They’re rare sensations, but every competitive cyclist knows what it feels like to ride a bike when everything just comes together. On those perfect days you don’t even feel your legs. If you get one of those days in a race you know what’s going to happen before it does. You seem to always be in the perfect place in the peloton to avoid crashes, and you’re always in the front of the split. Wind, rain and tempo don’t bother you in the least.
Eddy Planckaert was having one of those days on April 9, 1989, at Paris–Roubaix. It’s a race that was in his blood. As a kid, Eddy waited alongside the fabled cobblestones of the Arenberg Forest, spare wheels in hand for his older brothers, Willy and Walter. Though he had a job to do, most of young Eddy’s attention was focused on Monsieur Paris–Roubaix, Roger De Vlaeminck. De Vlaeminck’s riding style made the evil Paris–Roubaix stones seem smooth, and Eddy dreamed of conquering them the same way.
The Planckaert brothers are cycling royalty in Belgium. Willy was arguably the most disciplined, Walter was born with a mind for race craft, while Eddy was the brother gifted with incredible natural talent. As a junior, Eddy already had a massive fan club that followed him to races, and he collected wins like it was his job. He turned pro in 1980.
In the salad days of steel-frame cycling, Eddy was famous for his ability to ride at top form without appearing to give any dedication to his profession. Almost every training partner he ever had could tell a story about a time they showed up at Eddy’s house, waited for him to wake up, find his shoes and stuff a half sandwich in his face before they headed out for a long training ride. Each of them would tell you that Eddy’s bike was filthy and that his chain was rusty. For a five- to six-hour training ride Eddy might not carry anything to drink, and by two hours in he was tearing everyone’s legs off.
His first major victory was a stage of the 1981 Tour de France. The following spring, fresh off a runner-up finish in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Eddy seemed poised for success at Paris–Roubaix. Unfortunately, he ended up on the wrong side of tactics and timing, and finished fifth, just in front of his hero, De Vlaeminck, who told the cycling press that Eddy would be the one to follow in his tire tracks in the future. But it didn’t happen that quickly.
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