MUR DE BRETAGNE, France July 5 (Reuters) - Allan Peiper did not think he would become director of one of the biggest professional cycling teams as he sold hot dogs by the roadside watching his former colleagues ride past.
The 51-year-old Australian now looks after some of the sport’s biggest names, including Briton Mark Cavendish, at HTC Highroad but his roller-coaster career has made him learn to take nothing for granted.
“I became sports director in 2006 and since 2007, I’ve worked with Bob Stapleton in the HTC Highroad team. I’m happy but I know nothing lasts forever,” he told Reuters in an interview during this year’s Tour.
A colourful life, stubborn passion for cycling and spiritual journeys to India have taught the lean, sharp-eyed Peiper lessons he now tries to pass on to his riders.
He had just turned 17 when he ran away from an alcoholic father he still refers to with awe in his voice and a desperate mother to try his luck in Europe as a cyclist.
“I ran out of school and worked in a factory to earn the money to pay for my trip to Belgium,” he said.
“I went with a mate called Brian Gillin, a cycling mad guy like me, and we went to Ghent to a house for kind of homeless riders but there was no room left when we got there.”
Peiper and Gillin were given the address of a former butcher’s shop which sheltered rookie cyclists.
“It was dirty, filthy. The landlord arranged a room in the store, two small beds with just a blanket. Hooks were still hanging from the ceiling.”
The Australian was still a junior but he obtained his licence to race and with all his savings spent, he hardly had enough money left to buy equipment.
“I was given a couple of tyres to race. I rode just to survive, to eat,” he said.
“In my first race I punctured. In the second I broke away all day with (Belgium’s) Eddy Planckaert, who was faster than me and took all the prize money on offer along the way. I was furious and spat at him.”
A week later, Planckaert became Belgian champion and the two became friends.
“He understood the situation I was in and said I could live at his mother’s house. I stayed there three years.”
HERO TO ZERO
Hepatitis then forced Peiper to return to Australia and give up cycling for a year.
“Afterwards I followed the same path as Phil Anderson, an icon to all of us Australian riders. Like him I signed from AC Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris and I became a pro in 1983 with Peugeot,” he said.
Peiper raced until 1992, winning a Giro d’Italia stage in 1990 and a team time trial with Panasonic in the Tour de France the same year.
The end of his career was confusing. He wrote for cycling magazines, became a consultant for Australian television and looked after training camps but nothing lasted.
“I could not find a job in my sport and I became a travelling hotdog and hamburger salesman,” he said.
His van could be found in front of the RSC Anderlecht stadium or on the roadside at races like the Tour of Flanders from where he felt nostalgic watching his former colleagues ride past.
“I made a decent living but I missed cycling. I went back to Australia, bought a four-wheel van, water containers and I drove around Australia. On my own for 36,000 kms,” said Peiper.
“After my career, I already made two journeys to India to find the spirituality my soul was craving for and to accept my unusual destiny.”
In 2005, Peiper was offered a job looking after tourists on the Tour de France and he seized the opportunity to go to his former team mate Marc Sergeant, the Omega Pharma-Lotto team manager, and ask him for a job.
“When I was selling hamburgers, a cyclist recognised me and said: hero to zero! It hurt deeply but that’s how people see a struggling former rider,” Peiper recalled.
“I already made several U turns in my life and I know I can return to being a nobody. But whatever happens, life taught me that I will always stay a man.”
The 51-year-old Australian now looks after some of the sport’s biggest names, including Briton Mark Cavendish, at HTC Highroad but his roller-coaster career has made him learn to take nothing for granted.
“I became sports director in 2006 and since 2007, I’ve worked with Bob Stapleton in the HTC Highroad team. I’m happy but I know nothing lasts forever,” he told Reuters in an interview during this year’s Tour.
A colourful life, stubborn passion for cycling and spiritual journeys to India have taught the lean, sharp-eyed Peiper lessons he now tries to pass on to his riders.
He had just turned 17 when he ran away from an alcoholic father he still refers to with awe in his voice and a desperate mother to try his luck in Europe as a cyclist.
“I ran out of school and worked in a factory to earn the money to pay for my trip to Belgium,” he said.
“I went with a mate called Brian Gillin, a cycling mad guy like me, and we went to Ghent to a house for kind of homeless riders but there was no room left when we got there.”
Peiper and Gillin were given the address of a former butcher’s shop which sheltered rookie cyclists.
“It was dirty, filthy. The landlord arranged a room in the store, two small beds with just a blanket. Hooks were still hanging from the ceiling.”
The Australian was still a junior but he obtained his licence to race and with all his savings spent, he hardly had enough money left to buy equipment.
“I was given a couple of tyres to race. I rode just to survive, to eat,” he said.
“In my first race I punctured. In the second I broke away all day with (Belgium’s) Eddy Planckaert, who was faster than me and took all the prize money on offer along the way. I was furious and spat at him.”
A week later, Planckaert became Belgian champion and the two became friends.
“He understood the situation I was in and said I could live at his mother’s house. I stayed there three years.”
HERO TO ZERO
Hepatitis then forced Peiper to return to Australia and give up cycling for a year.
“Afterwards I followed the same path as Phil Anderson, an icon to all of us Australian riders. Like him I signed from AC Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris and I became a pro in 1983 with Peugeot,” he said.
Peiper raced until 1992, winning a Giro d’Italia stage in 1990 and a team time trial with Panasonic in the Tour de France the same year.
The end of his career was confusing. He wrote for cycling magazines, became a consultant for Australian television and looked after training camps but nothing lasted.
“I could not find a job in my sport and I became a travelling hotdog and hamburger salesman,” he said.
His van could be found in front of the RSC Anderlecht stadium or on the roadside at races like the Tour of Flanders from where he felt nostalgic watching his former colleagues ride past.
“I made a decent living but I missed cycling. I went back to Australia, bought a four-wheel van, water containers and I drove around Australia. On my own for 36,000 kms,” said Peiper.
“After my career, I already made two journeys to India to find the spirituality my soul was craving for and to accept my unusual destiny.”
In 2005, Peiper was offered a job looking after tourists on the Tour de France and he seized the opportunity to go to his former team mate Marc Sergeant, the Omega Pharma-Lotto team manager, and ask him for a job.
“When I was selling hamburgers, a cyclist recognised me and said: hero to zero! It hurt deeply but that’s how people see a struggling former rider,” Peiper recalled.
“I already made several U turns in my life and I know I can return to being a nobody. But whatever happens, life taught me that I will always stay a man.”
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