The anniversary of Sporwereld. Tour of Flanders 1952

Remarkably, only the winner of the Tour for amateurs is allowed to wear such a gem. Roger Decock, the 1952 professional winner, is still not happy about this: "I only received flowers from the Minister of Health, Alfred De Taeye. I'm still waiting for a trophy or a jersey.

Anyway, Lucien Victor is the lucky man of the day. Born in 1931 in Oekene (Roeselare), the hard cyclist won the Tour of Flanders for fans or "Grand Prix Matra Star". Victor beats his compatriot and bosom friend Jozef Parmentier in the sprint. After the race, the newspaper comments are unanimous in praising the numbers one and two: "The double mastery of the West-Flanders cannot be questioned at the moment. Their opponents know what they have to gain from it, but they can't do anything about it. The mastery is too telling and is supported by too much skill and class which underlies the cycling greats," according to Sportwereld.

Victor does not violate the trust of the Sportwereldjournalists. Later in the season he wins the Tour of Limburg, finishes 4th in the Olympic road race in Helsinki and wins the team classification with teammates Robert Grondelaers and André Noyelle. Victor's career as a professional cyclist was cut short in 1956 by a heavy fall in the Tour of Morocco. At the age of 25, Lucien Victor prematurely quits cycling. The Olympic champion dies in 1995 during a cycling trip on holiday in France. In Roeselare a street is named after him since 2006.