34th July 30

123 riders took the start in Schoten and among them current World Champion . At the entrance of Schoten, Stan Ockers himself was alone in the lead of the race. At the beginning of the first local lap, the gap with the bunch reached 30 seconds. Encouraged by the huge crowd that gathered in Schoten downtown, the rider from Borgerhout managed to maintain the gap and won the Scheldeprijs for the second time, five year after his first win. Nest Sterckx beat Staf Van Overloop for the second place. ROADMAP Schoten, Wijnegem, Mortsel, Boechout, Lier, Heist op-den-Berg, Aarschot, Scherpenheuvel, Diest, Veerle, Oevel, Kasterlee, Turnhout, Merksplas, Hoogstraten, St. Lenaarts, Brecht, Schoten and one local lap. Total 175 km.

RESULT 123 participants 1. Stan Ockers, Champion of Antwerp, 175 km in 4h31; 2. Ernest Sterckx at 27”; 3. Staf Van Overloop; 4. René Janssens ‘Flander’; 5. Jan Van Steen at 45”; 6. Georges Claes at 1’; 7. Frans Bonduel; 8. Jef Van Linden; 9. Martin Van den Broeck (Antwerp); 10. Adolf Verschueren; 11. (Ned); 12. Henk Lakeman (Ned); 13. Roger Gyselinck; 14. Ex-aequo: Louis Brusselmans, Victor Caluwé, Maurice Clautier, Frans De Coster, Frans Dewolf, , Albert Hendrickx, Jozef Labrosse, René Mertens, Louis Michiels, Edward Peeters (Boutersem); 25. Frans Rijkers; 26. Jos Wuytack; 27. John Braspennincx (Ned); 28. Jef Somers; 29. Eugeen Jacobs (Schilde); 30. Jan (Hervé) Theuns (Ned) at 2’; 31. Henri Bauwens; 32. Eugeen Jacobs (Dessel).

Stan Ockers (°Borgerhout 03.02.1920-+Merksem 01.10.1956)

This is for small Stan from Borgerhout the second win at the Scheldeprijs. He indeed already won five years earlier in Schoten. Subsequently he also won twice the Flèche Wallonne (1953-1955), once Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1955) and finished two times the second overall of the Tour (1950 and 1952). The highlight of his career took place in 1955 when he won the World Championship and the Desgrange-Colombo trophy. In 1966, he suffered a fatal crash at the Antwerp Sports Palace.

René Vermeiren