Kuurne Four years Lander Seynaeve (26) cyclist. His eyes sparkle as he over that period tells. But his dream fell at the end of last year apart then there is to him the Crohn’s disease was established. Wielerkenner Bernard Callens from Roeselare wrote Landers story down in a book.
For Lander, who grew up in Kuurne but to Izegem moved to with his girlfriend to live together, it was already on its 12th already a foregone conclusion: he would pro be. “My dad was koersliefhebber and I was pleased with him. Races like Paris-Roubaix, I followed them from the first row and I knew: this is it.” He enrolled in a koersploeg in Lendelede. “But I was still not a supertalent,” laughs Lander. “I was a late bloomer, my larger peers to cycle me there quickly.”
But along with its growth came the sportive performance on the corridor, and he was noticed by team Wanty Houbert, where he, in 2015, two seasons for allowed to drive. He was not a ‘veelwinnaar’, as they call it, but the consistent ‘servant’ all the work to his team leader as a first measure to get. “That is a role that I always with pleasure have met,” says Lander. “You have your place in the peloton. I was not good enough yourself to win, but I could help others to win.”
Sport is excluded
After two seasons in the French Roubaix-Lille Métropole came to an abrupt end to his promising pro career. “I was already on the sucker,” says Lander. “I had more and more time needed to go from a race to obtain. When I was on a day even on Tuesday still not been recovered turned out to be a game on Sunday, I let me check.” The diagnosis was harsh: the bowel disorder ‘Crohn’s disease’. “A condition where I have a perfectly normal life can be lead, but top-level sport is excluded.”
A blow, for father Luc Seynaeve. “I’ve seen how many hard efforts to give him a career as a pro have produced. I saw how he enjoyed, with the fullest. But I saw a bit later also how mother nature to him quite abruptly has the meantime, and how his dream fell apart was beaten. It did him tremendous pain. And with him me also.”
That Lander heavy apart, we hear of his father and of his love to Shannon, with whom he is now married. Itself, he shows the hartenpijn that he feels not to come to the surface. “I have apart, and I miss it still. It is very a pity that I my pro career I have to stop. But I’m especially very happy and proud that I have that period as a professional cyclist to have experienced. Travelling the world with my friends, on the bike. Fantastic that was. I will be there always with a smile to look back. I keep in mind: there are a lot worse things than this. Really.”
says dutifully
Bernard Callens, who is already 44 years ‘Wielerjaarboek’ release, gutter Landers story in a book. “I have not immediately said yes when his father gave me the proposal did”, says Bernard. “Lander was a good rider, but so impressive is his list of achievements is now also not. But his story is worth the effort. That he is not from a wielerfamilie, is also atypical. That he has such a beautiful personality, makes the story warm. And that his childhood dream rolled into one saw collapsing, makes it emotional.” With Lander left is, indeed, a popular rider in the peloton. “He was very eager to get seen, yes,” says Bernard. “It is a simple boy who says dutifully his role in the course. Fellow riders appreciated him, therefore, enormous.”
Yves Lampaert full of praise
this is also evident in the word of pro Yves Lampaert in the book. He drove for a number of years for the same team as a Lander, and the two became friends. “Lander is a ‘24 carat man’. Of its kind, there are unfortunately far too few around. He knew his place in the peloton, and he was appreciated for who he was and how he was. Lander certainly had enough talent to have a permanent place to enforce the occupation. On his day he could, especially in the youth categories, incredibly hard drive. But it was unfortunately not to last. His health made him ever more in the lurch.”
Since he retired as a professional cyclist, a cyclist Lander, not more. Of 20 hours per week, mileage up to zero comma zero kilometres per week. “But not because I have no mind, or because I can’t handle. At the end of last year, I, together with my mother in the kitchen of the House of Wonterghem went to work, and it was a very busy christmas and new year period. In addition, Shannon and I have our house rebuilt. I am simply not come. But before I jump back on the bike, that I’m sure.”
Role model for the youth
It’s not that Lander has nothing to do with wielrenne. He is team leader at Tops Antiques, where he promises, and elites without contract guide. “He is a role model for the guests, that I am sure. He lives so hard with them, and he can also provide them with a lot to teach,” says papa Luc. “And especially, he will also be tough for them,” says Bernard. “If there’s one with loads of talent and it remains a good health that let hang, will Lander him quick of answer.”
