Eddy Bosberg

Many, many years ago I followed professional bike racing. I idolized those men as superhuman. Those were the  days of Greg LeMond, Stephens Rooks and Roche, Johan Museeuw, Claude Criquielion, and Sean Kelly.  When men were men, as it were.

Greg Lemond

Edwig van Hooydonck is a Belgian who won the one day classic Tour of Flanders in 1989 and 1991. After cutting off the leg's of the other riders on the last of the cobbled climbs, the Bosberg, van Hooydonck became known in the bunch as Eddy Bosberg.

Eddy van Hooydonck

I remember the story of him standing on the podium and crying like a baby.

I also remember the story of van Hooydonck cutting off the legs of his tights just below the knees. He must have looked fantastically goofy to the other riders and the spectators at the time. But he started a fashion. Now every cyclist probably has knickers or knee warmers in his or her drawer. And they walk around in public with almost no self-conciousness. Most of them probably don't know who Edwig van Hooydonck is, but they should if they insist on trying to look the part.