On track, he won the gold medal in the 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics, as well as three world titles in the sprint in 1963, 1967 and 1969.

Sercu is the record holder for the number of six-day track race victories, having won 88 events out of 223 starts between 1961 and 1983; several of these wins were with cycling great Eddy Merckx.

[6] At a young age, Patrick Sercu was pushed towards the track by his father Albert, himself a successful rider.

A year later, the still very young Sercu captured gold at the kilometre in Tokyo, his only participation in the Games as only amateurs were allowed to compete in the cycling events at the time.

Between 1965 and 1969, he won two more golds and two more silver medals at the World Sprint Championships, each time after a duel with his Italian rival Giuseppe Beghetto.

He celebrated his greatest success there with one kilometer time trial, where he often outwitted the stockier, more explosive types in a long sprint.

Merckx was able to maintain a high, constant pace for a long time, while Sercu often finished it off with his final sprint.

[11] • 15 events with Eddy Merckx • 14 with Peter Post • 10 with Albert Fritz • 8 with René Pijnen • 7 with Dietrich Thurau • 3 with Klaus Bugdahl & Gert Frank • 2 with Rudi Altig, Roger De Vlaeminck, Alain van Lancker, Julien Stevens, Graeme Gilmore, Francesco Moser & Freddy Maertens