Cycling, pro and amateur, is blessed with a dedicated group of photographs who follow the racing across Ireland and across the globe to bring us the best shots. But the bar has just been raised by Maarten Van de Velde.
The Belgian braved the icy cold waters of the North Sea off Ostend, Belgium, on Sunday to capture photos of the World Cyclocross Championships that he knew nobody else would have.
He took shots of the riders as raced upped the beach, but from the sea looking back at land.
A former national surfing champion, he has suffered from depression since he was a teenager and in 2017 decided to combine his love for the water with his passion for photography and take shots of swimmers and surfers while in the water with them.
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While he hadn't planned to photograph the elite men's racing on Sunday, the idea came to him while watching the women's race. As the crowd, and the media accreditation was so closely controlled because of Covid-19 he was unable to get a last minute press pass for the event.
And though areas around the course were closed to the public, including the beech the riders raced down, Van de Velde decided to take a gamble and wade out into the water with his kit as nobody said anything about the water being out of bounds.
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"It was one of the coldest days I’ve ever been in the water! I think the air temperature was about 2-3 degrees, and the water about 5-6 degrees," he told The Surf Lab of the Baltic conditions.
"And then this strong easterly wind, the coldest wind we have in winter, cutting through everything. But apart from the cold, the sea was very nice. Waves were nice to me, compared to other days I’ve been swimming."
He also explained how his unusual decision to photograph a bike race from the North Sea came about.
“When I was watching the women's race on Saturday from my warm seat, I immediately noticed how close some of them were to the waterline. They actually even cycled in the sea,” he said, adding he immediately thought the sea would be a unique angle to shoot the men’s race the following day.
“When I saw on TV that no other photographer was standing
in that water, it only started to itch more and more. It was of course already
much too late to apply for accreditation as a photographer for the men's
competition the next day. ”
“Beforehand I had gathered some information here and there and was told that the beach would be off limits, but the sea itself was considered a free zone. Which meant they couldn't really make me much. I then entered the sea 500 meters next to the course and swam towards my position."
It was only after he'd shot the race and was getting out of the water that he was followed by policemen. They wanted to talk to him but he was able to convince them he had "no bad intentions at all, and we had a laugh together".
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