There has been discussion over the years regarding the fact that Rik Van Looy's world champion jersey did not carry his sponsor's (Feama) logo. I know I've heard all sorts of reasons, the most prevalent being that Van Looy felt it was sacrilege to tarnish the image of this jersey with commercial advertising.
This past week, while at the Hasselt (Belgium) 6-day, I had the opportunity to have dinner with Van Looy. While his English is somewhat limited, it is a whole lot better than my Flemish. We were able to muddle through a number of topics, ranging from his career to the modern peleton. I brought up the logo issue. He laughed, saying he too had heard all the rumors about the logo and the theoretical reasons behind it. He said time must have erased peoples memory, because the reasoning behind it was very well known at the time. The answer was simple: the U.C.I. initiated a rule that forbid the world champion from wearing sponsorship on the jersey. This rule was short lived and, bowing to pressure from the pro teams, was ultimately reversed. I asked Rik what his feelings were about the sponsorship logo issue, not withstanding the U.C.I.'s position. He told me he thought the rules forbidding visible sponsorship on the CdM jersey was stupid at the time and still today thinks it was stupid. Given his own choice, he would have been proud to have his jersey emblazoned with the Feama letters.
Brett Horton
San Francisco, CA