Former Belgian professional cyclist Frans Melckenbeeck passed away on 28 October 2025. He would have celebrated his 85th birthday on 15 November 2025. Born in Lede, East Flanders, Belgium (15 November 1940), his career made him one of the notable riders of the 1960s peloton.
Melckenbeeck’s most celebrated triumph came in 1963, when he claimed victory in the Monumental classic Liège–Bastogne–Liège, beating fellow Belgian Pino Cerami and Italian Vittorio Adorni in a sprint. That same year he also secured a stage win in the Tour de France (Stage 4) riding for the Mercier team alongside that year's overall winner Raymond Poulidor.
In 1964 he added further major wins: including the Omloop Het Volk (now Omloop Het Nieuwsblad) and a stage victory in Paris–Nice. Melckenbeeck would also go on to win four Vuelta a Espana stages between 1964 and 1965. Across his career he amassed an impressive total of 240 victories, of which 64 were achieved as a professional — a reflection of his versatility and consistency.
Before turning professional, Melckenbeeck represented Belgium at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, competing in the team pursuit on the track. He also enjoyed success on the track and in amateur rankings: for example, in 1961 he achieved 36 victories in that single season and was recognised as a leading amateur in Belgium.
It was thanks to this impressive feat that Melckenbeeck attracted the interest of professional teams and eventually spent 10 season competing internationally before retiring in 1972.
In recognition of his contributions, the municipality of Lede granted him honorary citizenship in 2018. Also, the annual cycling event known as the Grote Prijs Frans Melckenbeeck (Grand Prix Frans Melckenbeeck) in Lede bears his name. A biography titled "Frans Melckenbeeck, Flandrien from the Stillekes Years" is due to be published in early November as a tribute to his career.
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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