Albert Van Damme

Albert Van Damme
Personal information
Full name	Albert Van Damme
Nickname	Berten; The Lion of Laarne
Born	1 December 1940 (age 81); Laarne, Belgium
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Cyclo-cross
Role	Rider
Professional team
1962–1978	–
Major wins
	Cyclo-cross World Champion (1974) Cyclo-cross Belgian Champion (1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1973)
Medal record
Representing Belgium
Men's cyclo-cross
World Championships

Albert "Berten" Van Damme (born 1 December 1940) is a former Belgian cyclo-crosser. He won 109 individual races, became six times Belgian National Champion and once World Champion, in 1974. His career lasted from 1959 till 1978.

He was active in the same years as the brothers Eric and Roger De Vlaeminck. Together with his own brother, there was a bit of a "battle" between the two families.

The first Albert Van Damme A-cyclocross race was held in October 2011 and was won by Sven Nys.

References[]

Albert Van Damme at Cycling Archives

v t UCI Cyclo-cross World Champions – Men's elite race
1950–1959	Jean Robic () Roger Rondeaux (–) André Dufraisse (–) Renato Longo ()
1960–1979	Rolf Wolfshohl (–) Renato Longo () Rolf Wolfshohl () Renato Longo (–) Erik De Vlaeminck () Renato Longo () Erik De Vlaeminck (–) Albert Van Damme () Roger De Vlaeminck () Albert Zweifel (–)
1980–1999	Roland Liboton () Hennie Stamsnijder () Roland Liboton (–) Klaus-Peter Thaler () Albert Zweifel () Klaus-Peter Thaler () Pascal Richard () Danny De Bie () Henk Baars () Radomír Šimůnek () Mike Kluge () Dominique Arnould () Paul Herygers () Dieter Runkel () Adri van der Poel () Daniele Pontoni () Mario De Clercq (–)
2000–2019	Richard Groenendaal () Erwin Vervecken () Mario De Clercq () Bart Wellens (–) Sven Nys () Erwin Vervecken (–2007) Lars Boom (2008) Niels Albert (2009) Zdeněk Štybar (2010–2011) Niels Albert (2012) Sven Nys (2013) Zdeněk Štybar (2014) Mathieu van der Poel () Wout van Aert (–) Mathieu van der Poel ()
2020–2039	Mathieu van der Poel (–)

v t Belgian National Cyclo-cross Champions (men)
1900–1919	Philippe Thys (1910) (1912) (1913) (1914)
1920–1939	René Vermandel (1921) Maurice De Waele (1922) (1923) Joseph Van Dam (1924) Pé Verhaegen (1925) (1926) (1927) Jules Goedhuys (1928) Georges Ronsse (1929–1930) Jules Goedhuys (1931) Jef Demuysere (1932) Maurice Seynaeve (1933–1937) (1938–1939)
1940–1959	(1941) Eugeen Jacobs (1942–1943) (1944) (1945–1947) (1948) (1949) (1950) (1951) (1952) (1953) (1954) (1955–1956) (1957) (1958) (1959)
1960–1979	(1960) (1961) (1962) Albert Van Damme (1963) (1964) Albert Van Damme (1965–1966) Erik De Vlaeminck (1967) Albert Van Damme (1968) Erik De Vlaeminck (1969) Albert Van Damme (1970) Erik De Vlaeminck (1971–1972) Albert Van Damme (1973) Roger De Vlaeminck (1974–1975) Marc De Block (1976–1977) Roger De Vlaeminck (1978) (1979)
1980–1999	Roland Liboton (1980–1989) Danny De Bie (1990–1992) Paul Herygers (1993) Peter Van Den Abeele (1994) Marc Janssens (1995) Erwin Vervecken (1996) Paul Herygers (1997) Marc Janssens (1998–1999)
2000–2019	Sven Nys (2000) Mario De Clercq (2001–2002) Sven Nys (2003) Bart Wellens (2004) Sven Nys (2005–2006) Bart Wellens (2007) Sven Nys (2008–2010) Niels Albert (2011) Sven Nys (2012) Klaas Vantornout (2013) Sven Nys (2014) Klaas Vantornout (2015) Wout van Aert (2016–2018) Toon Aerts (2019)
2020–2039	Laurens Sweeck (2020) Wout van Aert (2021)