To explain the Belgian identity to a foreigner, you can build a story around three words: beer, chocolate and cycling. This pretty much covers 90% of who we are.
De Ronde van Vlaanderen is the biggest sporting event in the world, at least if you ask someone in Belgium. Every tv screen switches on at some point of the day to see which heroics the cyclists have to endure to make it to the finish line. Tens of thousands of fanatics ride their own Tour of Flanders the day before the actual event. Buses full of supporters from all over belgium arrive in Bruges early on Sunday morning to catch glimpses of the riders.
The fine Fleur drink champagne in the many VIP tents on the Paterberg and the kwaremont. The whole of Belgium comes to a still stand towards 16:00, the start of the finale. Should I continue to emphasise the magnitude of this day and the importance of cycling for our Belgian identity?
Belgium is a country that lacks a real identity: we don’t dress up in orange when its the birthday of our monarchy, we won’t go in a frenzy when people add cream in a pasta carbonara nor do we all sing our national anthem every time a blue-white-red shirt kicks a ball.
Belgium is founded 200 years ago, after been ruled by foreign powers for centuries. Our first monarch was shipped in from Germany, half of our country speaks Dutch and the other half French, with a few funny Germans in the East. With six governments we are taught to think local, never national. Wallonia is for us Flemish people a place to go on weekend once a year: they rent us kayaks and mountainbikes, we offer them overpriced moules frites at the Belgian coast.
The Ronde van Vlaanderen is for us Belgians the sporting equivalent of the final of the FIFA World Cup. With that difference that it’s every year in stead of every four and more importantly it’s an event where we Belgians each year have an actual chance of winning.
The past couple of weeks there was a lot of commotion in Belgium around the cyclist Wout Van Aert. Every generation idolises its icons: Merckx, Planckaert, Museeuw, Boonen and now we have Van Aert (amongst others).
In the build-up to the Ronde van Vlaanderen there are five cycling events: winning one of these is a huge deal for many sporters. The Dutch team Jumbo-Visma won all five of them this year.
The most remarkable moment happened during "Gent-Wevelgem": Van Aert, the strongest rider of the day, arrived at the finish-line together with his team mate Christophe Laporte, who miraculously managed to follow Van Aert. Van Aert decided to give away the victory to his lieutenant. An act of pure benevolence! An enormous gift for his friend.
The next day newspapers were running out of printing space to cover all the opinions of pundits and self-declared analysts who thought it unbelievable that this just happened. Wout Van Aert gives away such a victory because he wants to focus on winning “Vlaanderens Mooiste”, de Ronde.
What Van Aert did, is a true sign of team player mentality. But the thing he did not take in consideration is that he took away the possibility for Belgium as a nation to celebrate, for Belgians to feel proud being Belgian. And for a country that only has beer, chocolate and cycling as symbols of identity, this is a wasted opportunity.
