Jean-Pierre Monseré

Who was Jean-Pierre Monseré?

Jean-Pierre "Jempi" Monseré was a Belgian road racing cyclist who died while champion of the world.

Monseré was a talented amateur who turned professional for Flandria in 1969. He won the Giro di Lombardia that year. A year later he became the Belgian track omnium champion and on 16 August 1970 he won the world championship in Leicester, England. He was the second-youngest world champion after another Belgian, Karel Kaers. In 1971 he again became Belgian champion, this time track madison.

On 15 March 1971, Monseré was riding the Grote Jaarmarktprijs in Retie. On the road from Lille to Gierle he collided with a car driven on the course and died on the spot. A monument now stands at the spot. In a cruel twist of fate, in 1976 Monseré's seven-year-old son, Giovanni, died after a collision with a car, while riding his racing bike, given to him on his first communion by another world champion, Freddy Maertens.

Jean-Pierre Monseré is remembered each September with a memorial cycle trophy, the Grote Herdenkingsprijs Monseré, organized by the Retiese Wielerclub 'De Zonnestraal'. Jempi Monseré's medals are in the Belgian national cycle museum in Roeselare.