Flemish people
Founder Karel Van Wijnendaele was keen on bad weather. He wanted the Tour of Flanders to be a symbol of Flemish culture and a metaphor of the country. As a journalist, he romanticized the race's protagonists in the image of the Flemish people of the time: hard-working, struggling men in a constant battle with the elements. His rhetoric, combined with often harsh conditions, contributed to the image of the Tour of Flanders as a "character race" where only the most headstrong and physically robust could win.