The "Ronde", as the Tour of Flanders is known in Belgium and especially in the Flemish part of the country, is not just a cycling race. The day of the race, which was first organised in 1913, is something like a bank holiday and the largest folk festival in Belgium. André Greipel once said: "For the people here, this is more important than Christmas and New Year's Eve put together." For Bernard Hinault, who liked to have something to complain about, the Tour of Flanders with its short but brutal climbs on the "Hellingen" was nothing but a "circus act, pure sensationalism". And when he took part for the first and last time in 1978 and only finished eleventh, "the badger" spoke of a "cochonnerie", a mess.
Hinault, who was quite miffed, said: "This is not a race, but a war game or a lottery," and asked the rhetorical question regarding the passage over the Koppenberg: "What have we done to be sent to hell?" It was precisely on the Koppenberg, which is up to 22 per cent steep with its so-called "Kasseien" (cobblestones), that the leading Dane Jesper Skibby was almost run over by a support vehicle during the 1987 race.
He was uninjured, but because his flattened racing machine was defective, he abandoned the race. The Koppenberg was then temporarily removed from the programme and not tackled again by the pros until 2002. After numerous pros had to walk or crash again in 2006, the passage was abandoned again in 2007 before the road was extensively renovated in 2008 and has been back on the programme ever since.
Alone against the wind to victory
For once, the rider with the most overall victories is not Eddy Merckx. He won the "Ronde" for the first time in 1969, after coming third in his first participation in 1967 and only eighth in 1968. So the "Cannibal" once again lived up to his name in 1969. Merckx attacked 80 kilometres before the finish line in steady rain and gale-force winds of around five degrees Celsius. When his sporting director instructed him from the car to put his legs up and wait for the peloton, Eddy Merckx simply shouted: "Fuck you!" and raced to victory alone against the wind.
Albéric "Briek" Schotte from Kanegem in West Flanders won the Tour of Flanders in 1942 and 1948, but finished on the podium eight times in 20 participations - a record that would only be equalled by Johan Museeuw in the 1990s. Schotte died on 4 April 2004 at the age of 84 - on the day of the 88th edition of the "Ronde". A TV commentator said during the live broadcast: "God must have been one of Briek's biggest fans." The significance of the "Iron Briek" became clear when most Belgian newspapers printed a photo of him on the front page the next day and not of the current winner Steffen Wesemann.
