As the Tour De France is getting closer

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Not hampered by our editorial rules regarding not showing post 1965 cars we received this report from Tim Gunn about the 2014 Retro Ronde. So look beyond the used Volvo and let Tim's racing bike heart speak:

"Besides chocolate and beer; Eddy Merckx is one of the most famous export products to have come out of Belgium. The cyclist who turned professional in 1965, won the World Championship thrice, the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia five times each, and the Vuelta a España once. Merckx was world champion once as an amateur and three times as a professional, and he also broke the world hour record before retiring in 1978.

“This is postwarclassic.com, not postwarbike.com” I hear you cry!

Well, this leads me on to a story of a car. It is a car that every racing cyclist relies upon to get him to the finish and even more so with a man of Merckx’s calibre. The cyclist’s team support car since 1930 has been a vital element to the support of a racing cyclist and Merckx’s support car in 1976 was a Volvo 240 series. Liveried up in his team colours and sponsor ‘MOLTENI’, it stood out from the crowd and the images of Merckx riding at speed alongside the car have become iconic.

A replica of the 1976 Molteni sponsored Volvo was out last weekend as part of a group of classic support vehicles which joined in on 8th Retro Ronde; a classic and vintage bicycle ride which celebrates the early days of the Tour of Flanders cycle race which is held in the region which was Merckx’s back yard training ground. Not knowing any more about the history of the car I had seen, I did some digging around on the inter-web upon my return and found the story behind its recreation here. If you want to see Eddy and the Volvo in action from 1976, ‘A Sunday in Hell’ is worth a watch.

The Molteni Volvo was not the only period support vehicle at the Retro Ronde. The 800+ cyclists were riding up to 100kms, so a local classic car club added extra assistance if needed. Some offered practical support, whereas others provided more aesthetically pleasing support from the likes of three Austin Healey’s and a Jaguar E-type. But it was a gaggle of Citroen’s which added an element of comedy to the occasion with 2CV – Ami 8 – HY and DS models following along us cyclists; some with speakers playing local music.

It was all great fun and whether you collect bicycles –cars – motorcycles – boats – steam engines or aeroplanes; events like the Retro Ronde are growing up everywhere and we can all be part of them in some way.

(Text and images by Tim Gunn)

      

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