To own Frans Verbeeck's bike is really something. Just one notch below owning a Merckx machine. Frans had two spells on a Groen Leeuw. The first was from 1963 to 66 when he was on the Wiels- G.L. squad. He had nine podium places in 1966 but couldn't make a living and went back to being a milkman! He started racing again in 1968 but carried on with the milk round as a back up. His best years were with Watneys in the early seventies, again riding a Groene Leeuw but he just couldn't beat Eddy Merckx. I recall him being second to Eddy in the 1975 Tour of Flanders and he is interviewed for TV on the podium. He can hardly stand and he keeps shaking his head in disbelief. He looks a broken man. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that Watneys believed the could make a success of selling their appalling Red Barrel beer in Belgium the land of Chimay and Duvel. The catchphrase was "Join the Red Revolution" I wouldn't use it to clean my chain never mind drink it. Ray Green Brighton England
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