Dirk Baert

Dirk Baert (14 February 1949 – 7 July 2026) was a Belgian road and track cyclist. On track, he won one gold and two bronze medals in the individual pursuit at the world championships in 1971, 1972, and 1975, as well as several national championships. He competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the 1 km time trial and finished in 18th place. On the road, he won the Omloop van de Vlaamse Scheldeboorden (1975), Le Samyn (1976), Halle–Ingooigem (1978), and Grote 1-MeiPrijs (1979), as well as one stage of the Tour of Belgium (1974). He rode the Tour de France in 1974. In 1981 Beart broke Ferdinand Bracke's 5 km record in Ghent's legendary indoor velodrome, het Kuipke. The record stood until 2019 when it was broken by then world hour record holder Victor Campenaerts. After his career as a cyclist, Baert became national coach of the Belgian amateurs, and in 2013 he was also briefly team manager at the UCI Continental team BKCP-Powerplus, at the time the team of Niels Albert and a very young Michael Vanthourenhout. Baert died on 7 July 2026, at the age of 77.