Physicians said that Erik de Vlaeminck had a much more suitable muscle system for bicycle racing than his younger brother Roger. Many are firmly convinced that he could also have built a large career as a road racer. But Erik de Vlaeminck, who once won the Tour of Belgium and won the stage to Vorst in the Tour de France of 1968, always considered the road races as secondary. His attention mainly went to cyclo-cross. In the history of this sport there is no rider who towered above his opponents the way Erik de Vlaeminck did. The man from Eeklo was a true bicycle acrobat, a man who destroyed his opponents both in the mud and in the sand.
Erik de Vlaeminck grew up in a trailer near Eeklo. Although his father Phil cycled a lot, Erik initially opted for gymnastics. A hand fracture forced him to give up this sport and from that time on he became interested in bicycle racing. On the advice of his trainer, during the winter Erik frequently went running in the woods. This developed his preference for cyclo-cross racing, which allowed him to earn a good living. Erik de Vlaeminck made his debut as cyclo-cross rider in 1962 and he needed less than four years to build a reputation.
During his glorious career, Erik became world champion seven times. In the period between 1966 and 1973, the only time he did not triumph was in 1967. That is when the rainbow jersey went to the tall Italian Renato Longo, who preceded the Belgian as ruler of the field. In 1966, Erik de Vlaeminck surprisingly conquered his first world title in the Spanish Beasain. The 20-year-old Belgian had just made his debut with the professional riders, but convincingly scored points off favourites such as Renato Longo and Rolf Wolfshohl. It was the beginning of many years of dominance. There simply was nothing anyone could do to beat Erik de Vlaeminck, who conquered the obstacles without effort, who could stay in the saddle longer than anyone and jumped with his bicycle over certain obstacles like a real stunt man. Erik de Vlaeminck appeared to be an alien in his generation of cyclo-cross riders. Nobody conquered the mud like he did.
Each race where he started, Erik de Vlaeminck attracted thousands of spectators. His often heroic battles with Albert van Damme provided a topic of conversation for days. The pair also fought out interesting battles for the Belgian title. Van Damme proved to be an expert at the Belgian championships, while De Vlaeminck felt more at ease at the global championships. Erik de Vlaeminck only became Belgian champion four times, while the florist from Laarne could wear the black-yellow-red jersey six times. Erik de Vlaeminck won approximately two hundred cyclo-cross races in his career. In the season 1970-1971 he took part in 34 races and won 32 of them. The two races that he did not win, he was beaten by Albert van Damme and his brother Roger. Erik de Vlaeminck was so strong that sometimes he almost doubled the second-placed rider, which happened to him once in Kaprijke. That second-placed rider was none other than Albert van Damme, who was only able to avoid this disgrace by a lead of some ten metres.
Erik de Vlaeminck was only 28 years old when he won his seventh rainbow jersey. After that he got entangled in all kind of private problems and was unable to deal with the death of his friend Jempy Monseré. He was extremely talented, but he had not succeeded in remaining level-headed. He mainly lived off his class. He became addicted to dope, drugs and alcohol and came down in the world. He later tried to make a comeback, but after 19 months of inactivity he had lost his smooth rhythm. He could never be the best again and eventually he left cycling. It is clear that Erik de Vlaeminck had the class to win ten world titles. Nevertheless, his record of seven titles will persist for a long time.

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