The start at the World Championships Elite Mens Road Race. Photo by Jeff Tse.
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A night out and the following short rest didn’t bring van Petegem out of balance: he did not make a mistake in the last kilometres of the WC, by not chasing after Astarloa himself. “There’s wanted and there’s was able to. Those are two different things. I could have won a group sprint for the title, but the way it turned out now, bronze was the highest achieveable.”

Monday morning, 10.30. While the rest of the Belgian delegation is visiting the Niagara Falls, Peter Van Petegem sits himself down in a comfortable chair in the Visitor’s Inn hotel. The WC is over for the West-Flemish rider, the film of the last 17 hours is only played back when specifically asked for. Quite a few people are trying to talk the leader of the Belgian team into a feeling of guilt by now...remarks like that he “didn’t give it all he got” or “didn’t risk enough”. The manner in which he shrugged his shoulders says it all, it all just slides off the “Zwarte from Brakel”.

“People like Eddy Merckx had the ability to dynamite the race several times, I have to pick my moments with care. Everybody is entitled to an opinion about this, but the only one that really matters in the end is my own. And that of Johan Museeuw, a rider like me. I haven’t spoken him yet, but I’m sure he’ll find that I didn’t make any mistakes. I just couldn’t do any better, is that such a disgrace? The first hill suited me, the second one much less. I was riding a bloc when Astarloa took off, just like my other 5 companions were. Talking, looking for support from other riders: it all didn’t help much, even more since everything was going so fast.You can have superb legs and still don’t win, that happens more than once in a rider’s career, there’s always an amount of luck involved, and I didn’t have much of it on Sunday. If it would have turned out in a sprint, I would have won. But that’s all talk now. I won’t even be watching the videotape at home anymore. Over is over.”

Van Petegem did win one fight on Sunday: It’s time the eternal doubts on this man’s focus ceased. He’s a master at quietly working towards a great event, but that quietness is still often mistaken for laziness. He says that it doesn’t get to him; the criticism and mockery he receives when he finishes a race in the back of the peloton, happily whistling. But it’s just appearance.

"Doesn’t it get through to people that I’m not a Merckx? I just can’t ride good results from February till October. I ride over 70 races a year, and the majority of those races are preparational. When I focus on a certain race I’m almost always showing myself. Too bad people often seem to forget about that. Take the Tour of Belgium this year: granted, I wasn’t super. But you can’t be super if you just had a 10-day break after L-B-L. I got asked questions like 'How was your vacation?' and 'How many beers did you have?' during the public presentation of the race. That’s just ridiculizing people. And during the stages I got called bum and tourist. Would they prefer to see me stay away from the Tour of Belgium next year? I don’t care either way. If people expect me to do well in the races in between, they’ll have to accept the fact that I won’t be able to play a role of any importance in the Tour of Flanders. And I’m sure that’s not what people want either.”

Head-legs, head-legs, head-legs...Peter Van Petegem repeats it a few times, to point out that those two things are the only things that matter when building up a good form. A fine feeling and lots of work paved the way for his career.

“On that matter, I learned one important lesson this year. The World Cup final ranking, that’s not my cup of tea. The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix; those are my kind of races.  Already now I dare say that I will be battling for victory in those two races next year. I can’t say that about the other classics. And even if I happen to be wearing the jersey at some point next year, I won’t defend it. It’ll be busy enough as it is if I’d compete in the Olympic Road Race. If I will actually be going to Athens? Let’s wait and see what the course will look like first. I wasn’t quite myself on the WC in Plouay because I didn’t combine it well enough with the Olympic race in Sydney. I don’t know if I’ll have to make a choice next year, but I will say this: the WC is the most beautiful race a rider like me can win. I’ve been close twice already, and that only pushes me to work even harder in the future.”

The 2003 World Championships Elite Mens Road Race podium:
Alejandro Valverde 2nd, Igor Astarloa 1st, Peter Van Petegem 3rd
Photo by Scott Schaffrick.

Source: Gazet Van Antwerpen.
Thanks to Jan Janssens for the translation.