Race
 * 2nd Grand Prix du Parisien
 * 3rd Gran Premio di Lugano


 * 1963
 * 1st Grand Prix du Parisien
 * 2nd Flèche Hesbignonne
 * 2nd Manche-Océan
 * 2nd Grand Prix des Nations
 * 2nd Gran Premio di Lugano
 * 3rd Trofeo Baracchi (with Walter Boucquet)


 * 1964
 * 1st Stage 2b Tour du Sud-Est
 * 1st Stage 5b (TTT) Four Days of Dunkirk
 * 1st Stage 4 Grand Prix du Midi Libre
 * 1st Gran Premio di Lugano
 * 2nd Tour de l'Oise
 * 3rd Bruxelles-Verviers
 * 3rd Omloop van West Brabant


 * 1965
 * 1st Tour de Haute-Loire
 * 1st GP de la Basse-Sambre


 * 1966
 * 1st Trofeo Baracchi (with Eddy Merckx)
 * 1st Stage 19 Tour de France
 * 1st Stage 1b (ITT) Tour of Belgium
 * 1st Stage 2b (TTT) Four Days of Dunkirk
 * 2nd Escalada a Montjuïc


 * 1967
 * 1st Trofeo Baracchi (with Eddy Merckx)
 * 3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Interclubs road race, National Road Championships


 * 1968
 * 1st European Time Trial Cup (with Vittorio Adorni)
 * 1st LuK Challenge Chrono (with Vittorio Adorni)
 * 2nd Silver medal blank.svg National Road Championships
 * 2nd Overall Paris-Nice
 * 1st Stage 8b (ITT)
 * 3rd Overall Tour de France


 * 1969
 * 1st Stage 2b (ITT) Four Days of Dunkirk
 * 1st Stage 1c Critérium du Dauphiné
 * 2nd Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre
 * 1st Stage 3


 * 1970
 * 1st Grand Prix de Wallonie
 * 1st Stage 5b (ITT) Four Days of Dunkirk


 * 1971
 * 1st Jersey gold.svg Overall Vuelta a España
 * 1st Flèche Hesbignonne
 * 2nd Overall Tour de Luxembourg
 * 3rd Overall Tour of Belgium


 * 1972
 * 1st Stage 5 Étoile des Espoirs
 * 1st Prologue (TTT) Critérium du Dauphiné
 * 3rd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk


 * 1973
 * 1st Grand Prix Pino Cerami


 * 1974
 * 1st Grand Prix de Monaco
 * Tour de Picardie
 * 1st stage 3
 * 3rd Overall Tour of Belgium
 * 1st stage 6
 * 3rd Circuit de la Région Linière
 * 2nd Le Samyn


 * 1975
 * 3rd GP de Wallonie


 * 1976
 * 1st Stage 17 Tour de France


 * 1977
 * 1st Bruxelles-Biévène


 * 1978
 * 2nd Bruxelles-Ingooigem
 * 3rd Trofee Luc Van Biesen

Track

 * 1964
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships
 * 3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Individual pursuit, National Track Championships


 * 1965
 * 1st MaillotBélgica.PNG Individual pursuit, National Track Championships
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships
 * 3rd Bronze medal europe.svg Omnium, European Championships


 * 1966
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships


 * 1967
 * Sport records icon WR.svg World Hour Record – 48.093km
 * 1st MaillotBélgica.PNG Individual pursuit, National Track Championships
 * 1st Six Days of Charleroi (with Patrick Sercu)


 * 1968
 * 1st Six Days of Charleroi (with Eddy Merckx)
 * 2nd Silver medal blank.svg Omnium, National Track Championships


 * 1969
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships
 * 3rd Six Days of Charleroi (with Rudi Altig)


 * 1970
 * 2nd Six Days of Brussels
 * 3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Omnium, National Track Championships


 * 1971
 * 2nd Six Days of Ghent (with Peter Post
 * 3rd Six Days of Grenoble
 * 3rd Six Days of Brussels
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Omnium, National Track Championships


 * 1972
 * Belgian National Championships
 * 1st MaillotBélgica.PNG Individual Pursuit
 * 1st MaillotBélgica.PNG Derny
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships


 * 1973
 * 1st MaillotBélgica.PNG Individual pursuit, National Track Championships
 * 1st Six Days of Montreal (with Robert Van Lancker)
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships
 * 3rd Bronze medal europe.svg Derny, European Championships


 * 1974
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Individual pursuit, UCI World Championships
 * 2nd Silver medal blank.svg Individual pursuit, National Track Championships
 * 3rd Six Days of Herning (with Julien Stevens)


 * 1975
 * Belgian National Championships
 * 2nd Silver medal blank.svg Madison (with Willy Debosscher)
 * 3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Derny


 * 1977
 * 3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Omnium, National Track Championships


 * 1979
 * 3rd Six Days of Antwerp (with Constant Tourné)