Henri Van Lerberghe

Who was Henri Van Lerberghe?

Henri Van Lerberghe was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. In 1919, he won the third edition of the Tour of Flanders.

Van Lerberghe was nicknamed "The deathrider from Lichtervelde", because at the start of most races he would tell his opponents he would ride them to death. Van Lerberghe attacked early in the race, which made him popular amongst cycling fans, but this cost him a lot of energy, and he rarely was able to compete in the end of the race.

In the 1913 Tour de France, Van Lerberghe started in the isolated cyclists' category, which meant that he was not part of a team, but rode as an individual. In the fifth stage, the individual cyclists left fifteen minutes later than the cyclists in teams, but because the cyclists in teams were slow, Van Lerberghe was able to reach them, and beat them to win the stage.

During the 1919 Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Van Lerberghe attacked with 120 km to go against the wind, and it looked like one of his chanceless efforts. He saw a helper with a bag of food for Marcel Buysse, and after he convinced the helper that Buysse was already out of the race, Van Lerberghe took the food.