Randolph Baral (BiciSport Happy Wheels) @ Tour de France 2022
This week BiciSport finds itself in Belgium watching the post Tour de France criteriums plus the Franco Belge Classic in Tournai (on the French Belge border near Roubaix).
The picture above is the Oudenaarde to Roubaix cycle path along the Schelde River direction Roubaix.
The program is -
25 July (Aalst Pro Tour Criterium), 26 July (Roeselare Pro Tour Crtiterium), 27 July (Chaam Pro Tour Criterium in the Netherlands) and 31 July (the Putte Derny Pro Tour Criterium).
Finally its the Franco Belge Classic on 10 August in Tournai. BiciSport tips the can and sponsors two races in Velle (near Antwerp) on 12 & 16 August. The Special Events section will carry daily updates from 26 July
BiciSport in Belgium @ 23 July - The sponsorship jersey wall at the Tour of Flanders Museum in Oudenaarde is a nice journey through sponsorship history
BiciSport in Belgium @ 23 July - BiciSport photo bombs the historic jersey wall
Acht van Chaam is one of several post Tour de France criteriums held the following week after the Tour de France. The small village of Chaam is on the Belgian-Dutch border and is the oldest race in the Netherlands having started in 1933. The pro criterium is over 100k & Mathieu Van Der Poel is the star attraction.
A full BiciSport in Belgium report will be updated as it happens in the Special Events section of this website starting 26 July.
BiciSport starters are Eric Dole & Klayton Smith (Happy Wheels)
NATIONAL MASTERS ROAD & CYCLOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS - WOLLONGONG DATES & ENTRIES NOW OPEN
Details of the National Masters Road Championships in Wollongong are now posted in the Special Events section of this website
Entries are now open via the AusCycling website
RACE SEEKER - THIS WEEK
31 July
Lansdowne Park Criterium (Waratah Masters)
AusCycling Gravel Championships (Noosa, Qld)
BiciSport starters Klayton Smith & Eric Dole
BICISPORT TRAINING RIDES
Tues 27 July
Waratah Peloton @ pass the corner of Yulong Ave & McCarrs Creek Rd Terrey Hills @ 8.00am for Akuna Bay, top of McCarrs Creek Rd climb at 8.40am, then direction Duffys Forest, then return Terrey Hills shops @ 9.15am then to St Ives for coffee
Centennial Park Lower Loop from 5.30am to 7.45am
Thurs 29 July
Belgian Waffle Ride @ Centennial Park @ Spruce Goose Cafe @ 10.30am for Park laps
Waratah Peloton @ pass the corner of Yulong Ave & McCarrs Creek Rd Terrey Hills @ 8.00am for Akuna Bay, top of McCarrs Creek Rd climb at 8.40am, then direction Duffys Forest, then return Terrey Hills shops @ 9.15am then to St Ives for coffee
Sat 30 July
Coffee @ Sandstone Cafe Miramare Gardens @ 9.30am
Safir Ludo Galli Pro Cycling Team (Belgium) - 1978-88
Belgian to the core, rich in history and beer (if not money) and rider talent was sometimes difficult to identify. The Safir Brewery was based in Aalst in the heart of East Flanders. The picture above is the old typical horse & cart system used at the Aalst brewery for beer deliveries.
Some riders like Herman Van Springel, Herman Frison, Michel Pollentier, Ronny Van Holen & John Trevorrow were exceptional but the rest were well … just Belgian. The salary for Van Springel & Pollentier consumed a lot of the team budget and the rest just got what they got … it was really all about Van Springel & Pollentier.
Safir was Belgian beer with the brewery based in Aalst, Ludo the Belgian bikes, groupsets were originally Campagnolo with Galli (Italian) featured in later team lineups.
The Safir team management somehow got invited to the Tour of Italy yet really didn’t have the riders who even wanted to go. There was much more money to be made riding local races in the cobbled laneways around Flanders than getting your legs ripped off in the Italian Dolomites. Most Safir riders had never seen a mountain, let alone raced up one ! !. Thanks for the invite Giovanni but the Giro was going to get ugly for the Kermis Kings of Aalst.
The team roster obviously had a Belgian bias but Aussie Champion John Trevorrow featured (rode for the team at the Tour of Italy) and John was a class act with a long list of outstanding results at the domestic & international level. Herman Van Springel won the Bordeaux Paris classic twice, with support riders in Ronny Van Holen, Michel Pollentier, Andre Dierckx and Jean Phillip Vandenbrande. Lets face it, the beer was great and the jersey is a retro classic.
Herman Van Springel racing behind the Safir team motorised Derny in the Bordeaux Paris Classic. Herman mounted a 56 tooth front chainring for Bordeaux Paris.
Safir-Ludo-Galli - Aussie John Trevorrow had a rich domestic & international career and went on to be the Herald Sun Tour Race Director in Australia.
John Trevorrow takes second to Roger De Vlaeminck (DAF) at the Tour of Switzerland
Safir Belgian beer … the ultimate post race rehydration agent (not)
Safir Team Presentation against a photo wall of the sponsors product
Safir team sponsorship moved to Roland (musical instruments) and Skala (supermarkets) from 1986 to 1988