Flandria (cycling team)

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The Flandria team at the 1964 Tour de France

Flandria was a cycling team sponsored by the Belgian bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer Claeys Flandria . It existed from 1959 to 1979.

history

In 1958, the cyclist Leon Vandaele had won Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders . But because he had disregarded the instructions of his team and therefore had a conflict with his team-mate Rik Van Looy, who was known to be dominant , he looked for a new racing team. The following year he met the owner of the Flandria company , Pol Claeys (1933–2011), in a café and told him about his problems. As a result, the enthusiastic cycling fan Claeys decided to build a new team. In its first season, the Dr. Mann-Flandria Team 44 races; Vandaele had eight wins alone, including at Gent-Wevelgem .

The Belgian cycling idol Briek Schotte rode for Flandria in his last season in 1959 . He then became sporting director and remained in this position until the team was dissolved in 1979. Because of their red jerseys, the team was called rode brigade .

In the first year, the team's budget (based on today's calculations) was 75,000 euros and increased to around 500,000 euros at the end of the 1970s. When the business of Claeys Flandria went downhill, the racing team was dissolved.

In the 20 years of its existence, a total of around 430 racing drivers have been under contract with Flandria . All well-known Belgian racing drivers (with the exception of Eddy Merckx and Frans Verbeeck ) drove for the team for a while during their careers, including Briek Schotte (1959), Rik Van Looy (1962), Walter Godefroot (1973-1975), Freddy Maertens ( 1972–1979) and Jean-Pierre Monseré (1969–1971).

Claeys had a special personal relationship with “Jempi” Monseré; for Claeys, the hopeful talent was like a son, as he said in an interview in 2007. Monseré, on the other hand, was in rivalry with his teammate Roger De Vlaeminck ("They didn't let the light in each other's eyes"), which led to great tension in the team and a great burden for Claeys. Monseré died in an accident on March 15, 1971, at the age of 22 (he was hit by a car during a cycling race in Belgium). Pol Claeys later blamed the disputes between the two drivers for Monseré's death, because the latter had his focus on De Vlaeminck's racing behavior and thus lacked attention.

In addition to the Belgian team Flandria-Carpenter-Confortluxe , Claeys Flandria took part in the French team Merlin Plage-Shimano-Flandria in 1974 . The other French teams saw this as a distortion of competition and a violation of the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale . After the UCI saw no reason to intervene, these teams boycotted the start of the Milan – Sanremo cycling world cup .

Successes (selection)

In total, drivers of the team won two “Grand Tours” , two road world championships , 70 classics , including five times the Tour of Flanders and four times Paris – Roubaix , z. B .:

Team name

  • 1959: Dr. Mann Flandria
  • 1960: Flandria
  • 1961: Wiel's Flandria
  • 1962–1963: Flandria-Faema
  • 1964–1966: Flandria-Romeo
  • 1967–1968: Flandria-De Clerck
  • 1969: Flandria-De Clerck-Krüger
  • 1970–1971: Flandria-Mars
  • 1972: Flandria-Beaulieu
  • 1973: Flandria-Shimano-Carpenter
  • 1974–1975: Flandria-Carpenter-Confortluxe
  • 1976: Velda-Flandria
  • 1977: Velda-Latina-Flandria
  • 1978: Velda-Flandria-Lano
  • 1979: Flandria-Ca Va Seul

Other drivers (selection)

Belgian Willy Bocklant in the red Flandria jersey (1967)

team

1975

Wikidata logo S.svgTeam roster
Surname Date of birth country Previous team
Christian Ardouin April 18, 1952 FRA France Merlin Plage-Shimano-Flandria (1974)
Eddy Cael October 24, 1945 BEL Belgium
Raphaël Coene 5th November 1950 BEL Belgium Merlin Plage-Shimano-Flandria (1974)
Carlos Cuyle January 25, 1953 BEL Belgium
Wilfried David April 22, 1946 BEL Belgium Peugeot-BP-Michelin (1972)
Ronald De Witte October 21, 1946 BEL Belgium Peugeot-BP-Michelin (1972)
Régis Delépine December 22, 1946 FRA France Merlin Plage-Shimano-Flandria (1974)
Marc Demeyer April 19, 1950 BEL Belgium
Robert Fontaine February 12, 1950 BEL Belgium
Walter Godefroot July 2, 1943 BEL Belgium Peugeot-BP-Michelin (1972)
Cyrille Guimard January 20, 1947 FRA France Merlin Plage-Shimano-Flandria (1974)
Eric Jacques July 31, 1953 BEL Belgium
Freddy Maertens February 13, 1952 BEL Belgium
Gerard Martens December 29, 1948 BEL Belgium
Gérard Moneyron January 17, 1948 FRA France
Michel Pollentier February 13, 1951 BEL Belgium
Jean-Jacques Sanquer November 29, 1946 FRA France Merlin Plage-Shimano-Flandria (1974)
José Sersté(May 2 - December 31, note ) July 7, 1943 BEL Belgium
Roger Vandemaele February 1, 1953 BEL Belgium
Arthur Van De Vijver February 29, 1948 BEL Belgium
Marcel Van der Slagmolen 18th December 1952 BEL Belgium
Julien Van Geebergen June 15, 1948 BEL Belgium
Herman Van Springel August 14, 1943 BEL Belgium MIC Ludo de Gribaldy (1974)
Daniel Verplancke September 21, 1948 BEL Belgium
Roger Vershaeve May 23, 1951 BEL Belgium
Source: UCI

Note: José Sersté , team change

literature

Web links

Commons : Flandria  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Flandria. In: flandriabikes.com. Retrieved August 15, 2015 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Pieter van der Meer: Pol Claeys en zijn liefde voor de Flandria-ploeg. In: Het is Koers! October 10, 2011, accessed August 15, 2015 (Dutch).
  2. ↑ a b Briek Schotte. In: flandriabikes.com. September 7, 1919, accessed August 16, 2015 .
  3. ^ The Birth of a Team: A Chance Meeting in a Cafe. In: flandriabikes.com. Retrieved August 15, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Bert Heyvaert: Gouden herinneringen aan de rode brigade. In: nieuwsblad.be. February 25, 2007, accessed August 16, 2015 (Dutch).
  5. ↑ a b Academia Press: Vlaanderen fietst !. Academia Press, 2011, ISBN 978-90-382-1817-5 , p. 128 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  6. ↑ Herbie Sykes: A very unsporting year, in: Procycling July 2015 (German edition), p. 92ff