Adieu Pol Claeys

Our little Flandria supporterswereld went into mourning this weekend hearing the sad news of the passing of  Flandria pro cycling team patron, Pol Claeys after a brief illness last Friday.  Mr. Claeys was 78.

A lifelong passionate cycling enthusiast, Pol Claeys was the man whose hands on initiative built up what became the famous 'Red Guard' in the sixties and seventies.   Claeys personally signed on stars like Rik Van Looy,  the DeVlaeminck brothers, Joop Zoetemelk, Walter Godefroot, Jempi Monsere, Freddy Maertens and Michel Pollentier.   For over 20 years, he and his directeurs Briek Schotte and Lomme Driessens maintained the Red Guard as a force in classics, tours, winning several world championships.  

At the team's peak in the mid 70's, Claeys Flandria also sponsored the feeder team WSC Tourhout, and a French branch of the professional team directed by Count Jean de Gribaldy.   That French branch was the last team of french legend Cyrille Guimard, and the first team of Irish legend Sean Kelly.

Pol Claeys was the fourth generation of his family that directed the Flandria company in Zedelgem, West Flanders.  The company expanded from bicycles to produce mopeds and small motorbikes.    Upon bankruptcy in 1979 precipitated by the rapid decline of the moped division, the Flandria company ceased operations.  The team was disbanded, and the riders found new sponsors.

The Flandria brand was brilliantly revived by Adam Longworth as Flandria Europe a few years ago. Over here, we're grateful for his current support of our Flandria Cafe masters cycling team.

Adam and his collaborators in Zedelgem are doing a fantastic job continuing the Claeys legacy.   Check out the bikes here, and a great series on the history of the Claeys Flandria company here.

Flandria cafe expresses heartfelt condolences to the Claeys family.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time tested, old school early season training advice

Image
I just love the article below. I found it on the web years ago. It's a lecture by Dr. Marco Pierfederici, a trainer who used to work with Eddy Merckx and Italian pro teams back in the ’70 and ‘80s. He delivered this talk at a training camp in Miami organized by a long-gone business called 'Italia Velo Sport'. They imported Battaglin and Francesco Moser frames, Campagnolo and Gipiemme components and other Italian clothing and gear. This innovative, early discount mail order company brought champion Francesco Moser to a winter camp with US amateurs in 1982, and then brought over Giovanni Battaglin and his teammates, I believe in early 1983. The pros spent the days logging early season easy miles with starry-eyed US amateurs, and spent evenings giving clinics to imparting old world 'knowledge'. An old friend and CCB teammate Rick Graham attended that camp. A few weeks later as we were tapping out the miles around Gloucester Mass., I remember Rick talking ab
Read more

Benotto dreams...

Image
Before the US National Road Race Championship, August 1982. Hard to believe now jongens , but once upon a time I could sprint a bike through a crowd fast enough that somebody actually saw fit to sponsor me. It's a faded memory I needed to keep drawing upon several times this past season... Way back in 1981 I was recruited by Constantin Negulescu to join his Northstar Bicycle Club.  The ex-Romanian national team rider had put together an elite US Amateur team, sponsored by a slate of leading Italian cycling brands:  Bicicletas Benotto, Gipiemme components, Ambrosio rims, Hutchinson tires and IscaSella Saddles.   With the exception of Hutchinson (who still makes killer tubeless tires... raced this whole season on one pair), most are brands either dead, or largely missing in action.  But back in '82, well, it was the perfect gear. "Good enough for Roger DeVlaeminck or Moser, good enough for you!" Talk about Christmas morning... I can still remember being in
Read more

Lost races of the Northeast: Le Tour de la Gaspésie

Image
Ever wonder what it's really like to ride a Tour? C'mon, admit it.  Most of us amateurs, from the time we first stomp on pedals in anger, from that first adrenaline rush riding in a peloton, that sound of whirring chains and wind, incubates a dream of riding a ' Tour '.   A real stage race, one longer than the 3 or 4 day long weekend versions available nowadays.  A race with  commissaires,  run from town to town in a place where the road signs are in a foreign language.  A race with stages measured in kilometers, one where words like revitaillement, grimpeur,  hors-delai and  voiture balai  are quickly added to your daily vocabulary. Back in the 1980 and '81, if you were a New England based Cat 1 or 2 rider longing to ride a Tour, you basically had two options:  Get selected for the internationally known Coors Classic in Colorado, or work your way onto a team doing Québec's Tour de la Gaspésie.   While I had neither the talent nor the  palmares for the form
Read more