The fiftieth Tour of Assendelft was a special one for Jan Burger. The speaker – or rather microphone player – said goodbye after decades and was honored during the event. The round is a real village festival and, as the last event of the season, it is one that all participating cyclists look forward to.
Herman Sterken, former chairman of the jury of the KNWU cycling association, put Jan in the spotlight before the men’s race. “I have known Jan for more than 25 years. I visit many criteriums and Jan is often a speaker. He has received a silver pin from the KNWU and that is really a great honor. That is how he saw it.”
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Jan also reported for many years for NH, then still RTV NH. “It was a local Theo Koomen,” NH Sport’s head of sport, Edward Dekker, praises. “He could talk so beautifully, sometimes exaggerating things a bit. The most legendary thing I can remember was that he reported live from the finish of a race, but you could clearly hear the bell that indicated that they had another lap. He finished a little early.”
“If I park my car at a race and I hear his voice, then my afternoon is already good,” says Sterken. “He knows the race, he knows the riders and he is willing to share that knowledge. He also knows how to touch the riders, they always enjoyed it when he reported.”
View an atmospheric report of the day above.