(cars passing)
- Continuing our tour of Belgian cyclo-cross legends,
we're here today in Tremelo, Belgium
at one of the icons of the sport's bike shop, Niels Albert.
He's going to take us through his shop
and show us some of the cool stuff that he's collected
from over the years of racing,
and all of his friends that were in the sport.
It's going to be a little bit of a history tour.
It's going to be a little bit of cool stuff
and insight from Niels Albert, so let's go.
(soft electronic music)
In May 2014, Niels Albert announced to the world
that he had to retire from racing.
The two-time world champ and Belgian cyclo-cross superstar
declared that he had an uncurable heart arrhythmia
and would have to retire from racing immediately.
Four months after his retirement, he was recruited
to work with then up-and-coming superstar, Wout Van Aert.
Niels guided Wout to three world championship gold medals,
2016, 2017, and 2018.
And well, the rest is history.
So we're here with Niels,
who is not needing a huge introduction,
but has been Belgian champion, let's just say many times.
- Yeah.
- At least once as an elite.
- Yeah, 2011 I was an elite.
- It was a nice jersey. I remember it.
- Yeah.
- I think four times in the junior under 23,
and twice as an elite.
- Yeah, it's possible.
- Famously, in Koksijde
- Yeah
- Where we've heard that you have a dune named after you.
- Yeah, that is correct.
- That is pretty
- That's pretty amazing.
(both laugh)
You're like, "Hey," to your wife,
"let's go take a walk on the beach."
And she's like, "Well, which one are you thinking?"
And you're like, "I'm thinking Koksijde."
- Niels Albert Beach.
- Yeah, Niels Albert Beach. Exactly.
(both laugh)
I think over, I think 11 World Cup wins.
- Yeah, it's possible. I didn't
- Okay, a bunch. A bunch.
- Yeah.
- A lot of wins. And you've worked
with some of the top names in the sport,
Wout Van Aert, and most recently Laurens Sweeck.
Top names. And you've had a lot of fun with that.
Obviously your career, you've retired,
but now you have this awesome bike shop
and you've asked some of the riders,
"Hey, can I have some cool stuff to show off in the shop?"
And that's what we're going to do today.
We're going to take a little tour,
- Yeah. Okay.
- Of the Niels Albert Bike Shop.
(soft music)
- This one is his first one. I get it from Wout,
after the world champion win in Gierle in 2016.
- Gierle.
- Yep, Gierle.
- I was also there. That was a really crappy day.
- Yeah it was bad weather.
- Terrible weather.
- Terrible weather. And also very hard for the material.
- Yeah.
- Because it was sand and rain.
- Yes. Exactly. Yeah.
- This one is his first one.
- This is his first world championship? Yes.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- What, can you describe, like, a little bit of that?
Obviously for you, I think that was,
like, proud papa bear. You had to be pretty happy for him.
- Yeah, that was the year that he had a crash
with Michael Vanthourenhout.
- That's right.
- And you saw that Michael was stuck with his feet
in Wout's front wheel.
- That's right.
- And after the crash, Michael's head was down.
And Wout was riding, riding and wins the final.
He wins the world title.
- I know.
- But I think they were both, they were same boat even well.
- Yeah.
- I think that day, but, Wout was mentally
- Strong.
- A little bit stronger than Michael that day.
I think about the first one.
The first one for me is special.
- Yes.
- Because I was retired two years and it was Belgian soil.
And when I think about that race and still,
- You get goosebumps.
- Yeah.
- That's cool.
- Okay, so let's look at number two because this one
has a pretty cool story as well.
- This one is from Luxembourg.
This one is the bike with the special tires.
- Yeah, I know. There's a lot of talk about these tires.
- Normally, we make,
we built the tires special for normally when it was snow.
- Yes.
- But then they are a little bit old,
so they are really tough.
And that's why we put them on tire because when it snows,
then I was thinking, yeah in snow and then you can put
a little bit low pressure in your tire. More feeling.
- Yes.
- But then the conditions were totally different.
But there are a lot of rocks in the muddy sections.
And with the new tires it doesn't work.
I don't know (claps) and it was one of the other,
or the flat tire, and Wout just keep riding and keep riding.
- Yeah.
- That's right. So he had no flat?
- No, no, no.
- And, I think Vanthourenhout had how many?
- Four, I think. Four or five.
- And there were people that literally went through
all of the wheels they brought.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was done. Some guys.
It was totally done.
- It's over. Yeah, they can't keep,
they couldn't keep racing they flatted so many times.
- Yeah.
- They didn't have any more wheels to be able to keep going.
- Yeah, I can remember the day that some parents were
walking around in the pit area and ask,
"Yeah, you have some wheels? You have some wheels?"
(short laugh) - That is
- So it was crazy day.
- That is crazy that the tire is, like,
it's just kind of the right combo of being
- Now it's flat.
- thick enough. No of course, but
- Now it's flat.
(laughs) I know. I know. But the thickness of the rubber
would be different than a traditional tire, right?
Because they're so, they're so thin now.
And they want all of the flexion, and the movement.
But this is, like, so thick that it was able
to prevent the flats.
- That was a difference.
- It's so cool. Okay, let's check out some other stuff.
- Yeah. Okay.
(soft music)
- He had wings on this day.
- It was not normal.
- Yeah, (laughing) he was on another level.
So this is his third one, from Valkenburg,
which was, in fact, my last (claps) world championships.
And I have to say that I do not
have a great memory from that race. (laughs)
- I know the conditions were terrible.
- Terrible.
- Really, really heavy.
- It's not even like the correct word.
It was worse than terrible.
- I think six rounds?
- Yeah.
- I think the professional guys did six rounds.
- It was.
- I think 10 or 11 minutes.
- Yeah, exactly.
- So yeah, it was really a strange, a strange race.
And yeah, Vanthourenhout was the big favorite.
- Of course.
- But then we saw in the last couple of days
that the track was changing. And it was really heavy.
And that was, yeah, Wout was growing mentally,
during the week,
- Yeah.
- From the last world cup to the world championships.
He was mentally growing. We talked a lot. And yeah,
it's possible Wout. It's possible.
- I also think that Matthew had a lot of pressure to win.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so.
- And he hadn't won since his first title.
- Yeah, I think so.
- And I think that Wout, just truthfully,
his running was on, it was, phenomenal.
He was running so fast.
Expected Valkenburg to be really hard.
But never did I expect it to be that,
the ground to move so much. And the ruts were, like,
if you got stuck in a rut it was practically
up to your fork. It was so deep.
- That's really strange.
- So, yeah, I remember he rode a more narrow tire
for this race, I think right? A 30 or a 32?
- Yeah. 30.
- 30, right. Which is something that you would do,
also in your career.
- Yeah.
- I remember you were at Mere running, I think a 30,
so maybe in the front or in the rear or something.
- Yeah, sometimes both. But the thing is,
I was always saying when the mud is not really deep
and it's just upper, then I think you can ride also with 30.
- This was his last world championship that he won.
- Yep, the last one.
- And this was also the last year that you worked with him.
- Yeah, it was the last year.
- Then he switched to a different team.
- Yep, correct. Yeah.
- Very cool.
- Let's look at your bike. This bike looks, this is,
(coughing)
was this from your last season of racing?
- No. This one was, we start racing with Colnago.
I was world champion in 2009,
and I think this one is from 2011.
- I think so, too, because you were going into Louisville,
you were the world champ. And I'm pretty sure
you rode this bike in the warm up race in Louisville.
- Yeah, yeah, I think also, yeah.
- Yeah.
- Because another one over there, a blue one, I think
the device is different. Nice memories, huh?
- Yeah, it is. Yeah, and also you have
your nickname was King Albert.
- Yeah.
- And they put a small, a small detail
here on the custom Dugast tubulars.
- Yeah.
- Very few people get the world champ stripes
on their Dugast tubular.
And even fewer have a crown on them.
Sven's bike is over here?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. This one is from his last year.
- I remember it. I was still,
I was still trying to beat him.
Although he, he was, yeah,
he was more vulnerable when he got older, thankfully.
(laughs) But he's still good.
- 15-16 was his last year. And then that year
he won one race in Koksijde. And that was with disc brakes.
And he had two bikes with disc, and I think here's one.
I have also one bike with disc brakes.
But I don't know exactly which one he won that day.
- Maybe this is the one.
- Maybe this is the one. Maybe the one at home.
I don't know.
- Well when he wants it back, he doesn't have
to come far to get it.
- No, I buy them. This one I buy. This one is mine.
(host claps and laughs)
- He can't get it back.
- When you work with Sven, you have to buy your bike.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Okay, I get it. What do you think was your best,
your favorite battle with Sven?
- My favorite battle?
- He talked a lot about you with the sand.
He gave you a lot of credit for being, quite possibly,
the best rider that's ever ridden the sand. Period. Ever.
- Whoa. Okay. Yeah, the strongest parts from Sven was,
he was, yeah, he was riding really tactic.
And the thing was,
he was really powerful in the last
five minutes of the race.
And he,
his biggest, my biggest frustration was
in one second he was (snaps) and there was a gap,
there was a gap from five, six, six, five to six seconds.
And I cannot close it to the finish line.
So that was the biggest power from Sven, I think.
When you don't expect it, yeah, in a few seconds (snaps)
pop, pop, pops up and it was a close gap.
- And it's one mistake. And then he's gone.
- And then he's gone.
Yeah, but it was always in the last round,
in the last two rounds. Because he know, I think he knows
when he had strong day, then he can ride also
in one hour full of gas.
But Sven more in the end of his career,
then we are making the biggest fights.
He know I can ride for one hour full gas. No problem.
(coughs) Sven was more explosive than me.
And I think that was his biggest strength.
- Yeah, all right next. Let's see what we have,
what else we have.
- The thing that I am most proud of it.
It's my own bike from Koksijde.
It's the most impressive bike for me.
- I remember it well.
(coughs)
That was a,
That was a, this was a
This was an incredible day to watch.
You rode like a flawless race. I was in this race,
and I'm not even joking, I think I was in like
maybe 16th or 17th place with, like,
four other national champions. And you lapped us. (laughs)
- Yeah?
- Yes. Well not technically, but the UCI, like,
pretty famously pulled, it was me, Christian Hoyla,
Francise Mouray, like, a lot of good riders,
you know, that we battled with. Yeah, and they said,
"Okay, you have to stop because." And I thought,
"Holy crap, man. (laughs) Who is going that fast?"
- I didn't know.
- No, of course you didn't.
You were winning the world championship.
- No, I didn't know it.
- It was an impressive day. No, to say the least.
Like your, I don't think you made one mistake on this race.
- Yeah, that day, for me, yeah,
it's my biggest victory of my career.
It's a special one.
For me it's still a special moment when you can win
the world's in Koksijde on your favorite sand track
that's ever built, I think.
- Yeah. Yes.
With a lot of history.
With also in 94.
It's a track with a big history
and you can win the world's.
And I think still for the moment,
the world's where the most people are there in one day.
- I was going to say, I think they said,
cause they had special trains designed
just to take the fans to and from the venue because
- 61,000
- 61,000. Yeah, we have to say that.
And is this a photo from it? Zonhoven?
- No, this is a photo I get it from Ridley.
It's a photo from Zonhoven.
- That's what I said, yeah.
- But it's the start of the professionals,
but I'm already gone, I think.
- Yeah.
- This is, this is Vantornout, I think.
- We see this. Tell me about this, like, this picture.
Because this is very Belgian. Like I see a lot of
these types of pieces of art that people have drawn.
- The guys, the guy that make the picture is Nestor
and it's a famous guy
and he makes caricature.
- Yeah, characters.
- Yeah, from special moments.
And he built he, he paint it, and I get it.
- What is the significance of the
snowman down on the bottom? Just that it was bad weather?
- Yeah, maybe when it's winter.
Yeah, there was no snow in Koksijde.
- No, not this time.
- And I get it for my world title in Koksijde,
so it was, yeah.
- Pretty cool.
- Yeah, it's nice.
- Pretty cool.
(soft electronic music)
Thank you for taking us for a tour, man.
- No problem.
- This is beautiful. If you're ever in Tremolo,
is that how you say it?
- Yeah, Tremolo.
- All right, Tremolo, I try. If you're ever in Tremolo,
you have to come through. You may see the man himself,
Niels, because you're here.
- Probably all day.
- Yeah, all the time. So you can come,
get a picture with Niels.
Check out some of the awesome history that is in the shop.
And pay a visit.
- Yeah.
- Thank you for having us.
- No problem.
- All right.