Flandrien: If you look up the word in a French dictionary you'll find two results, one would be "an individual born and raised in Flanders" the other is "a generation of Flemish cyclists of the 40's and 50's known for their incredible stamina and tolerance of pain." The Tour de Flanders is one of the hardest one day cycling races in the world; good legs are not enough to finish this race. It requires a rider to be a true hard man to finish. De Ronde Van Vlaanderen, as pronounced in Flemish, is one of the most difficult of the classics. A cyclist spends the entire day racing on small, narrow roads riding from one steep cobbled climb to the next, where you must be able to maneuver around nicely and swiftly. The narrow steep cobblestone climbs and descents require agility, responsiveness, luck, good form and guts. When it rains, those hills are even more difficult because of the slippery cobbles.

My Race Day

The big objective of my spring season was preparing for the Tour of Flanders. While I wasn't racing in the "real" Tour of Flanders, I was about as close as you can get. The amateur Tour of Flanders covers the same roads and major climbs as the professional race. Our race was 265 kilometers and went over 18 climbs, including Oude Kwaremont, the Leberg, the Paterberg, the Muur de Geraardsberg, and the Bosberg, as well as several other climbs of lesser significance. This race was my chance to get a feel for what the real Tour of Flanders is all about, from the cyclist's point of view-I rode in the Junior Tour of Flanders many years ago. From my research about the course and knowing the Flemish weather, I knew that gels, energy bars and food I normally would use for a triathlon was not going to get me through this race. The beating on the body, but more importantly the mental state of the rider would require "real food". Particularly, food that was high in sodium and medium in fat. Some sugar, bananas, and of course "rijs taartjes," a Flemish pastry made of rice and vanilla pudding. For hydration I used rosebud tea, my dad dug up his old tea recipe from his racing days back in the 60's when riders didn't have the performance drinks we have nowadays. The rosebud tea with some other secret ingredients not only keeps the rider focused but also hydrated and strong. I was happy about the unseasonably warm weather the day of the race-60 F. This kind of heat is unheard of in Belgium for this time of year. I drank seven tea bottles.

The race started out with 100 kilometers on a flat, straight highway with mostly headwinds to the coast before the first climb of the day, the Oude Kwaremont. This climb was one of the most crucial parts of the race, as you come off a four-lane highway and onto a one-lane farm road that leads into the climb. The Oude Kwaremont is 2.2 km on some pretty bad cobblestones. Field splits are common here and you if you are left out of the first group you might never see the front of the race again. I started really racing for the bottom of the climb from 15 km out. Everyone wanted to be at the front as we were approaching the turn off the highway onto the narrow farm road. It was crazy-I have never seen people taking such insane risks to be at the front. Guys were passing in the ditch, on the sidewalks, in the gutters, pretty much anywhere they could possibly move up. I came into the climb in okay position, but not great, sitting about 60th. I spent the entire climb passing people.

The risky part is that during the climb riders climb so close together that sometimes handlebars collide and mass falls block the narrow roads preventing anyone to continue further. A cyclist would be forced to either weave his way up the mountain, circumventing the pileup of riders, or worse, forced to walk the rest of the climb. The thing about cobbles is that no one wants to ride on them. Riding the cobbles is quite an experience. Your bike is rattling so badly that you can barely see straight, and every little bump is just pounding your hands. The only way to ride them is to stick in a big gear and just power your way over. Everyone tries to ride in the dirt on the side of the road whenever possible, in an attempt to get a smoother ride. The problem with that is that there are hundreds riders trying to squeeze into that tiny little strip of dirt, so crashes happen often. I managed to weave my way through the pileups and came over the top just on the tail of the front group.

Three more climbs followed in quick succession. I managed to stay in the front group over each, until the last cobbled climb, where I was dropped 50 meters from the top by what became the winning break group later. After finishing the Kwaremont I had to coast for a few minutes and regain focus. The trauma of riding these cobbles at that speed make your mind tell you that you'll do anything to make this stop right now. I skipped the first food station deliberately because I had friends and family positioned 10Km further with all the special goodies I prepared in advance. I also did this so in case I was dropped by the leading peloton, I could make up time here. Hanging back in the pack, I grabbed my food and was ready to have my Burgundian meal. Looking forward to some real food will make you pedal harder, believe me. The plan worked perfectly-I sat quietly for the next 50km or so until we hit the Muur de Geraardsberg. I knew there was still a lot of racing left and nothing mattered until we came to the Muur. This is possibly the most famous climb of the race. It is about 1.6km and the last 1km is on some of the steepest, most terrible cobbles I have ever seen. Starting this race I had two concerns, the Patersberg and the Muur. I've successfully scaled the Patersberg and hammered the cobble downhill to be launched at the 2K cobble stretch that came right after the hill. It was here that I got my closest call to a crash.

The narrow farm roads mixed with 40km speeds and dust blowing up from the fields made it dust-blanked, where at times you could only see the rear of the guy in front of you. I felt something sliding along my rear wheel, and in a split second I saw an Italian rider's front tire being shredded by my cassette. All he could say was "I'm sorry" in a fat Italian accent before the tire came off and he crashed to initiate a mass pileup of riders. I couldn't stop as I now was at the back of the pack. Anyone who was riding beside or behind me a second ago was having some face time with the Flemish clay and cobble. The rest of the next 30km went relatively uneventful until I started cramping, nothing major, but just enough to realize something needed to be done about it soon. I grabbed the salami and cheese sandwich from my pocket just to realize the last 50km I had been eating cheese sandwiches only, since my family (aka my support crew) had to eat during the race too. They had accidentally switched the sandwiches. Needing salt I asked my crew to bang on some doors to get regular table salt. During the quick stop, I filled 2 bottles with a mixed of salt and tea. Within minutes I felt good again and my energy only got stronger while seeing the pack thin out as we got further into the race.

As the Muur got closer it was time to face my second concern of the day-I knew that if I could stay calm and in good position on the Muur, the chances of me biking the hill instead of walking it were great. Turning left of the main road, the Muur's 18% grade climb hits you with no warning. Some of the riders attacked right at the base only to blow up half way and eventually tip over or fade away. I stayed in the saddle and spinned up half the climb until the cobble stretch and hardest part of the climb at 22% grade. There I put everything I had left into the pedals, positioned in the critical places I had family and friends cheer me on, hundreds of spectators yelling and screaming to get you up that hill gave me an adrenaline rush. Weaving my way between the riders I saw the chapel out of the corner of my eye, one more hairpin turn and I would find myself on top. I was so happy I put my fist in the air claiming my victory over the mountain. If I stayed vigilant, nothing would come between me and that finish line, now a little over 10km away. I pushed hard up the next climb with a few other riders and we split a group of about six riders off from the field. We immediately hit the Bosberg and another group of five joined us. I was content to just sit on the back and enjoy the ride as we started to pull away from the field. While reaching the top of the Bosberg I passed the "10km to go" banner. When we hit the downhill the fireworks started. We had a 2km stretch of cobbles that we had to cover and the vibration onto the hands was so brutal that reaching for the breaks was impossible. A rider attacked immediately when we hit the cobbles and I and two other riders followed him.

I was able to sit in the back of the pack and do a minimum amount of work while the others killed themselves to establish a lead. Our gap quickly opened up and when we came through the "5km to go" banner assured that others weren't going to catch up to us. With 750m to go, another rider attacked. I looked over at my other two companions and saw that they were cooked and quickly attacked myself. I bridged up to leading guy. From there it was a dueling two-man time trial to the finish line. Turing the corner, I was happy to see the yellow finishing banner both of us looked at each other and shook hands no sprint was necessary. That day, from the 15.000 amateurs 2750 finished the 260K ride. As I rolled into the family waiting area I was ecstatic, I wanted to have a good ride, but this was way better than I had hoped for. The support of my staff; allowing me to have some time off and the enormous help of my support team made this possible and for that I'm grateful. So now I can tick another one off my to do list and start looking forward to the next objective. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Later that evening after a good bath and home cooked meal, it was time to get some rest. Just before lights out, I gazed at the ceiling and thought: "man, I love cycling".

--------------------------------------------

How It All Began

The Tour of Flanders is the brainchild of Karel Van Wynendaele. He was an unsuccessful race cyclist and a big fan of Cyriel Hauwaert. He earned his living by writing articles for local papers. He was impressed by the bicycle races Paris-Bruxelles and Paris-Roubaix. In 1912, he was asked to cooperate on the creation of the newspaper "Sportwereld". Although cycling was somewhat in a dark period, Karel had a lot of exposure to the sport. Publishing a national paper gave him the possibility to organize a bicycle race himself. Henri Desgrange, the man who founded the Tour of France, was his great example and they met regularly. 1913 was the historic year of the first Tour of Flanders. It was a devilish tour of 330 km. In those days, such a long distance was common, not to mention the bad condition of the roads. Van Wynendaele was rather an emotional man and wanted his tour to pass in all the beautiful places of Belgium; Gent, Brugge, the coast and the heart of Flanders.

The first tour was not a success. Only 37 race cyclists participated. One year later there were only 10. During the First World War, it was impossible to organize the race and so it should be said that there was no future left for this young born child. But in 1919, Van Wynendaele came back. The circuit was more or less the same but for the first time the Kwaremont climb was included in the race. But again, it failed. The sponsors stayed away. But the next year a French bicycle constructor decided to become a sponsor and so the international sympathy started to grow. In 1923, Heiri Sutter, a Swiss, was the first foreign winner of the tour. During this period, other cycling races were held in Belgium, without any fame. But the Tour of Flanders survived thanks to the perseverance of its organizers. In the years 1920-1930, the Tour of Flanders became very famous, even in other countries. In the beginning, the Tour of Flanders took place 14 days before Easter. This was often the same day as Milan-San Remo and so a lot of good Italian and French cyclists preferred Italy. Later on the Tour of Flanders was organized one week later, just before Paris-Roubaix. In 1939, "Sportwereld" and "Het Nieuwsblad" merged and so "Het Nieuwsblad" obtained all the rights for the organization of the Tour of Flanders.

After World War II, "Het Nieuwsblad-Sportwereld" did no longer exist. During this war, the paper was named "Het Algemeen Nieuws-Sportwereld" and some people accused them of collaboration. Because the Germans let Van Wynendaele organize his tour, the suspicion of collaboration became even stronger. But Van Wynendaele took revenge. He even convinced the cyclists' union to change the name "Omloop van Vlaanderen" into "Omloop Het Volk" because of the strong resemblance to the name of the Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlaanderen). A few years later Het Nieuwsblad-Sportwereld was republished and the Tour of Flanders was born again. Even more famous than the first time, and with international interest! In 1947, the organizers of one-day bicycle races joined hands and the Desgrange-Colombo trophy was created. This was done not only out of self protection but also to put some pressure on the top cyclists to have them participate in all races. This trophy was successful from the beginning. As Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders became the brick paved classic of the North.

Eyes on the Climbs

The Kluisberg was asphalted in 1970. The 1,100 meter-climb is at some parts 15% steep and sometimes is the unexpected "finish line" for those with less power and form. Further on the Knokteberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg are situated between the 170 and 180 km mark. The finale slowly starts developing. The Knokteberg is a 1,100 meter-long narrow asphalt road, 8% steep, and a warm up for the two remaining climbs. After this, the riders have some time to reorganize. The Oude Kwaremont starts off with 600 meter asphalt, followed by the 1600 meters cobbles to the top. However, there will hardly be time to catch a breath; the Patersberg is soon the next to be conquered. At this 350 meter-long, 12.5% steep, narrow cobble road, the fittest cyclists have the chance to show their strength.

The legendary Koppenberg got his comeback in the course last year. Because of the increasing crowds, the organizers for several years thought it was too dangerous. After the bad fall Jesper Skibby suffered in 1987 on the climb (Skibby's rear wheel was hit by a jury-car which was unable to pass by on the narrowed road), the Koppenberg disappeared from the Tour de Flanders. In 2002, the cobbles where reinstalled, the crowds kept behind fences and after a tryout last year, where all went ok, also this year the climb has to be overcome by the riders.

The Berendries, with 223 k, gone under the wheels in Brakel is the home-climb of former winner Peter van Petegem. Few miles to go in Geraardsbergen the hardest climb of the day, the Muur awaits the riders. The one to go over the top of the Bosberg first most of the times too is one to be on one of the steps of the podium. The climb gave two times winner Edwin van Hooijdonk his nickname. In his two victory years (1989 and 1991) Eddy Bosberg defeated his opponents in advance at this hill. After the Bosberg it is only less than ten kilometer over flat roads to the freeing finish line in Meerbeke.

It is a misunderstanding that 75% of the circuit was cobblestones. Until the end of the fifties, half of the distance was cycle track or gravel. It was not a comfortable road, but it was much better than the cobblestones. These cobblestoned roads were so different from the cobblestones we know nowadays. They were cut coarsely, laid unequally and centimeters apart. Before World War II, only the more important roads improved. But during the economic redevelopment, the local governments changed almost every road into asphalt. The amount of cobblestones that at first seemed to be inexhaustible, alarmed the organizers as some important inclines were asphalted. They needed topographical cards and local people to help them find small country roads. It was important to prevent the race from ending in a mass sprint. By searching cobblestones to have a typical circuit, the number of inclines in the tour grew. By this, the Flemish Ardennes became the heart of the Tour of Flanders.

The Weather

The Tour of Flanders has always been associated with terrible weather. It is always freezing or raining cats and dogs. Its great fun (for the spectators) if there is some melting snow or a hailstorm. The bad weather conditions were actually responsible for the identity of the Tour of Flanders. But you never can tell what it is going to be. The past few years have treated the cyclists with pleasant and sunny weather. Only 30 percent of all tours were ridden in bad weather. Although they were the ones that made history! The most famous tours were won by Forenzo Magni in 1950 and 1951. The weather conditions were terrible. The performance of Eddy Merckx in 1969, riding 70 km in attack was even more legendary due to the bad weather. And in 1985, Eric Vanderaerden won and merely 24 cyclists arrived...