[CR]1st Retro Tour of Flanders

(Example: Framebuilders:Cecil Behringer)

From: "Hennie van Leeuwen" <hjleeuw@tiscali.nl>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2007 21:30:55 +0200
Subject: [CR]1st Retro Tour of Flanders

Just home from a really fantastic first edition from the historic Tour of Flanders. About 80 riders with all kind of different bikes started from the epic centre of classic cycling, Oudenaarde in the Flemish Ardennes. One of the eyecatchers was an Eddy Merckx look a like with a 1969 bike in the Faema colors. Talked to the guy and he told he is often asked for cycling events. Most interesting bike for us collectors was the one Eddy used in his last race ever. The Dutch owner, a close friend of Eddy, got it from him. You can imagine the value of it....By the way, in the "Centre Ronde van Vlaanderen" are some interesting bikes displayed, for instance the original Tommy Simpson bike on which he won "De Ronde" in 1961 and a (not fully original) Molteni Colnago. Ever driven on the notorious "kasseien" (coble stones) ? Well it is an experience you'll never forget. It's hell. The first part of the course did not have the famous hills in it, the second part did. The Kruisberg, Taaienberg, Eikenberg and the hill even the greatest had to walk on, the Koppenberg. Unfortunatelly the first part finished around 16.00 hours, too late for most (Dutch) riders who had a trip home to do. No doubt the organizer will start earlier next year to give everyone the opportunity to visit these holy grounds. In a few days probably photo's will be displayed on http://www.retroronde.be. Don't forget to visit the site. Planning a trip to Europe next year ? Best regards and perhaps see you next year .

Hennie van Leeuwen