Johan Museeuw: Definition of a rouleur

Johan Museeuw: Definition of a rouleur

It’s the title of our magazine, but what really makes a rouleur? For the definitive answer, we turned to one of the greatest of them all: Johan Museeuw


“I was a rouleur,” Johan Museeuw says. “A rouleur is someone who can ride on the flat. A rider who can go hard on the cobblestones, a rider who can make the breakaway. Not at the beginning: four riders going away for publicity in the Tour de France? That’s not really a rouleur. 

“A rouleur is somebody who knows the race and has the specialisms for it. Not really a good climber, but he can defend in the mountains and do some great things on the flat. A rider with a big engine who can ride alone, who waits to attack in the last ten kilometres, not for the finish. A rider who is always at the finish fast: that’s the meaning of rouleur for me.

“Thomas De Gendt, that’s a rouleur. He tried at the Dauphiné, the Tour de France, everywhere, to go in breakaways, at the beginning and the end. He always wants to drop his rivals. He wasn’t a winner, but he’s a rouleur. One time a rouleur, maybe you’re always a rouleur.” 

Museeuw first hit the headlines by winning a brace of Tour de France bunch sprints in 1990, contesting the green jersey. But he knew deep down where his specialism lay. “Everybody said I was a sprinter. But I wasn’t really: I was fast after a hard race. So I was more a rouleur than a sprinter, and that was also the reason I lost Classics later on.

“I knew I had a good sprint but I wasn’t afraid to go alone and do something special, like a rouleur.

“The way I won my last Paris-Roubaix [in 2001], I did a breakaway 55 kilometres from the finish. You don’t know why you want to go, but that’s the moment in the race, you say ‘I go’, even if it’s a long way out. 

“It’s the same with the breakaway in Tenbossestraat in Geraardsbergen [in the 1998 Tour of Flanders], that was 30 kilometres from the finish. That’s the tactical thinking of rouleurs. To win a hard race like the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, you have to be a rouleur.”

At Mapei in the mid-‘90s, he was at his peak among several other irresistible rouleurs. Alongside Franco Ballerini and Andrea Tafi, the boys with blocks on their jerseys took some beating. 

Who does Museeuw consider the greatest rouleur of all time? “Briek Schotte, Rik Van Steenbergen and Rik Van Looy were rouleurs. But number one, I have to say Eddy Merckx, eh? He won in the sprint, he won in the mountains, he won alone and he did most of them in the breakaway from a long way out.”
The final piece of the puzzle for Museeuw? Winning with style. “For each big race, I always had a new jersey, shorts, socks and gloves. I wanted to be at the start with clean kit, even when it was raining. My bike, my condition, my clothing: everything had to be perfect. It was important – it still is.”

Johan Museeuw and his Mapei team are the inspiration for our new performance range of apparel, the Rouleur Collection launching Friday 16th March.

 

The post Johan Museeuw: Definition of a rouleur appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine.


READ MORE

João Almeida

‘Cycling is cruel’ - The broken dreams and broken hearts of the Tour de France

An unexpected crash on stage seven caused chaos for some of the race’s main protagonists

Leggi di più
Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar on stage seven of the Tour de France 2025

Opinion: Jonas Vingegaard still has every chance of beating Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France

The world champion may have just taken his second stage win of the race in Mûr-de-Bretagne, but his Danish rival’s response is promising for what...

Leggi di più
Tour de France

Tour de France 2025 stage eight preview: The sprinters back in play

The first of two chances for the sprinters in the Tour's second weekend

Leggi di più
Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France 2025

Tour de France 2025 standings: the results after stage seven

The latest results and standings from the Tour de France 2025

Leggi di più
Geraint Thomas

Someone who gave it everything - Geraint Thomas reflects on a special career

Ahead of his last ever participation in the Tour de France, Rouleur speaks to the people who know Welsh hero Geraint Thomas best, as well...

Leggi di più
Mathieu van der Poel

Defending, not chasing yellow: Mathieu van der Poel returns to Mûr-de-Bretagne

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider is back in yellow but plays down ambitions for green  

Leggi di più

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE