Dutch fans song on the Alpe
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When the modern Tour began having stage finishes at Alpe d'Huez in 1976 Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk was the winner in a two-man duel up the mountain with the Dutch-speaking Belgian Lucien van Impe, so it was a moment of regional rivalry transposed to the Alps.
Next year the Dutch got another win at Alpe d'Huez with Hennie Kuiper, a feat he then repeated in the following year's Tour.
Perhaps motivated by this, Zoetemelk then won the Alpe d'Huez stage in 1979 (actually one of the winners, because for some reason the organisers had decided to have two stages end there that year).
The organisers gave it a rest in 1980, but it returned in 1981 when, perhaps inevitably, a Dutchman won the stage. This time it was Peter Winnen and, like his predecessors, he won a second time, in 1983.
The last Dutchman to win there was Gert-Jan Theunisse in 1989.
So you can see there was a bit of a tradition established during the late 70s of Dutch riders winning there. This must have encouraged fans to travel down there in ever increasing numbers, year after year, until the habit of going to party on the Alpe took on a momentum of its own, regardless of whether Dutch riders actually had a chance of winning the stage. It probably also explains why so many Dutch enter the Marmotte sportive that ends with an ascent of l'Alpe.
It's a bit of a sun trap on one of the flatter parts of the hill and there's a large bar opposite the church.Tusher wrote:please furnish me with more information as to why on earth the Dutch chose this corner.0 -
Germany clearly can't party like the Dutch.
They have their own version, but I don't see them putting chairs above their heads...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFd9wSSopp00 -
Thank you for the info. Still bewildered as to why they do the chair lifting bit, but I shall put it to the back of my mind and ask the next Dutch person I meet.
Unfortunately, I can't get the wretched tune to the back of my mind. This has been compounded by small nephews finding it on my i-pod in the car. And then insisting it was put on repeat. For an entire hour. They've made up slightly different words to sing to it- "Sasha, gie us yer photo".
And as if my day couldn't get any worse, I had to sit through the worse film I have ever seen, Mr Potter's Penguins.
It's a wonder I remain sane.0 -
There's no bar! It's just a church. They take the bar with them.Le Commentateur wrote:
It's a bit of a sun trap on one of the flatter parts of the hill and there's a large bar opposite the church.Tusher wrote:please furnish me with more information as to why on earth the Dutch chose this corner.0 -
avoidingmyphd wrote:There's no bar! It's just a church. They take the bar with them.
:roll:0 -
That's a nice picture of a bar opposite a church. But it's still a long way to go to get beer from bend 7. 9 bends down the hill to be precise. I'd think I'd just go to the bar the Dutch open in a tent on bend 7.
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It's William of Orange innit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_SilentTusher wrote:Odd that the Dutch flag doesn't have any orange in it.
The Orange bit is from his title, Prince of Orange:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_OrangePrince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange.
The title is carried by members of the House of Orange-Nassau, as heirs to the crown of the Netherlands.
In a nice circular reference, the principality was in Provence - not a million miles from the Alpe. Maybe it would be more appropriate though to have an Orange splattered Dutch corner on Ventoux instead though given the geography.
Sorry for going all historic/wikipedia on your ass! Oh and don't get me started on Basque orange as I have no idea why - their flag also demonstrates a complete lack of orange...."Difficult, difficult, lemon difficult"0 -
pomtarr wrote:
It's William of Orange innit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_SilentTusher wrote:Odd that the Dutch flag doesn't have any orange in it.
The Orange bit is from his title, Prince of Orange:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_OrangePrince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange.
The title is carried by members of the House of Orange-Nassau, as heirs to the crown of the Netherlands.
In a nice circular reference, the principality was in Provence - not a million miles from the Alpe. Maybe it would be more appropriate though to have an Orange splattered Dutch corner on Ventoux instead though given the geography.
Sorry for going all historic/wikipedia on your ass! Oh and don't get me started on Basque orange as I have no idea why - their flag also demonstrates a complete lack of orange....
Orange is just the colour of the Euskaltel company logo.0 -
ilove it. i love the dutch. look at crowds cheering on hoogerland on the famous bocht 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=j6DjxbqWl30The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns
momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.0 -
Cleat Eastwood wrote:ilove it. i love the dutch. look at crowds cheering on hoogerland on the famous bocht 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=j6DjxbqWl30
Think this one is better...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKgvWe3z ... re=related0 -
Ok, not going so well thus farmy mate Esli... wrote:David... I cannot explain this... this is dutch-crazyness... get used to it hah. Where did you find this video!? Its briljant!!! Actually I'm quite proud to see my fellow natives go nuts like that haha.
Sorry that I cannot give you an answer.
More work is needed, may have to bring it up at the club run!We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver0 -
Bless your inquiring mind.
I was going to resurrect this thread a few weeks ago, but was too timid.
I was driving aforementioned nephews through Glen Coe on a dry, sunny day recently. (Honest, there was an hour that was dry and sunny, if a little chilly) Being the proud owner of a convertible*, I had the roof back. Little boys love having the roof back. And That Wretched Tune had been on repeat play (at their request) since Crianlarich.
When we had an episode of "I feel sick" which, from experience, results in me having to bring the car to a screeching halt. Luckily, a lay-by immediately appeared and there was only a mild burning of rubber as I pulled in.
On this occasion, however, the little darling was not about to vomit.I should have known that there is never any motion sickness when the roof is back. But he had learnt that this statement brings a Pavlovian response from whatever adult is driving, and he was using it solely to bring the car to a halt, allow his seat belt to be released, and then launch himself at his younger brother in a brutal, unprovoked and belligerent attack over ownership of a Tyrannosaurus Plasticus.
I had to drag victim nephew into the front seat for his own protection, shove the child seat underneath him, switch the front passenger seat air bag off, reprimand bully brother, strap him back in, and all the time, That Wretched Tune was belting out.
Which was when I saw the couple sitting outside their motorhome. A genuine, Dutch motorhome.
And I would love to say that they laughed heartily, then came over and told me all about their song, as we chatted amicably about Dutch cycling.
But they didn't move. I cannot describe the look of frozen horror and consternation which came over their faces as they sat rooted to their chairs.
I did wave at them as I drove off though. Lord knows what they thought.
* and just in case you had me down as a Mazda MX-5 woman, it's the even classier (diesel) Citroen Pluriel.0 -
I asked a Dutch guy at work (had only just met him) "so, do you know the song "schatje mag ik je foto". He said no, then had a double-take moment and corrected my pronunciation and was reallt intrigued how I know it. He didn't know reason for chairs, other than it being a Dutch head-off song.
My mate told me he bumped into a Dutch guy in Belgrade and sang the song with him a couple of times (I assume plenty of beverages were involved!)
It feels good to have infiltrated a Dutch secret society0 -
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Probably only funny if you speak dutch.
Suffice to say, this was THE 2011 song on the bocht (apparently).
http://youtu.be/5aLcRIU3k2c
http://youtu.be/hBjirDbInmQ
You can probably work out what sex met die kale means...0
