All I could think of was that thank god this didn’t happen last weekend during the NYC Tsunami. The Redhook Criterium has become quite the spectacle, and an area of Brooklyn that would normally not see much life at this time on a Saturday night was packed with cycling die-hards, and a few perplexed locals. They turned up in all shapes and sizes, from the Cat racers, to the bike messengers, from the team-sponsored to the thrift store-sponsored, from the custom carbon track frames to the “fell off the back of a truck” Fujis. One race, men and women, all in. A note about the course: insane. From the newly paved carpet up by the new Ikea to the Beard Street cobbles, plus manholes raised, oh, a good inch above the surface, on a low light course so even if you could avoid the holes, spotting them was going to be a whole other thing. And off they went on a rolling neutral lap to get a little accustomed to the coarse. One lap in saw the field sort itself out, with a lead group separating themselves pretty quickly and setting an insanely fast time around the one mile lap. 20 laps later an Adler rider appeared out of the darkness of Beard street with his hands in the air like he just didn’t care, and we had a winner. We bailed at this point but I can only imagine the atmosphere in Sonny’s around the corner was good well into the wee hours.
I met Richard Delaume through our shared admiration of Jacques Anquetil and the old Mirror Sprint cycling magazines. He is an amazing photographer. Some of you will know his work already if you read the pages of Procycling magazine. We got to talking, and he shared with me this great cyclo-cross photo essay that he shot in France. So we decided to do two things. First an interview that gives you a sense of Richard, and his love of our sport and photography, and second we made a feature of the essay so you could see all of his great images and dirt in their true splendor.
When did you first pick up a camera?
I started slowly in 2003, when I bought a compact digital camera using money borrowed from my father. I found it strange taking pictures at first. Back then I was a sports teacher and cyclist. Then in 2005 I bought an SLR, and it changed everything.
Can you remember what your first shot was?
My first shot was in a Mall in Nantes with my girlfriend at the time. I photographed the escalators from the side, a classical composition, but effective. I entered it for a “Young artist” contest, and it got selected for an exhibition.
What do you enjoy shooting now?
I still love to shoot cycling, and I am still a correspondent for Procycling in France. But since 2009 I started to also shoot social reportage as well. Travel also interests me. I have been to Burkina Faso and in April I’m going to Palestine. I have also begun work on a project based on autism.
How did you get into shooting cycling?
In 2005 I began to do editorial for magazines, then in early 2006 I saw the potential in shooting cycling. I know a lot of things about that world, seen from the inside as a rider.
A lot of the shots you took in the cyclo-cross essay are pre or post race – what were you trying to capture?
For this essay I wanted to capture the essence of this cycling discipline, and not just the race. Capturing something of the mental side of the sport, the attitude. But also the audience and the passion they have for it in Brittany and Belgium.
What rider have you enjoyed photographing most?
Erwan Mentheour in 2007 for Procycling, when they asked me shoot for the theme “10 years on”. Erwan retired after the Festina affair. He was one of the first riders convicted of EPO use in the 1997 Paris-Nice when he was riding for Francaise des Jeux. I spent a day with him in Paris and Beaubourg. We talked a lot, had a lot of laughs and drank a lot!
There are so many iconic images of our sport – do you have a favorite? Anquetil and Poulidor climbing the Puy de Dome during the 1964 Tour. That image catches the climax of their rivalry and the drama of the sport. We rarely see that now.
If you had your choice to shoot a grand tour or one of the classics, what would it be?
No hesitation, the Tour. But I also loved going to the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Sitting in a client meeting today with an Italian we got to talking about cycling, and debating about the best grand tour for excitement value. He had a somewhat biased opinion of course. So afterward I started to write down some thoughts on the editions of the Tours that I enjoyed most from the last decade. The highs, Armstrong’s comeback, Andy Schleck’s second at the Giro in his first grand Tour, Savoldelli’s descent to keep the pink jersey, and of course the lows. The Landis positive, the Ricco positive, Rasmussen getting the boot. Well, I did it subjectively, not taking note of the points as I went along, and guess what, Claudia was right – the Giro edged it by a point. Who knew…
Quite the stage today down under. If this is how they are going in January, I can’t wait until April. Great to see Evans in the mix yesterday and today driving a potentially Tour winning break, very exciting to watch. Might have helped if there had been a proper climb. Now that really would have thrown a curve ball.
It’s the end of the season and I am trawling through shots of various trips to Europe to lift my spirits to get over the thought that I am going to be spending the next three to four months on my trainer. This one is from a trip to watch the Daupine in the Alps. The story behind this shot is more interesting than the shot itself, and to get the full depth of the story you need to click on the image above to get all the detail. This shot was taken at the top of the Joux Plane after a very hard and cold slog to the top (The camera equipement on my back was heavier than my bike). I stopped to take this shot, and met Ricardo and his wife. Both in their twilight years, they were still getting in this camper that they bought in the 60s and driving all over Europe to watch the “great races“. Everytime they would go to a race they would add the year to the side of the van, and they have a story for every one. They have been going to Paris Roubaix since ’63, when Emile Daems won (They have been 7 times). They have seen the Tour of the Med 10 times, and the Dauphine 11 times. It goes on…and by the way the other side of the van had a whole host of other races. I think my favorite bits of the whole van are the stolen route markers on the back – hopefully he took them off the corners after the race had passed. Really lovely people from the heart of cycling in Northern Europe, that have a passion for the sport like I have never seen. Just dare mention Tom Boonens name……”Ahhhh Boom Boom!“.
