Cycling history in six items

In the first of a series on cyling's historical artefacts, Cyclist visits the KOERS Museum in Belgium to discover the pick of the exhibits.

- Giles Belbin

It has only been a few months since Dries Mombert landed his dream job at the KOERS Museum of Cycle Racing in the town of Roeselare in the heart of Flanders.

A former cycling journalist for Het Laatste Nieuws (the last story he filed was a report from the 2024 UAE Tour Women), when Mombert saw the advert for a publiekswerker at the museum he decided to do everything possible to get the job. And who can blame him? What cycle-sport fan wouldn’t want to spend their days among this fine collection of cycling memorabilia, sharing their knowledge with visitors from all over the world?

Set over multiple floors, KOERS is housed in Roeselare’s former arsenal. Opened in 1903, the building has been used variously over the years to accommodate the Civil Guard, fire service, administration offices, a school, a volleyball club and concert hall. In 1962 the city established a folklore and local history centre here and in the mid1980s bought a collection of historic bikes to exhibit. Interest in the cycling collection grew and in 1998 the city’s authorities decided to open a dedicated bike museum.

Over time the professional side of cycling became a bigger part of the collection and in 2018, following three years of renovations, the museum was renamed KOERS Museum of Cycle Racing. ‘Koers’ translates literally as ‘course’, but it has a wider context that is woven into the fabric of life here.