Flandria 1978 Campagnolo Nuovo Record

[Flandria]

Wow !. Those pictures make we want to get on the next boat to Belgium.

Well, contact me first to ask about the weather before you take any boat. Two hours later, the rain was pouring down and until now it hasn't stopped either

I think this is true. The original brand split into two, one part was Flandria and the other part became Superia.
Flandria was of course sponsor of most of the big names in Belgian cycling up to the early 1980s- Van Looy, de Vlaeminck (both of them), Maertens, etc etc. Superia got Eddy Merckx, though. Now there's a dilemma: which would you rather have on your team? Eddy Merckx, or all the others put together...

Jup, that story is true! Until 1957, the three brothers Aimé, Remi and Jerome Claes worked together as 'Gebroeders Claeys' (= Brothers Claeys). They got a big dispute about the future of the brand and decided to split up: Aimé Claeys went on as Flandria, Remi founded the brand Superia. Jerome decided to quit the business. They literaly divided the factory in Zedelgem in two parts!

There is a great book about Flandria available: 'Flandria, 20 wondere jaren van een wielerploeg' (= Flandria, the 20 wonderfull years of a cycling team') but unfortunately it's in dutch... It has more or less all the information you can think of.

Very nice............modern bikes should have more chrome

Like the environmentally friendly bike stand

Shaun

A bit difficult to take a real bike stand with me Shaun . Spent at least 10 minutes to find a nice stand on my last stop, but it was welcome as I'm not such an hardcore cyclist

 

[JYvdK]

Very nice indeed! near perfect condition!

 

[ourmanflint]

You have a lovely bike, but I have a question! Flandria are famous for being the first big GT team to use Shimano, in fact Dura-Ace was specifically designed for the then Flandria team, so when did Flandria start using Campagnolo components? Looking for a Flandria myself so interested to know

Cheers

 

[Flandria]

You have a lovely bike, but I have a question! Flandria are famous for being the first big GT team to use Shimano, in fact Dura-Ace was specifically designed for the then Flandria team, so when did Flandria start using Campagnolo components? Looking for a Flandria myself so interested to know

Cheers

Well, that's actually a pretty nice story

In the world championship in 1973, Eddy Merckx went solo in the last kilometres. The rule in the belgian team was that it was allowed to a rider to jump to another belgian who was driving in the front of the race, as long as he didn't take other riders with him. Freddy Maertens jumped to Eddy, but unfortunately Ocaña and Gimondi were able to catch his wheel and those four riders went to the finish together. Maertens started the sprint for Merckx but for unclear reasons he wasn't able to finish it and Gimondi won.

There was a lot of discussion about this incident. Flandria (Maertens) was sponsored by Shimano, Merckx by Campagnolo. Rumours said that Merckx prefered to let the title to Gimondi, who was also riding Campagnolo, instead of to a fellow Belgian.

After this incident, Flandria realised that it was better to use the principle 'can't beat them, join them' and immediately signed up with Campagnolo for the 1974 season. But, they still had a contract with Shimano for that season. The solution: two Flandria teams! One team was sponsored by Shimano and had the minor riders. This team was recognizable by the small 'flandria' letters, like on the the decals of my bike. The other team was named FLANDRIA with capital letters and was sponsored by another company called Flandria that produced washing machines. This team used Campagnolo and starred the best riders like Maertens, Demeyer, Pollentier, Godefroot,....

During this year, Flandria had a lot of problems to get licenses for big races like the Tour. From 1975, there was only one Flandria team, sponsored by Campagnolo.

So, that's the story as I recall it!

 

[Old Ned]

You have a lovely bike, but I have a question! Flandria are famous for being the first big GT team to use Shimano, in fact Dura-Ace was specifically designed for the then Flandria team, so when did Flandria start using Campagnolo components? Looking for a Flandria myself so interested to know

Cheers

Well, that's actually a pretty nice story

In the world championship in 1973, Eddy Merckx went solo in the last kilometres. The rule in the belgian team was that it was allowed to a rider to jump to another belgian who was driving in the front of the race, as long as he didn't take other riders with him. Freddy Maertens jumped to Eddy, but unfortunately Ocaña and Gimondi were able to catch his wheel and those four riders went to the finish together. Maertens started the sprint for Merckx but for unclear reasons he wasn't able to finish it and Gimondi won.

There was a lot of discussion about this incident. Flandria (Maertens) was sponsored by Shimano, Merckx by Campagnolo. Rumours said that Merckx prefered to let the title to Gimondi, who was also riding Campagnolo, instead of to a fellow Belgian.

After this incident, Flandria realised that it was better to use the principle 'can't beat them, join them' and immediately signed up with Campagnolo for the 1974 season. But, they still had a contract with Shimano for that season. The solution: two Flandria teams! One team was sponsored by Shimano and had the minor riders. This team was recognizable by the small 'flandria' letters, like on the the decals of my bike. The other team was named FLANDRIA with capital letters and was sponsored by another company called Flandria that produced washing machines. This team used Campagnolo and starred the best riders like Maertens, Demeyer, Pollentier, Godefroot,....

During this year, Flandria had a lot of problems to get licenses for big races like the Tour. From 1975, there was only one Flandria team, sponsored by Campagnolo.

So, that's the story as I recall it!

Never heard that before (not even in Freddy's biography) and it explains a few things. They used Campag for years before trying Shimano though didn't they?

 

[Johnsqual]

I'd always assumed that it was Campagnolo earlier on, then Simano at the height of Freddy Maertens' career, but Flandria's story is different - you learn something new every day.

Certainly in the days of people like Rik Van Looy they were using Campagnolo stuff, and from the photos I've seen it looks like the de Vlaemincks rode Campagnolo.

 

[ourmanflint]

Thanks for the info!

I have read about the '73 world championships, but I took a different spin on the whole thing

The day before the Barcelona World Championship, the Belgian team was out on a training ride when a car pulled up beside Maertens and Godefroot. In the car was Tullio Campagnolo, the head of the Italian component manufacturer Campagnolo – the number-one brand in Europe. Campagnolo asked Godefroot who was going to win the race. Godefroot pointed to Maertens and said “this one”, to which Campagnolo replied, “Oh God, not him. He rides with Shimano parts. At all costs Shimano must not win on Sunday”.

 

[Rapparee]

Wow...! Words fail me...that is just unreal.. think Sean Kelly would have ridden one of those as a 1st year pro also..