Sports Poets Society

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/03/where-are-they-now-flanders-and-roubaix-winner-peter-van-petegem/ by José Been - Cyclingtips, March 5, 2021 Peter Van Petegem is a double Tour of Flanders winner, a Paris-Roubaix champion, and a three-time winner of the Omloop Het Volk (now Omloop Het Nieuwsblad). Still, the former Belgian pro remains modest. “I would never walk into a room stating my results list and boast about it,” he tells me. “Not in the past and not now. This is not who I am.” Van Petegem is a softly-spoken and friendly man with a love for cycling that echoes in every word. He still follows many races on TV, men’s and women’s, and he found a job that keeps him in touch with the world of cycling. His own, long career spanned 16 years at the highest level. No fewer than 20 victories make up his palmarès. He is one of 10 riders who has won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the same year.  “There are many highlights,” he says when asked if 2003, the year he achieved that ...

https://www.cyclinginflanders.cc/story/on-the-road-with-peter-van-petegem In the Tour of Flanders Centre, our starting point, two cobblestones are evidence of Van Petegem’s Tour victories in 1999 and 2003 . “I’m a cobblestone rider,” Van Petegem smiles. “You must love cobblestones. I grew up on them and the hills in this area, thus this is all part of my nature. I was particularly motivated by those flandriens, like Briek Schotte , who also had to fly over these cobblestones.” His tips on how to handle them? “First and foremost flexibility ! That’s why I often ride with my hands up high. You have to use your back to go with the movement. I see a lot of racers who lack this flexibility. They rely mostly on their hands. They’ll wear two pairs of gloves and tape their hands up. And despite all that they blister .” NOT A SPORTSMAN The cobblestones in the Tour of Flanders are of mythic proportion. ‘Stone bloodsuckers’ the poet Willie Verhegghe christened them in a poem that is displayed at ...