The sixtieth edition of the Drentse Fiets4Daagse started today. RTV Drenthe looks back on sixty years of cycling pleasure. What has changed in recent years?
“I was always surprised how many people participated,” says photographer Sake Elzinga. For years he photographed the bicycle4 days for various regional and national newspapers. “In my memory it was always very massive, I remember that Gerard Kemkers (former skater, ed.) Has opened the event again,” Elzinga recalls.
That massiveness that Elzinga speaks about has taken a while. At the very first edition in 1966, which was then called the Drenthe Bijwielvierdaagse, 239 participants were at the start. Even later in the sixties years, the event does not yet have the enormous popularity it gets from the 70s.
Between 1970 and 1980, the number of participants, from around 10,000 cyclists in 1970, doubled to 25,000 participants in 1980. In the following years, the bicycle4 days continues to grow steadily, with 1991 as the highlight: 30,184 participants are at the start that year.
After the photos, read which special visitors received the bicycle4daagse in the years: