Great, Brett, thanks. As always, a bit of data works wonders. From Brett's pics it appears clear that Eddy is on a spare bike, presumably from his team car. I missed a key point in the original pic that Brett saw, that the white bike lacked a frame number, indicating this isn't the bike with which Eddy started the race. We're still not 100% sure why it's painted white, but we can probably adopt Bob Hovey's theory that Masi ran short of time and therefore this bike, a spare, didn't get the full finish. And thanks also to Chuck Schmidt, who pointed out that that sidepulls seen on other Eddy shots during the year were Universals, as Campy didn't introduce their brakes until the fall of '68.
One other bit of new data for me is from Brett's first picture. In '68 the team bikes were decaled as "Faema" machines. Apparently Eddy still wasn't a big enough star to have the bikes branded "Eddy Merckx"
Thanks again, Brett, for this bit of illumination. Every picture tells a story---
Tom Adams, curiosity satisfied in Shrewsbury NJ
Brett Horton <bretthorton@thehortoncollection.com> wrote: I took a quick look at the photos in my collection from the 1968 Tour of Flanders. I have put four of them up on my web site that I feel are relevant to this thread. From flicking through about 175 sequential photos from this race, it looks to me like the "white" bicycle was a spare. Under each photo, I have given my opinion as to what I think is going on in the image. My opinions are based on nothing more than my review of the photos mixed with a little logic. Your opinion may vary.
http://www.thehortoncollection.com/
Please feel free to respond on or off-list if you think I misinterpreted any of the photos.
Brett Horton San Francisco, CA
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