Karel Van Wijnendaele

Last updated
Karel Van Wijnendaele
Born
Carolus Ludovicius Steyaert

(1882-11-16)November 16, 1882
Torhout, Belgium
DiedDecember 20, 1961(1961-12-20) (aged 79)
Deinze, Belgium
NationalityBelgian
Occupation Journalist
Years active1911-1961
Notable credit Tour of Flanders founder
Titleeditor

Karel Van Wijnendaele, pseudonym of Carolus Ludovicius Steyaert (Torhout, 16 November 1882 - Deinze, 20 December 1961), was a Flemish sports journalist. He was the founder and first organizer of the Tour of Flanders cycling classic.

Contents

Biography

Van Wijnendaele was the fifth of 15 children of a family in the hamlet of Wijnendaele, [1] near Torhout. His father, a flax worker, died when Karel was 18 months. [2] He wrote in 1942: "Being born into a poor family was my strength. If you're brought up without frills ("sober opgekweekt wordt") and you know what hunger is ("door een mager leven gaat"), you grow up hard enough to withstand bike racing." He left school at 14, worked for a baker, looked after cows, washed bottles and delivered parcels. He worked for well-to-do French-speaking families in Brussels and Ostend and felt humiliated by the way they treated him. [3]

Van Wijnendaele tried cycle-racing, won a few lesser prizes but soon turned to writing about cycling as a regional correspondent. [n 1] [3] [4] This attracted the attention of De Maeght and his collaborator, race organiser Léon Van den Haute, [4] who asked van Wijnendaele to join their new paper Sportwereld. [4] The first issue appeared in time for the Championship of Flanders on 12 September 1912. Van Wijnendaele became its editor on 1 January 1913.

In 1925 he became co-owner and in 1931 full owner of Sportwereld, thereby also owning the Tour of Flanders, until the sports paper and the event were bought by daily newspaper Het Nieuwsblad . He remained editor-in-chief of Het Nieuwsblad's sports section until his death in 1961. He is buried at the cemetery of Sint-Martens-Latem.

Flemish nationalism

Van Wijnendaele is known to have linked cycling and the Tour of Flanders to Flemish emancipation, in a time when the Belgian elite was still French-speaking. His articles fed the myth of the Flandriens, Flemish men who rose above their humble origins and became cycling champions. In modern times, media uses the term Flandrien to denote winners and specialists of all cobbled classic races.

In 1964, a monument in honor of Van Wijnendaele was inaugurated near the top of the Oude Kwaremont, in the Ronde van Vlaanderenstraat(English: Tour of Flanders street) in Kluisbergen. The site is a pivotal location in the Tour of Flanders route. [2]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tour of Flanders</span> Belgian one-day cycling race, one of the five monuments

The Tour of Flanders, also known as De Ronde, is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organized by Flanders Classics. Its nickname is Vlaanderens Mooiste. First held in 1913, the Tour of Flanders had its 100th edition in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Briek Schotte</span> Belgian cyclist

Alberic "Briek" Schotte was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist, one of the champions of the 1940s and 1950s. His stamina earned him the nickname "Iron Briek".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Museeuw</span> Belgian racing cyclist

Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1988 until 2004. Nicknamed The Lion of Flanders, he was particularly successful in the cobbled classics of Flanders and Northern France and was considered one of the best classic races specialists of the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Boonen</span> Belgian road bicycle racer

Tom Boonen is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the U.S. Postal Service and Quick-Step Floors teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Boonen won the 2005 UCI World Road Race Championships, and was a single-day road specialist with a strong finishing sprint. He won the cycling monuments Paris–Roubaix 4 times and the Tour of Flanders 3 times, among many other prestigious victories, such as prevailing 5 times in the E3 Harelbeke, winning 6 stages of the Tour de France and winning the Overall title of the Tour of Qatar 4 times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omloop Het Nieuwsblad</span> Recurring sporting event

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, previously Omloop Het Volk, is a one-day road cycling race in Belgium, held annually in late February. It is the opening event of the Belgian cycling season, as well as the first race of the year in Northwestern Europe, and holds significant prestige because of it. Since 2017, the race is part of the UCI World Tour, cycling's top-tier professional events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niko Eeckhout</span> Belgian cyclist

Niko Eeckhout is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1992 and 2013. He was the 2005–2006 UCI Europe Tour series and the 2006 Belgian National Cycling Championship Road Race champion, and currently works for the An Post–Chain Reaction Team as a coach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven de Jongh</span> Dutch cyclist

Steven de Jongh is a Dutch former road bicycle racer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefan van Dijk</span>

Stefan van Dijk is a former professional road racing cyclist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jürgen Roelandts</span> Road bicycle racer

Jürgen Roelandts is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2020, for the Lotto–Soudal, BMC Racing Team and Movistar Team squads. He now works as a directeur sportif for his final professional team, Movistar Team.

The cobbled classics are four cycling classics held in March and April. Cobblestones, like mountainous terrain, are important elements in courses of cycling. Many classic cycle races in northwestern Europe contain cobbled sections. The two Monuments of this race type are the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix, with over 20 cobbled sectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jules Vanhevel</span> Belgian cyclist

Jules Vanhevel was a Belgian racing cyclist. He was a professional from 1919 to 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sep Vanmarcke</span> Belgian racing cyclist

Sep Vanmarcke is a Belgian professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Israel–Premier Tech. In August 2021 he was named to the start list for the Vuelta a España, his seventh Grand Tour.

The first edition of the Tour of Flanders, a cycling race in Belgium, was held on 25 May 1913. Paul Deman won the event in a five-man sprint before Joseph Van Daele and Victor Doms. The event was created by sports journalist Karel Van Wijnendaele and organized by sports newspaper Sportwereld.

Gustaaf De Smet was a Belgian cyclist. He competed in three events at the 1956 Summer Olympics. He spent his entire professional career riding for Groene Leeuw–Sinalco–SAS. He became East-Flemish champion in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taaienberg</span>

The Taaienberg is a hill in the municipality of Maarkedal, in the Belgian province of East Flanders. With its top at 90 m, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, in the south of East-Flanders. The slopes of the hill are paved in cobbles; in 1993 they were repaved with the original stones. The cobbled climb is one of the regular sites in Flemish cycling races in springtime. In 1995 the road of the Taaienberg was classified as a protected monument.

The 57th running of the Tour of Flanders cycling race in Belgium was held on Sunday 1 April 1973. Belgian Eric Leman won the classic ahead of Freddy Maertens and Eddy Merckx. The race started in Ghent and finished for the first time in Meerbeke (Ninove). 37 out of 174 riders arrived.

The 53rd running of the Tour of Flanders cycling race in Belgium was held on Sunday 30 March 1969. Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx won ahead of Italians Felice Gimondi and Marino Basso, winning his first of two in the Flemish classic. The race started in Ghent and finished in Gentbrugge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1914 Tour of Flanders</span> Cycling race

The second running of the Tour of Flanders cycling race in Belgium was held on Sunday, 22 March 1914. Belgian Marcel Buysse won the race in a sprint of a seven-strong group on the velodrome of Evergem, part of Ghent. 19 of 47 riders finished. The race started and finished in Ghent.

The 1939 Tour of Flanders was held in 1939.

Léon Van den Haute was a Belgian sports journalist and the founder of the Tour of Flanders and Sportwereld.

References

  1. ↑ Van Wijnendaele first wrote for De Torhoutenaer, his local paper, then from 1909 for Onze Kampioenen in Antwerp and Sportvriend in Izegem. It was then that he adopted his pen-name.
  1. ↑ "Brussels Onderwijs Punt, Vgc Wablieft". Archived from the original on 2009-04-05. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
  2. 1 2 Vanwalleghem, Rik, Het Wonder van Vlaanderen, Pinguin, Belgium, ISBN   90-73322-09-X, p18
  3. 1 2 "Karel Van Wijnendaele - Virtueel Museum". karelvanwijnendaele.be.
  4. 1 2 3 "Karel Van Wijnendaele, Het rijke Vlaamsche wielerleven · dbnl". dbnl.org.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.