VeloVeritas

Big Scores in Belgium (0)

The score may have been Dunfermline 1 Queen of the South 2 at East End Park, the other night, but in Flanders just now it’s Guy 24, Mario 22.

That’s Guy Smet on 24 wins and recent VeloVeritas interviewee Mario Willems on 22.

Joe Parkin – Still Racing, But Just For Fun! (0)

“A Dog in a Hat,” has to be one of the best books about pro cycling ever written.

Author Joe Parkin took some time to talk to VeloVeritas about life, bike racing, his next book-yes, and Lance!

Mario Willems – Most Successful Kermis Rider This Season (0)

“Ed! All this Tour de France nonsense – you should be talking to Mario Willems, he’s the top man in the Flanders kermis’ right now!”

What Viktor wants, Viktor gets.

After a long tenure with John Saey, Mario changed camps this year, heading across to Kingsnorth International Wheelers. We couldn’t get a direct interview, but Mario was kind enough to answer our questions by email…

Giving It A Go In Belgium (3)

In part four of our (irregular) series on racing as an amateur in Belgium, VeloVeritas own web manager and editor, Martin, talks about when he had some time in the mid-80′s between completing a college course and starting a new job, and decided to head off to Flanders for the season…

Tom Murray – Unfinished Business (2)

Continuing our series about racing in Belgium, we had a chat with Tom Murray last week, who is back racing on the continent after the Plowman Craven Madison team ceased operations.

Peter Murphy – “Go To Belgium” (0)

Scottish bike racing; let’s face it, no matter how well you do in the Super Sixes, or how quick you can go around West Ferry, you’re going nowhere if you stay in Auld Scotia.

Please don’t quote Graeme Obree – he’s a one off, crazy, marvellous, gifted, but impossible to emulate. John Kennedy, Billy Bilsland, Robert Millar, David Millar – they all crossed the channel. The track? Then you best get down to Manchester and see if you can get on ‘the Plan,’ that’s what Chris Hoy and Craig MacLean did.

It’s a scary thought, but if you want to “make it big” it isn’t happening among the hillies and glens.

Dean Downing – Still Living His Dream (0)

This is the first in a series of articles in which we explore racing in Belgium, and chat to a few guys that “have done it the hard way”, outside of “The Plan”, and on their own. To kick us off, we caught up with Rapha Condor star Dean Downing between Tour Series criteriums.

‘Deano’ may be well known for his high-profile wins in Premier Calendar races and riding madisons on the track with brother Russ, but he actually learnt his trade racing on the Belgian cobbles, way back in 2000.

James Cambridge – One of Cycling’s Unsung Heroes (0)

“Do you remember the James Cambridge boy we were talking to at that kermesse in Sersekamp, four or five years ago?” says Viktor.

“Red Specialized, great tan, pro’s legs and a cool Craft under vest?” I reply.

“That’s him; he was top ten in the Rutland race, last weekend-he’d be a good boy to talk to.”

Hamish Haynes’ Letters from Belgium #2 (0)

Hi folks, I’m very happy with the progress I have been making here, I’m confident of now delivering the required results.

I’ve been having a lot of fun racing and training getting some really good sessions done, with a very positive feeling on the bike. It’s not all gone my way though…

Hamish Haynes’ Letters from Belgium #1 (0)

Hi folks, Let’s bring you up to speed with my season so far: In mid-February, just before returning from winter training in Spain I picked up a hamstring strain; at that moment it wasn’t clear what had exactly happened.

I assumed it was a minor niggle that would quickly recede, within a few days I realized a scan was necessary, fortunately it revealed only a minor muscle elongation.

The Tour of Flanders – Day 2 (0)

What does the ‘oh’ stand for in oh, four, forty five ? “Oh my God it’s early!” That’s an old Robin Williams joke, from Good Morning Vietnam, but I like it.

I managed a shave without removing any skin, packed my case and stumbled out of the room, all the while making a mental note that when I met Big Bert, I’d get some free samples of his sponsor’s ‘Silence’ anti-snoring preparation for Greg.

I was on station at Ninove bang on 06.15, helped by a jumbo tin of Red Bull and the excellent tunes on Radio Nostalgie – pronounced Nostal-hee.

The Tour of Flanders – Day 1 (0)

When I was young (and dinosaurs roamed the earth) I read and re-read Tom Simpson’s autobiography, ‘Cycling is my Life.’ The races that he won seemed so tough and so glamorous; I idolised him – still do.

But it wasn’t until I actually saw The Worlds, Milan – San Remo and the Tour of Lombardy in the flesh, that I realised how good the man actually was. I’m reminded again today, when I look at the parcours of ‘The Ronde’ what a bike rider he really was.

Gary Wiggins – Nobody messed with ‘the Doc’ (0)

The tall, raw-boned rider ambled across to the barrier; he was broad and square across the shoulders, big-thighed and walked with a loose-limbed gait. His long legs made easy work of straddling the steel fence which separated the riders’ enclosure from the paying public at the Gent six, back in the early 80′s.

As he headed-off to his cabin, a mechanic looked-up from the already-gleaming machine he was polishing and gave a cheerful; ‘Hi Gary!’
The rider said nothing, but acknowledged the greeting with an ‘energy-saver’ nod.

My buddy, Fraser who was staying in Gent at the time, explained the dynamic to me; “that’s Sercu’s (Patrick Sercu, undisputed king of the sixes, with 88 wins) personal mechanic, he speaks to no one, he thinks he’s superior to everyone, he always talks to Gary though – ‘nobody messes with The Doc!”

Under-23 Het Volk (0)

Continental TV may be dire, but there’s a good choice of radio stations; Percy Sledge is telling us about “When a man loves a woman”, as we jump back into the VW after paying homage at the Karl Buyse monument in sleepy Wontergem.

Buyse was a son of the Flanders sod who won the Tour de France in 1926. A long time ago maybe, but not forgotten here in the heartland.

Grote Prijs Gemeente Beveren (0)

It’s long been a puzzle to me – who actually works in Flanders?

It’s 11.30am at Beveren Waas on a Monday, two hours until the start and the race HQ is already heaving. Officials from the federation and all the participating clubs, mechanics, masseurs, mums, dads, girlfriends, sponsors and of course, riders; 196 of them.

People have their priorities right here, and work isn’t one of them – it comes somewhere after bike racing, family and doing what you enjoy.

It’s an “inter-club”, the GP Gemeente Beverene, 150 K and you can’t just turn up as a lone rider with an international licence, you have be a member of a Belgian club.