The man who owns this camper is going to extreme lengths - for a full week - just so he gets the best place to watch the Tour of Flanders this weekend; you gotta love the Belgies...
A Belgian cycling fan is camping out for a full week just to keep a good place by the roadside from which to watch the Tour of Flanders.
Patrick Debondt, who is retired, has taken his camper van to the side of the road at the bottom of the Paterberg.
And while the race does not take place until Sunday, he’s been there since last Sunday. It means he’s in for a week-long stay by the side of the road just to see his favourite race.
He has studied the weather carefully and he reckons it’s going to get very muddy. As a result, he believes he needs to get into the field by the roadside very early to avoid getting stuck.
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“I’ve come already because rain is forecast,” the pensioner told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
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“Because of the rain in recent weeks, the field is soggy. I have to install road plates now. That’s going to help if several campers arrive and the field gets more swampy.”
The plates go underneath the wheels of heavy camper vans to ensure they don’t sink into the muddy.
While his early arrival may be weather-related this time around, the 63-year-old retired truck driver also arrived early last year.
On that occasion he arrived to the same spot, almost a week before the race. And others came the following day.
"I thought to myself: why am I still waiting here at home on my own? I can just as well stand on my spot and taste the atmosphere," he explained in the Belgian media 12 months ago.
He said he watched the sportive the day before the race and also took his own bike out for a ride.
For nine years he has traveled to exactly the same place. And down the years he has befriended about 40 others who come to the same place in their camper van to watch the race.
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