[2] Derksen became a riders' agent and race promoter after retiring[3] from racing and lived in a house on the outskirts of Amsterdam, named after the Ordrup track in Denmark where he won the professional omnium – akin to a pentathlon in athletics – 10 times.

[4] Jan Derksen was born at Geertruidenberg in central western Holland on 23 January 1919.

There were no Olympics and that really upset me.”[4] He continued racing during the German occupation of the Netherlands, travelling until 1942 to other occupied countries.

[1] Derksen’s professional career after the war was marked by his competition with another Dutch sprinter, Arie van Vliet.

His championship ride in the quarter-final in 1955 was abandoned after he and the Italian, Antonio Maspes came to a balancing standstill for 32 minutes.