This is the poster of E3 Harelbeke

This one is already the fourteenth in the row. Next to the photo is the slogan “Let’s talk about the course”, while the lady makes the silent or sst gesture. There will be 130 of these banners throughout Flanders.

The new banner follows the one with Michel Wuyts and his red walker. The year before, ‘Germaine is keeping her hands to herself this year’, an allusion to the fact that the E3 Harelbeke was forced to be organized without an audience in 2021 due to the corona pandemic, was the trigger. In 2020 there was the banner ‘Being champion is fun’ in which Greg Van Avermaet could be seen as Carmen, Eddy Planckaert as Xavier, Patrick Lefevere as Boma, Johan Museeuw as Marcske, Freddy Maertens as Oscar and Peter Van Petegem as DDT.

The 2019 banner ‘Who will be crowned prince in Harelbeke?’ caused great commotion and controversy. on which two bodypainted women formed a frog. The UCI even reprimanded the organizers for this, causing the banner to disappear from the streets. In 2015 there was also quite a fuss with the banner of the E3 Harelbeke. That was then ensured by a playful women’s dress with blue slip. The spell was ‘Who pinches them in Harelbeke?’ Then too, that banner was forced to disappear from the streets after a few days.

“I had been asked for a few years to create a more daring banner. Not easy in times of ‘Me Too’. But I still think it succeeded. Let’s talk about the course and keep silent about the rest. That’s what I want say this,” says creator Jacques Coussens.

“Nine of the thirteen previous banners were questioned. There was a lot of commotion among some. Why is still a mystery to me. It was never the intention to bring something ordinary. It was always artful images. Apparently not everyone was convinced of that “Who is the woman in the photo? A secret that we want to keep a little more private. We let everyone guess and will release her identity in the run-up to our E3 Saxo Classic,” said Coussens. (SPN, ALG, COR214, TSA, nl)