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A spectacular send-off event in Gent’s ‘t Kuipke velodrome for retiring QuickStep-AlphaVinyl racer Iljo Keisse saw World Champion Remco Evenepoel pay a handsome tribute to his Belgian teammate as Mark Cavendish and Elia Viviani rode for an International team against Keisse’ Belgian squad in a farewell Omnium race.
“He taught me everything,” Evenepoel said at the ‘Merci Iljooo’ event, also attended by former top racer Tom Boonen and soon-to-retire Philippe Gilbert along with a sellout crowd of some 6,000 fans.
A winner of no less than 28 Six-Day events in his lengthy career, Keisse, 39, was crowned the ‘Emperor of ‘t Kuipke’ in a symbolic ceremony as part of the sendoff.
Mark Cavendish, Elia Viviani and Niki Terpstra all took part in the event itself, although Filippo Ganna was a last-minute ‘DNS’ because of an unexpected change in schedule for an eye surgery operation.
Keisse said he felt a little nervous before the event, saying that “it’s not normal for a bike rider of my level to receive this kind of farewell.” He later described it as “the best day of my career.”
Evenepoel brought Keisse a large photo of the two racing together in their last road race, Binche-Chimay-Binche, calling it “a present for my father. He did everything for me in my first year and taught me everything, on and off the bike.”
Boonen, also a former teammate, called Keisse “my general, that I always listened to.”
As Het Nieuwsblad reported, Boonen also recollected how the two were “alone on a mountain in Andorra when Wouter Weylandt died in an accident. We shared all the emotions. We have been through a lot together.”
The final moments of the send-off saw Keisse do a lap of honour of ‘t Kuipke with his sons, Jules and René.
The 39-year-old is set to become part of the team management at QuickStep-AlphaVinyl and will start in his new directeur…
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