Together with the great people from Historische Huizen Gent, Koers. Museum of Cycle Racing, cycling quarterly Bahamontes, Sporza and Flanders Classics I made this cycling exhibition 'Heeren, vertrekt! In de kop van de Koers' (Gentlemen, take off! At the head of the race) in the marvelous Sint-Pietersabdij in Ghent. The expo took place between March 2020 en April 2021 and was built around the mental aspect of race cycling.
Or as it was so tantalizingly stated in our brochure: "Learn more about what drives road racers in a surprising setting. Taste the euphoria of victory that Flandrien, Roger Decock, felt in Paris-Nice in 1951, the panic that the legendary doctor Yvan Vanmol must have experienced when Johan Museeuw crashed in Wallers Forest and hold your breath like Corinne Poulidor did when Mathieu van der Poel cracked spectacularly during the most recent World Championships. Finally, we experience the ups and downs in the life of cycling couple Louis Vervaeke and Astrid Collinge."
In total we worked on it for about a year and a half. The focus was on an audio guide developed together with Flanders' best radio reporter Ward Bogaert and the people of Het Geluidshuis. That way you could almost literally crawl into the head of the 5 witnesses around which the exhibition was built. Furthermore, everything was supplemented with photo series, videos and impressive constructions specially made for the exhibition. We recreated Roger Decock's café from the 1950s, as well as a shooting booth from that era, a piece of the cobblestone section of the famous Wallers Forest, the interior of the Deceuninck-Quick Step cycling team's bus, and so on. Lay-out and design was made by Pieter Willems from Pjotr.be. Videos were made by Joost Vandensande, Paul Van Rooy, Jens Vanysacker and me.
Roger Decock
Former cyclist 1943 - 1962
Roger with his wife Ginette
Roger's biggest win at the Tour of Flanders in 1952
The exhibition starts with an evocation of his biggest win
Stijn Devolder
Yves Lampaert
Jasper Stuyven
Thomas De Gendt
Oliver Naesen
Lotte Kopecky
Greg Van Avermaet
Edward Theuns
Andy Cappelle
Jolien D'Hoore
Jolien D'Hoore
Remco Evenepoel
Tiesj Benoot
Roger wins one of his first races: The provincial junior championship in 1944
Roger met his later wife Ginette at the fair
He won many so-called 'kermiskoersen' during his career
The only moving images made during Roger Decock's career, some images of De Scheldeprijs and the Tour of Belgium in 1954 - © VRT
A tough day at the races - Koolskamp Koers 2019
In Tour de France of 1951 Roger was witness...
...of a tragic accident that fortunately ended well: the crash of Wim Van Est during the descent of the Aubisque.
Yvan Vanmol
Team doctor of Deceuninck - Quick-Step
Two of the many cyclists that meant a lot for Dr Vanmol: Frank Vandenbroucke
And his favorite rider Tom Boonen
The last ride of Tom Boonen: his Roubaix 2017-bike
Paris-Roubaix 2018, Secteur 11 Mons-en-Pévèle (km 208,5 - 3 km) - *****
Replica of the Deceuninck - Quick-Step cycling bus
'Watercarriers' Tim De Clercq, Dries Devenyns and Iljo Keisse from dokter Vanmol's team Deceuninck - Quick Step
Louis Vervaeke
A very promising rider in the youth categories
Later with the pros he had a hard time confirming
Knesselare, one day after the funeral of Bjorg Lambrecht, who died after a crash in the Tour de Pologne in 2019
