Paris-brussels
First held in 1893, the Franco-belgian race was a 400-kilometre classic
It is safe to say that there is some confusion over just how many riders contested the first Paris-brussels race. French cycling journalist Pierre Chany writes that 63 riders started from the 118 who registered, while Le Véloce Sport claims, “More than 90 from the 120 registrants presented themselves at the départ.” Then there is Le Petit Parisien which details 74 from 137. Happily all agree that the race was an amateur affair, took place on Sunday August 13, 1893 and was won by a Belgian bricklayer called Henri André.
André rode the 400km race in a time of 17 hours, 50 minutes. He crossed the line at the new Bois de la Cambre velodrome in Brussels in front of a crowd that included King Leopold II. Leopold had been waiting nearly three hours for André’s arrival and was so impressed he promptly invited the winner to a reception at the palace.
The race was a huge success and as a result of his win André became a hugely popular figure. Fans even composed songs for him but fame did not suit André and four years after turning professional he was back laying bricks. An accident that some saw as a suicide attempt left him languishing in a psychiatric hospital and he died at the age of 45, reportedly “abandoned by everyone”.
Despite its success it would be 1906 before a second Paris-brussels was organised. In 1907 it became a professional race and started to forge the identity that would see it become one of the most important events in the calendar.
There have been a number of incidentpacked races. In 1912 Octave Lapize benefited when a police horse bolted and brought down the leading breakaway, leaving the way clear for Lapize to claim a second successive win
— Lapize would win a third the following year. Ten years later Félix Sellier secured the first of his three straight wins, riding through the night while plagued by a “rain of insects, attracted by headlights, which fell upon the riders to the point of blinding us”. In 1958, Ireland’s Shay Elliot had victory all but assured when his frame broke. He grabbed a woman’s bike and then one of a cycle-tourist in a desperate bid to win but it was all in vain. Elliot was caught and Rik Van Looy won the sprint.
Once regarded as an equal to the likes of Milan-san Remo and the Tour of Flanders, in the 1990s the race was hit by an imposed requirement to reduce its distance due to its non-inclusion in the UCI’S World Cup, making it impossible for the race to look anything like Paris-brussels. In 2013 it was renamed the Brussels Cycling Classic.
“A rain of insects fell upon the riders”