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Belgian club championships
Het Volk on March 1 is the start of the international road racing season in Belgium, and you can feel the anticipation in the air, but before that this weekend is a very important one for many Belgian road racers. Because this is the weekend that the Belgian cycling clubs traditionally hold their club championships.
The tradition started because once the year got under way it was difficult to shoehorn a club race into the crowded Belgian programme, and some years ago even pro riders took part in the race to be the best in the club that nurtured them when they started out in bike racing.
Nowadays the clubs often band together in one race to decide several club titles. One such event will be held in Rumst in Antwerp province on Sunday February 24. There will be a full day of racing starting with the juvenile racers in the morning and ending with a race for elite without contract riders in the afternoon. There will also be a masters and weekend racers event.
The top pros don’t compete
in these races any more, but in the seventies British Tour de France stage
winner, and the winner of the Ghent-Wevelgem Classic, Barry Hoban lived
in Ghent and was a member of the local Gentse Velosport club. He says,
“I used to do the Gentese Velosport championships when I could and
I tell you, it was one of the most competitive races of the year, with
several Tour de France pros in it. I only managed to win it once.”