Patrick Sercu, track racing champion.
These were the days when professional cycling was a year round job : in the summer the road competitions, in the winter track competitions, (and some even did cyclo-cross in between). Long before the times when a season was ‘planned’ : spring classics, or the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta, or the autumn classics and the world championship.
Belgian ex-cyclist Patrick Sercu (1944 – 2019) is most likely the greatest track racer off all times, winning 88 Six-Days competitions between 1964 and 1983. Still a record! He also had Olympic Gold (Tokyo 1964), got two times World Champion (and three times silver medal), several times European and national champion, and established three world records in track disciplines.
In summer, when the tracks were closed, Sercu rode classics and the Grand Tours, won the green jersey in the Tour de France in 1974, and won all together about 94 road victories, including six stages in the Tour and eleven in the Giro, and the overall victory in one Tour of Sardinia.