Aussies among cyclists to race in Belgium 24 hours after deadly terrorist attacks

AUSSIE cycling figure Allan Peiper says the professional peloton was divided before a decision to resume racing in Belgium just 24 hours after the terrorist attacks.

Show goes on as cyclists hit road after attack

RESPECTED Aussie cycling figure Allan Peiper says the professional peloton was divided before a decision to resume racing in Belgium just 24 hours after the terrorist attacks.

Speaking from his home in Geraardsbergen - 45km west of Brussels after the one-day race Dwars door Vlaanderen - Peiper described a quietness on the streets as the country comes to grips with the airport and metro train bombings which killed at least 34 people.

Peiper is the BMC Racing Team’s high performance manager and has lived in Belgium for the past 40 years.

He said his personal opinion was that Dwars door Vlaanderen, which started and finished within 100km of Brussels, should have been called off to observe Belgium’s three days of national mourning.

But he understood why others believed it was important cycling, like all walks of life, should go on in defiance of the shocking events.

“The whole country is in shock, I drove to the team hotel this morning and there wasn’t much traffic on the roads, everyone is very quiet today,” Peiper said.

“This is the first time I’ve been confronted with anything of this magnitude so close to home, it’s 24 hour news ... there were some points in the newspaper which said cycling is absurd in this situation, but there are two trains of thought about the race going on.

Allen Peiper wasn’t behind the resumption in racing but had no problem with those who did.

“Me personally - I wasn’t behind it. My personal opinion was ‘no’ for today.

“There’s a three-day national mourning here in Belgium and my personal opinion is for the people who were lost and still laying in hospital - that they don’t know who they are - people who helped and supported police, I was on the side of let’s just not do it today.

“Missing one race and then starting again on Friday after the three days of national mourning let’s get life going again and I know the (collective) teams federation did make a statement that said any riders who chose not to race wouldn’t be sanctioned.”

There were four Australians in Wednesday’s 200km race - Luke Durbridge and Mitch Docker (Orica-GreenEDGE), Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff) and Zak Dempster (Bora-Argon) - which was won by Belgian Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal).

Some teams rode with diminished squads due to logistical issues surrounding Belgium’s travel network while WorldTour team Giant-Alpecin chose to abandon altogether.

Riders observed a minute’s silence and some wore black armbands in respect of those who were killed in the attacks.

Peiper has been involved in cycling his entire life as a rider, team manager and official, and said: “I’ve never experienced anything like this before”.

“Some of our riders were calling me up to say ‘are we coming to the race today, what is happening?’ and other teams were stranded in airports,” he said.

“I spoke to my riders at breakfast and some of them said it felt a bit weird to be racing after what happened yesterday, it’s so fresh in their memory.

Belgian cyclist Jens Debusschere crossed the line first.

“Some riders and people in the entourage were saying it’s good to get on with life and go forwards to show that we won’t bend, but other people were saying out of respect for the people who had died or were injured, the first aid services and police - plus the country is at level four security - that maybe out of respect for them it was better not to have a race.”

The race through the Flanders region started in Roeselare and finished in Waregem which are both within 100km to the west of Brussels.

It was the start of a huge fortnight of racing in Belgium which continues with E3 Harelbeke on Friday, Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday and the Tour of Flanders next weekend which Swiss superstar Fabian Cancellara will be aiming to win for the fourth time.

Dwars door Vlaanderen has been held since 1945 and twice been won by an Australian - Baden Cooke in 2002 and Robbie McEwen in 2003.

“There seemed to be more police presence on some of the corners and places where people come together to watch the race,” Peiper said.

“I saw one policeman at one corner who was armed to the hilt, he was very much aware with a radio in his ear, there was very much surveillance going on.”

Peiper said he frequented Zaventem Airport both for international travel and cycling meetings.

“Even sometimes when I’m dropping off or picking up riders we have meetings at the airport, I’ll go into the airport to grab a cup of tea or muffin from Starbucks which is right where it happened,” he said.

“It’s very much a hub of European business because there are meeting rooms where people can meet and fly out without leaving the airport.”

The pack of riders in the Dwars Door Vlaanderen get plenty of local support.

But the attacks and increasing uncertainty in the country has not diminished his love for Belgium or desire to continue calling the country home.

“I woke up this morning and that’s when I really thought ‘I’ve been here for 40 years, I’ve realised most of the things in my life are here, I’ve been supported by the people, have been accepted into their culture, I’ve made huge efforts to speak both French and Flemish, I pay my taxes and feel very much a part of this society’.

“I feel very valued by the people here, even when I walk down the street, they all hold me and other Australian cyclists (in high regard).

“Just the things that happened yesterday have woken that up in me a little bit that I’m very much a part of this society and am feeling the same way as everyone else in this country.

“In the same tone as that, I was also thinking back in Australia - I can’t imagine we would be more safe. It’s a world away and here we’re in the centre of this vortex in the centre of Europe. Even though people get on with their lives - I suppose things will change.

“There’s been huge line ups outside stations in Brussels for people trying to get home from work, and major companies have allowed people to stay at home and work if they want to.

“It’s probably going to change society in some way here, there will be more control, people will be more guarded that’s for sure.”

Originally published as Aussies among cyclists to race in Belgium 24 hours after deadly terrorist attacks