An ode to Alberic ‘Briek’ Schotte, the godfather of all flandriens. The heroes of the Tour of Flanders and the Paris-Roubaix are tough and determined. The Flemings specialise in riding on bad roads and in bad weather. This set of photos provides an intimate and emotional portrait of these legendary athletes, landscapes and the Flemish culture. Stephan Vanfleteren has been photographing cycling races in Belgium and its surrounding areas for more than 15 years already. With more than 100 images, carefully selected by photographer Stephan Vanfleteren. AUTHOR: Stephan Vanfleteren was born in Kortrijk, Belgium, in 1969. He studied photography at the Sint Lucas instituut in Brussels (1988-1992). From 1993 to 2009, he worked as a freelance photographer for the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. Alongside his assignments for the newspaper, he worked constantly on personal projects. Recent years have seen him working on commissions from various museums, exhibiting his work internationally and publishing his photographs in newspapers and magazines around the world, including Le Monde (FR), De Volkskrant (NL), The New York Times (US) and De Standaard (BE). 87 b/w illustrations