The dream of each young cyclist, male or female, is to become a professional rider in one of the great pro teams in the cycling world. Boys wanna ride the “Ronde van Vlaanderen”, “Paris – Roubaix” and all the other classics or the “Tour”, “Giro”, “Vuelta” or at least some smaller tours. And finally the girls can dream about all these big races too the last couple of years.
Was it a dream of Belgian, French, Dutch or Italians 50 years ago, it was the ultimate thing to go for, for Aussies, Americans, British or Kiwis the last 30 years. But since the 90’s it became a worldwide task. When you count the registered UCI teams you come easy around 200. You find teams in very exotic countries these days. (f.e. I am DS for a UCI registered Continental team in Guam. Where? I hear you say. Really, Google it, you be surprised)
But !! A lot of young men or women try, never succeed, a lot try and get into a Continental Team, a Pro Conti Team or the most fortunate make it to the World Tour ranks. Still there is a but….. some only last one season or even less then a season. The shock from amateur to pro or even semi pro level is sometimes to high for some of them.
The most extreme long career must be (not over yet) the one of Davide Rebellin who turned pro on
August 1st 1992 for the G.B.-M.G. team and rode this year, yes 28 years later, for a Croatian Continental Team (Meridiana – Kamen Team).
Dutchman Fred Rompelberg did even better, but didn’t ride the big pro races as Davide did, he had a pro licence for 36 years (1971 till 2007).
Other “strange” ones are the Brit Reginald Harris who was a pro from 1949 till 1957 and retired, but made a come back in 1971. He finaly rode his last race in 1975. Reg was a famous track sprinter. Also the Spaniard Guillermo Timoner Obrador, another tracky, stayer, had a first go in 1945 till 1967 and tried it again in 1984/1985. Both became World Champions in their disciplines, Reg 4 titles (Sprint in 1949/50/51 and 54), Guillermo 6 titles (Stayers 1955/59/60/62/64 and 65).
The other extreme, I could witness, at a Belgian “pro kermesse” in Belgium. An Australian boy turned up at the rego table of the West Flanders commissary table, gave his license and got a start number. When I saw the rider later on his warm up I noticed a strange jersey. He rode in National Australian amateur colours. The white jersey with green and gold vertical lines. So eather the commissary didn’t know the difference between an Australian pro or amateur license or the boy….. yeah he didn’t know what race he was in. I think he lined up one more time in a pro kermesse, but then his pro career was over. Couldn’t find his name in amateur kermesses eather.
So now it is my intention to find out who those one day/one month/one year pros were. I will start in 2000. And also to find out what happened to them after their short adventure.
Talk to you soon
