As part of Cyclingnews' special Belgian Week before Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race, our Belgian correspondent Brecht Decaluwé, interviewed the legendary Roger De Vlaeminck during a game of billiards to talk about the Classics, Tom Boonen, Peter Sagan and his favourites for the big races.
Three-cushion billiards helps Roger De Vlaeminck get through a miserable rainy day in February. "There's not much else one can do in this weather," he tells Cyclingnews, as competitive with a cue today as he was in the Classics in the seventies and early eighties.
It's less than a week until the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad kicks off the Belgian cycling season and cycling's Classics season. De Vlaeminck plays his daily game of billiards in the Montana pub in Eeklo, Belgium. He has helped give the electric bike brand Beafort some exposure in recent years but describes himself as 'professionally retired'. He reveals that he turns 70 but we promised not to tell anyone.
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Roger De Vlaeminck is known as Monsieur Paris-Roubaix. He won the cobbled Classic four times -a record he shares with Tom Boonen since 2012. Fabian Cancellara is riding his final year as a professional rider and can level with De Vlaeminck and Boonen this spring, while Boonen is still in the running to break the record in what could also be his final season.
De Vlaeminck laughs at the comparison, showing his natural pride, despite his age.
"That's okay. Records are there to be broken. Although no, there's one record that will never be broken. I've won Tirrenno-Adriatico six times in a row. Anyway, there's more than just records. It's the palmares that can't be taken away from you. I've won all five monuments. Only Eddy Merckx and Rik Van Looy managed to do the same."
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