The first cyclist in history to win Flanders and Roubaix worked in a carpet factory as a boy, hoping for a better future. A worker suggested he try cycling and he discovered he was strong. Then the war broke out and he became a spy, twice risking the firing squad, before his triumphant return to racing
In Flanders they have always had the habit of giving their children high-sounding and complicated names which they then cannot remember or pronounce. They baptized this son Polydore Joseph Deman, but throughout his adventurous life they simply called him Pol. Whether you then find him in history books and cycling honor books as Paul is another matter: hasty transcriptions, and in any case he never protested. He was born Belgian, but less than 500 meters from the border with France: due to its position, Menen has been the most besieged city in Flanders over the centuries, and has changed flag several times. Life on the border is complicated. In 2013 Menen was talked about again due to a bizarre initiative by a centre-right mayor, Martine Fournier, who prohibited public employees from speaking French with French speakers. He explained that if they really couldn’t understand each other in Flemish, they could always use sign language. But this happened a century after Pol Deman. And we are interested in him.
