True Class

The guy that impressed me the most when I was racing in Europe was a guy named Gert D'hondt. He was LeMond's age, which made him really old school in 1996, when Gert started racing again. He was in the Jr. Worlds race in Argentina that LeMond won. After he got home his uncle, a former pro took him aside and said:

"Gert, you have a lot of talent and could be a professional, but you need to know what it is going to entail".

The uncle proceeded to tell him about the doping in the sport of cycling. Gert decided not to take dope, and after several seasons racing as an amateur, became a truck driver. LeMond went on to win the Tour 3 times. Gert's Belgian teammates at the Jr. Worlds included Rudy Dhaens, who later won the Professional World Championship Road Race, and Dirk DeWolf, who had an illustrious pro career.

I raced with Gert for several seasons and was always honored when he was in the break with me. He rode with true class and he rode clean.