Matt Brammeier's fantastic ride in the Tour of Flanders and his winning his weight in beer has been immortalised by a famous Belgian cartoonist.
Matt Brammeier’s breakaway heroics and his decision to try and win his weight in beer at a special prime in the Tour of Flanders have been immortalised in animation.
A famous Belgian cartoonist depicted the four-time Irish champion’s epic ride in one of the country’s biggest newspapers; a sure sign Brammeier’s winning of so much beer was a popular move with fans.
The MTN Qhubeka man had been busy on social media in the days before his first ride in the iconic race and posted on Instagram, below, that every since he had been a “fat kid” growing up in Liverpool he had dreamt of riding the Tour of Flanders.
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After the event he seemed very pleased with his riding.
Brammeier taped the locations of the Flanders climbs onto his stem and on his bars is a special reminder of the beer prime at 34km. Photo courtesy of Dan Llyod on Twitter
“It couldn’t have gone better really my objective of the day was to get in the breakaway and put everything into it. I did that and I managed to get into it so I was pretty happy,” Brammeier said.
“It was awesome. I was actually overwhelmed by the amount of support I had out there.
“There was a lot of Irish and British support, and also a lot of Belgians and locals shouting support for me, so that was really nice.
“It was the whole route and the whole day, and the roads were just lined with people. It was insane, I think it was one of the best days of my life on a bike.”
Brammeier looks focussed in the breakaway on the Old Kwaremont. He put in a storming performance to ride out front in the day's main escape in a race that clearly meant a great deal to him (Photo: Sirotti)
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He got clear in the early escape that stayed away for some 150km. In there with him were Jesse Sergent (Trek Factory Racing), Damien Gaudin (AG2R La Mondiale), Ralf Matzka (Bora), Clément Venturini (Cofidis), Dylan Groenewegen (Team Roompot), Lars Ytting Bak (Lotto Soudal) and Marco Frapporti (Androni).
And while Brammeier was clearly the designated man for his team to get into the early move, the image in his notes on his handlebars revealed his other goal; beer.
He’d scribbled in a picture of a beer with a reminder of where the all important sprint lay along the route.
Former pro Nico Mattan had tweeted that he had organised a prime at Sint-Eloois-Winkel, some 33.6km from the start in Bruges.
And the rider first through that point would win his weight in Stene Molen beer.
Brammeier rode very strongly in the escape to the 80km remaining mark where the move disintegrated. And he took the beer prime along the way.
Brammeier, who weighs 73kg, got his prize before Scheldeprijs yesterday.
Brammeier being presented with his beer yesterday by Nico Mattan.
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