Alberic ("Briek") Schotte (September 7, 1919 – April 4, 2004) was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist. His generation of cyclists, that of the 1940s and 1950s, is called the "Flandriens".

Born and raised in Kanegem, West Flanders, he was nicknamed "Iron Briek" (Ijzeren Briek) because of his incredible stamina.

One of the greatest cycling champions of the 1940s and 1950s, he was twice World Champion (in 1948 and 1950), won the last stage of the 1946 Tour de France and finished second in the epic 1948 edition, behind the unapproachable Gino Bartali.

His specialty, however, were one-day races: he twice won the Ronde van Vlaanderen (1942, 1948), Paris-Tours (1946, 1947) and Paris-Brussels (1946, 1952). Symbolically enough, he died on the day of the 2004 Ronde van Vlaanderen. The commentators during the race said that this couldn't be a coincidence: "God must have been one of Briek's greatest fans".

He also won the inaugural Challenge Desgrange-Colombo, a season-long competition intended to identify the world's best road racing cyclist, in 1948.

After his retirement as a professional cyclist in 1959, he remained active as a team coach for 30 years, mostly for the Flandria team. He died at Kortrijk in 2004.

Palmarès

Ransart - Beaumont - Ransart1941

Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen

Merelbeke1942

Ronde van Vlaanderen1944

Wetteren1945

Nokere Koerse

Tielt-Antwerpen-Tielt

Olsene1946

Mandel - Leie - Schelde

Paris-Tours

Tour de Luxembourg

Omloop der Vlaamse Gewesten

Paris-Brussels1947

Paris-Tours

Tour de France:

Winner stage 211948

Desgrange-Colombo

Ronde van Vlaanderen

World Road Race Champion

Tour de France:

2nd place overall classification1948

GP Stad Vilvoorde1950

Aalst

Gent-Wevelgem

World Road Race Champion

Montenaken1951

Vijfbergenomloop1952

Omloop der Zuid-West-Vlaamse Bergen

Paris-Brussels1953

Dwars door Vlaanderen

Grote Bevrijdingsprijs1954

Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen - Koolskamp

Omloop der drie Provinciën

Soignies

Oedelem1955

Gent-Wevelgem

Dwars door Vlaanderen

Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen1956

GP Bali

Lauwe

Boulogne-sur-Mer1957

Wervik

Langemark1958

De Panne

External links

• Official Tour de France results for Alberic Schotte