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The
Belgian Road Championships 2004 |
| Tom Steels, 2004 Belgian Champion |
En route we pass the TV interview cabin where ‘super favourite’ Tom Boonen of mega-team Quickstep and his Director, the legendary Johan Museeuw are already making their excuses for having made an almighty mess of their tactics. The medallist’s faces tell the story, Steels triumphant, Omloop resigned and Verheyen more than happy to be in such exalted company. If cycling is in your blood, there is only one place to be on the last Sunday in June – wherever the Belgian Elite Championships are. Three or four times a year we grab a cheap flight to Belgium and sample life as it’s meant to be lived if you love bike racing.
To sample the most atmospheric racing in the world is not difficult or expensive. Easyjet and Ryanair have opened Europe up to an extent that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. We flew Ryanair from Prestwick, near Glasgow to Charleroi, near Brussels but there are flights available from all over the UK to Belgium. Our flights cost around £42 each return including all taxes. A hire car is a must if you want to fully exploit your time in Belgium. As with the airlines this is simple on the Internet if you have a debit or credit card, our Hertz Ford Fiesta cost just £90 Thursday to Monday.
If two or more are travelling, this not only makes anywhere in Belgium your oyster it is also very cost effective. We chose Ghent, capital of Flanders, as our base. It is a university city, so food, drink and accommodation are plentiful and good value, digs will cost around £20 each per night. Thursday night, de-mob happy, too many beers [not difficult at 1 euro each!], do we never learn?
Friday morning, down to business, first job is to visit the paper shop and buy the Het Volk newspaper. This lists all Flemish local races plus any major events taking place in Belgium. ‘Wielrennen’ is what you are looking for, what’s this Duivensport? Pigeon racing! It’s big here too.
Alternatively you could buy a Cycle Sprint magazine which lists every race in Belgium for that month. Over breakfast, armed with a decent map, plan the day. It’s not just plentiful hard racing that Belgium offers, there are dozens of good bike shops, most of which are worth a visit. The stock always includes equipment and clothing not readily available in the UK market, usually at competitive prices.
First port of call was Van den Hauwe on the Main Street in Melle just outside Ghent. The days of small dingy bike shop have long gone, shops in Belgium now owe more to up-market car show rooms. This one is no different, a huge array of bikes, equipment and clothing is on display.
Eddy Merckx and Ridley frames and machines are to be found in every shop in Belgium, Van den Hauwe included. Out of the ordinary fare on offer here includes frames and machines by ace mechanic Ted Wood, who looked after Panasonic pro, Alan Peiper, is rated as the best in the business.
Maertens Sport at Evergem, half an hour away is smaller but no less well presented, clothing here is particularly impressive, including cult Scandinavian under vests by Craft. A Ridley Damocles frame will cost you around £1,200 here, the same frame in Blighty is around £1,750.
En route to the Flanders shop in Oudenarde, home
of the TT 3 squad that bears the same name we pass one of the team
out for an easy ride. Pros out training are just part of the landscape
here, as ubiquitous as
Royal Mail vans in Britain. I have to get Stewart to his favourite
chip shop in Oudenarde, he needs his fix. The chipper is just round
the corner from the Tour of Flanders museum in Oudenarde, well worth
a visit, photos, jerseys, bikes all relating to the biggest race in
the Belgian’s world.
The Flanders shop is not one of the biggest but has some interesting team-related memorabilia, the windows carry big, hand painted caricatures advertising an upcoming visit by Freddy Maertens.
As we walk back to the car a Lotto pro pedals past, it’s Aussie sprint demon (and soon to be Tour yellow jersey) Robbie McEwen, we immediately give chase. ‘Hey Robbie, any chance of a picture?’ Stewart shouts out of the Fiesta window.
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| Robbie McEwan, one of the good guys |
‘Sure, no worries mate’, Robbie tells us as he pulls his Merckx to a halt. Belying his ‘difficult’ tag, he is a gem of a guy, plenty of time to chat to us and let me take photos.
He is having an easy day, ‘only’ 150 km, he looks in great shape, prominent cheek bones are always a good indicator.
His favourite for the Belgian title? ‘Caethoven, he’s going real good, failing that I hope Steels out sprints Boonen to take it’.
Don’t think wee Robbie likes big Tom!
Next shop is Sportivo at Bavikhove, I want to buy a couple of their nice own brand bottle cages. Unusually, no one speaks English so we are referred to the mechanic, George. George turns out to be former 7-11, Motorola and Lance spanner man, George Noyes, I tell him I am friendly with one of his former charges, former British champion and Giro rider, Brian Smith. Noyes smiles and tells me that he still rides Smith’s old Motorola team Eddy Merckx bike.
As well as 7-11 and Motorola, Noyes worked for Cofidis, Mapei and Domo. A Belgian wife and the arrival of children made Noyes decide to come off the road, he works full time at Sportivo but also arranges trips to the classics for rich Americans.
It’s time to get to our first race at Beveren Leie, 112 kilometres, 25 laps of a leafy affluent mainly street circuit with 49 starters including American, New Zealand and East Europeans. The town is "en fete", with pavement cafes doing good business, fun fares, frites stands and one of the few things I hate about Belgium – dried fish stands. This ‘delicacy’ is chewed and the resulting bony pulp spat out, urghh!
The racing is hectic with 25 euro primes every lap ensuring there is never a dull moment. Young American, Isaiah Knouff makes one of the breaks and then ‘blows’. We have a chat with him as he heads for the changing rooms. ‘I’m too skinny for this man, these Belgians are all big dudes’, he explains in his Indiana accent. ‘What sprockets was I using? ‘Man, I couldn’t read the computer, I was cross eyed’.
Wesley Balcaen runs out winner in a fluid race which sees constant attack and counter attack. Finishers in a Belgian race always match the prizes, if there are 30 prizes you can bet that’s how many finishers there will be. With afternoon and evening races it’s no problem to take in two races in a day and we head off to Sint-Martens-Latem for a six o’clock start. There are 40 starters including a couple of Aussies for 60 laps of a 1 km street circuit in a wealthy suburb of Ghent.
This one is rapid, carbon rims bang and rattle on the cobbled corners until a break of 5 forces clear. It soon becomes apparent that this is the winning break, despite the presence of Stefaan Vermeersch, a man who took 14 wins in 2003, it’s 31 year old Mario Willems from Boekhoute who takes a very fast sprint.
Saturday dawns after a recovery session on the Friday night, we take the main Deinze road out of Ghent past the Ferrari, Maserati and Porsche showrooms. These gleaming palaces of automotive art sit cheek by jowl with old plate glass- windowed shops where the ladies of the night display themselves to prospective customers...Hey! It’s Belgium.
Unfortunately we cannot afford either of these commodities, we’re off to ‘The Bulldog of Flanders’, Walter Godefroot’s shop, which is also service course for the T-mobile team. Before he became a team director Godefroot was a very tough and successful rider with Paris-Roubaix among his wins. He is best known now as Jan Ulrich’s director, not a job for the faint hearted.
The shop is every bit as impressive as its super-car emporium neighbours with a huge stock, naturally Giants feature heavily, including one of Stephan Wesemann’s steeds sprayed up in worlds bands in honour of his lead in the World Cup competition. The big surprise, not to say irony here though is that Godefroot is a Trek main dealer. It’s bizarre that in the very heart of the place where ‘Big Tex’s’ downfall is being planned, his pictures adorns the walls. It’s a bit like walking into the Vatican and finding paintings of Martin Luthor on the walls. It wouldn’t be a proper shop without some of Merckx’s offerings and sure enough a wide range of Eddy’s finest are on show.
It’s another two race day, first port of call is Zottegem to see the start of the amateur Het Volk race. This is a big race in the Belgian amateur calendar with 180 starters. Past winners include Freddy Maertens, Eddy Planckaert and Leif Hoste. To the uninitiated this could be a professional event, the level of organisation is superb and there are development squads from Tour team, Credite Agricole as well as US, Japanese and New Zealand squads.
We chat to 80s Belgian roadman sprinter, Noel Dejonckheere who spent most off his career in Spain because he hated the Belgian weather so much. He’s eaten a few pies since those days and now runs the US team, he doesn’t like rider radio links; ‘young riders have to learn to think for themselves’. We track down former world junior champion, Kiwi Jeremy Yates. ‘How’s the form, Jeremy?’
That’s always a good opener, most riders and team personnel will happily chat to you as long as you ask sensible questions and choose your moment. ‘Yeah, it’s good, I won an under 23 World Cup in the Ardennes last weekend.’ Yates rides for the successful and professionally- run Deschacht – Eddy Merckx squad. He lives in an apartment above the sponsor’s garage and says the team set-up is excellent.
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| Dirk de Wolf |
Team manager is former Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner, Dirk de Wolf, ‘The Wolf’ who Jeremy tells us gets more excited than the riders before big races, chain smoking to calm himself down.
We wish Jeremy good luck as he heads off for 160 tough kilometres around Flanders.
We have decided not to follow the whole race, the route is complicated and traffic will be dire.
[Monday’s Het Volk would tell us that outsider Stijn Vandenbergh won the event, Jeremy wasn’t on a good day and didn’t make the top 50.]
Target for the afternoon is Serskamp, in the middle of nowhere but absolute heartland if you love the sport of bike racing. Signing- on is in the exotically named Café Cabana, it transpires that the barman is from Aldershot, I suggest a picture and he’s around the bar like a ferret, he’s probably still telling customers about his new Scottish chums. Despite the fact that this is a dingy, smokey bar the signing-on is a hi-tech business these days, lap-tops and laser printers having taken over from type writers and Banda machines. Professional start sheets with sponsor’s logos are available as soon as the last rider has signed-on.
Old guys with beer bellies, lean over the crowd control barriers and cast expert eyes over the riders. Make no mistake, these are aficionados.
The race is over 17 laps of a largely urban circuit, no affluent suburb this, just a sleepy village but every one is out to see the race. The race follows the typical Belgian pattern of breaks going rapidly then just as rapidly coming back. We call in to Café T’Anker where you can have beer or beer, no wine, no coffee, no spirits, no soft drinks just beer – it’s West Flanders all right. There is one man in the field who it’s hard to take your eyes off, he just looks so big, relaxed and plain damn cool, ex-pro Hans De Meester, sponsored by a local kitchen company, Redant.
At the finish big Hans shows why he had 29 wins in 2003 finishing lengths clear, arms high, but it’s just part of the job, letting the photographers see the sponsor’s name.
In the post race interview De Meester is business-like, he has a duty to his sponsor, the fans and the race organisation but he has raced with the big guns and isn’t getting excited about a small race like this. Incidentally, to win as many races as big Hans, Chorus equipment will do you just fine.
We have an early night but can’t resist a last beer sitting outside on the square at St. Pieters station, not something we get the chance to do very often in Scotland.
Race day. In the Belgian firmament only the Tour of Flanders is a bigger race than the National Championships. The week prior to the race a look at the national press reminds you that cycling is not a marginal sport here. They are full of analysis and interviews with the favourites, universal choices are Tom Boonen and Tom Steels but defending champion, Geert Omloop is known to be very reluctant to surrender his jersey. The on-course bookies agree, with Boonen at 2-1.
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| Frank Vandenbroucke, enjoying one of his many last chances, this time with Fassa Bartolo |
The circuit twists and turns through the town,
the High Street and Town Square are focal points but the race also
winds through housing schemes where the residents are sat in the garden
enjoying the free show on a
glorious June Sunday. One of the great things about Belgian races
is that the stars are accessible, in the car park we rub shoulders
with Van Petegem (Lotto), Vandenbroucke (Fassa Bortolo) - above, Hoste
(Lotto), Gilmore (Vlaanderen-T Interim) and Capelle (Landbouwkrediet).
As the field of 99 riders assembles the helicopters roar overhead and in the usual blast of air horns and cheers from the fans, the 2004 Belgian Elite Championship is underway. It will take 240 kilometres (150 miles) and around 5½ hours before the result is known. The fan clubs are out in force, there are the’ Franky Boys’ longing for a result from the gifted but wayward Vandenbroucke. A middle aged Dutchman wearing an ‘I love Franky’ T shirt has renounced the Dutch Championship to see his idol in action. James Vanlandschoot fans wear Viking helmets bearing their man’s name. The 2001 champion and 2002 runner-up, Ludovic Capelle, is still well supported although as a team-mate of Steels his own aspirations will be secondary to those of the three times champion.
A Nico Mattan (Bodysol) fan checks out my Cipollini t-shirt and informs me that Mario will never be the rider Nico is, we agree and he stumbles off in search of more beer. The sun is giving my bald head a hard time and we decide to find the Quickstep team’s merchandising van so as I can buy a baseball cap to ward off sunstroke. The van does great business at all the big events pedalling team clothing and t-shirts for the Patrick Lefevre’s Quickstep and Bodysol teams. Current, ‘future of Belgian cycling’, Tom Boonen is a Quickstep man, as is legend Johan Museeuw who has moved over to management and PR after his final campaign in the Spring.
The team bus is parked near-by and a party of Quickstep customers are being given the full corporate hospitality tour. Cycling is a massive marketing vehicle in Belgium and a man like Lefevre has no problem in attracting big sponsors. At the Quickstep van we spot a little incident which perhaps sums up the team’s day. Johan Museeuw appears, he still looks a million dollars but is larking around, eating a huge burger (something he would never have done as a rider), the mood seems too frivolous to us.
He signs autographs for starry-eyed kids whilst he waits on the team car picking him up on the next lap. He has a towel under his arm which we reckon contains bottles of beer for consumption in the team car. Meanwhile the bunch has split in pursuit of the disintegrating early break, Steels and Omloop are in the front part of the split, riding like men possessed whilst Boonen is panicking behind.
Legend and ‘super favourite’ they may be but they blew it, less high jinks next year Johan and maybe Tom won’t miss the split. As the finish draws near, the casualties mount, Van Petegem and Vandenbroucke call it a day. On the other side of the barriers the spectators are made of sterner stuff and still the cash registers ring as beer, chips and burgers disappear at a prodigious rate.
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| Steven Caethoven |
On the last lap there are just the three left at the front, Caethoven tries to bridge up, for a while it looks like he’ll make it but he ‘blows’ spectacularly and slides back. It’s down to Steels and he does not disappoint.
Of the 99 starters only 26 finish, not a hill in
sight, it was just the speed, heat and 5 hours 35 minutes in the saddle
that did the damage. We head for the car park, it’s our unwritten
rule that as long as there is a
bike left to examine we don’t go anywhere. Omloop is talking
to his sponsors, they are clearly happy with their man, he rode a
good race and will generate a lot of column inches in next day’s
papers.
Steels is last man back, those TV interviews take up a lot if time. Because he is a top man, the mechanics de-grease, wash and re-lube his machine before he pops it in the boot of his new Audi. Top man or not he doesn’t get to take the good wheels home with him though - they go back in the team lorry. As Steels heads off to his supporters club and a sore head we realise tomorrow we’re on the plane home.
Where are the champs in 2005 boys?
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Email: editor@veloresults.co.uk