‘Golden’ Harrie Lavreysen sprints with Charles Leclerc on Circuit Zandvoort

On a golden bike, Harrie Lavreysen raced through the sharp Hugenholtz bend on the Zandvoort circuit today. With Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, a fanatic amateur cyclist, in his wheel. The two sports heroes exchanged some experiences during that meeting. Not exactly in anonymity, because there was a battery of cameras to capture the moment.

Leclerc cycled up with his trouser legs stuffed into his white socks, a ‘precautionary measure’ that every cyclist recognizes. Lavreysen was already waiting for him in the Hogenholtz bend. The Dutch cycling phenomenon was impressed by the attention that Formula 1 attracts. “My father is a big fan and I try to watch as much as possible myself, but I had never been here before. “When it is filled up, it will be very impressive,” said the track cyclist, before he and Leclerc did a quick sprint ‘uphill’. He also challenged the French driver to a surplace, but the Ferrari leader thought that was a bit too daring a few days before the race.

Steep
The Hugenholtz bend was of course not chosen by chance for the meeting. Bend number three of the circuit has the contours of a cycle track, where a dominant Lavreysen has been gaining
fame for a number of years. “But this here is not that steep,” noted the three-time Olympic champion from Paris, who had also taken his medals with him to Zandvoort. “The cycle track has an angle of 45 degrees on the steepest part. You can’t stand there, because then you slide down. You have to go through it at least 30 kilometers per hour.”

Looking forward to Sunday
The speeds that Leclerc and his associates reach in the sharp Hugenholtz bend – after the Arie Luyendyk bend, the steepest banked bend on the circuit with a maximum angle of 18 degrees –
are even higher: 140 kilometers per hour. On Sunday, Lavreysen will come and see with his own eyes how Leclerc and the others do in the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix. “That is really something to look forward to,” beamed the Olympic hero.