The Gent-Wevelgem Giveaway
I thought that Eddy Merckx was quite controlled in his comments on Wout Van Aert’s gifting of the classic Gent-Wevelgem race to teammate Christian Laporte since I am sure that he was absolutely seething inside.
Media comments speak of “Wout’s wonderful and generous character “, or that “He’ll regret this in 15-years.” and so on. All about the Belgian and what it means to his personal feelings and journey in life and not one single word, not the most minute consideration for how Van Aert’s gesture might have affected that most important, crucial component of the sport: the viewing public. Those two riders seem to have forgotten that they are professionals meaning they are in the entertainment business.
The saving grace of cycling, the reason fans will stand for hours waiting to catch a glimpse, is that cycling almost always, no matter what happens in the race, offers up an exciting finish. A sprint from two to 180 riders is always thrilling. A solo rider with a peloton breathing down their back; the scenarios are endless yet always leave one with a sense of satisfaction. The public were cheated out of their exciting finish on Sunday.
Imagine being a parent at the finish line in Wevelgem trying to explain to little Alphonse why his hero Wout didn’t try to win. The disappointment in the crowd, the air sucked out of the finish line atmosphere when they realized that there’d be no rush of excitement, no conquering Van Aert to raise the Belgian flag, just a dull, wet fizzle of an ending. I’m sure the organizing Flanders Classics group work at the very least as hard as I did with my own, televised UCI races. Without being condescending, you all out there cannot have any idea of how stupidly hard it is to put on a big road race, the monstrous workloads it all entails. I would have lost my mind, after all that work, had riders done a giveaway at my Univest GP, not only for my own disappointment – “What, my race isn’t good enough for you to win?” - but for the crowd reaction and the dreaded post-race sponsor meetings.
A major issue with pro road cycling, and mind, we are living in an era of the most exciting and entertaining racers in history, is that it’s too insular and self-focused. A general lack of concern for the ‘spectator experience’ which becomes less and less as, for example, the teams stay hidden in their buses until just before the starts rather than mingling a bit and connecting with the public as in the past. This is why I’m perking up about this new NCL (American criterium racing series) who are clearly and completely focused on the ‘spectator experience’. It will be most interesting to see how they interpret that experience in a new way.
The problem today is that the riders are just too honest. They’re coming from straightforward races like cyclocross and are being formed with so much national federation influence that the entertainment aspect of the true pro racer is being lost. I have no problem at all with Van Aert giving the win to Laporte – but for heaven’s sake, make it look good. Put on a proper show for the public. I guarantee, had a track racer, one well versed in the Dark Arts such as Elia Viviani been in the same situation, we’d still be talking about that fantastic finish. It would have been edge-of-seat, screaming your lungs out exciting. The public is there to be entertained, not share in a moment of ‘Bro-love’. Cycling is fragile; the Dutch are pulling all their police escort motos from the sport, Milano-Sanremo, for the first time since 1907 started outside of Milano is some backwater village, and we simply cannot afford disappointing moments of self-indulgence such as on Sunday. Riders need to remember just for whom they are there.
About Eddy Merckx and why I know that he’s beyond furious over the incident. The 1985 Gent-Wevelgem came down to a sprint royale. Eric Vanderaerden, the sprinting, time trialing cyclocross man -the Van Aert prototype - was on the far right heading for the win. His Panasonic teammate, Aussie Phil Anderson on the far left half a bike behind the Belgian. Suddenly, just before the line, Vanderaerden slowed, seeming to allow Phil to pass. When you see the photo, Phil is throwing his bike with everything he has and Eric is sitting up (he still won by 5 cm) Whatever really happened, and we’ll never know, Eddy went ballistic. “A champion gives nothing away, Vanderaerden must crush all opposition, show no weakness, Anderson was not worthy of the win, it was disrespectful of the sport…” His tirade gave a real insight into what racing with Eddy must have been like...
Yet Eddy was and is correct. Especially back then, when riders were still imbued with a mythical aura, the idea of an all-conquering champion, the savage tribal chieftain Eddy Merckx was what drew the public. They want knock-out punches, hard hits, and tons of drama. The old timers knew how to do that, how to court and grow their fanbase. Seeing a Belgian Classic given away, to a Frenchman no less, must have been a painful sight for them to behold.