Results : 86 starters
1. Jozef Schils
2. Briek Schotte
3. Henri De Nijs
4. Marcel De Mulder
5. Gilbert De Smet I
6. Lucien De Munster
7. Jan Adriaenssens
8. Maurice Blomme
9. Maurice Joye
10. Lucien Matthijs
“Jos”, “Jef” or Josef Schils was born as Eduardus Josephus on September 24, 1931 in Kersbeek-Miskom.
Despite being sidelined by heavy crashes, Schils still won 108 professional cycling races. He was only twenty when he became national champion in a 293 km race in Deinze, the day after he began his two-year military service. Despite limited training, he still won Paris-Tours in 1953 with a new record speed of 43.553 km/h. Other important victories included the Omloop der Vlaamse Gewesten (Tour of the Flemish Regions), Nationale Sluitingsprijs (National Closing Prize), the Drie Zustersteden (Three Sister Cities), the Ronde van Haspengouw (Tour of Haspengouw), Nokere Koerse (Nokere Race), Schaal Sels (Silver Shield), Grote Scheldeprijs (Great Schelde Prize), Omloop Schelde-Dender-Leie (Circle of Schelde-Dender-Leie), and stages in the Tours of Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1957, he won the Omloop van de Vlaamse Gewesten (Tour of the Flemish Regions) in Ichtegem on a postman’s bike! He rode for top teams such as Garin, Faema, and Mercier and was a good friend of Fausto Coppi. Together with Maurice Blomme (3 times winner), he is the only rider to have won the Doctor Tistaert Prize more than once: in 1960 and 1962. In 1960, Jef Schils also won in Strijpen.
