Matt Brammeier wins his weight in beer at Tour of Flanders

While other riders have their eye on the race win, Irish rider Matt Brammeier aimed to win a huge amount of beer at the Tour of Flanders
Gregor Brown

Matt Brammeier won his weight in beer at an intermediate sprint today when the Tour of Flanders passed through Sint-Eloois-Winkel, Belgium.

The Liverpool-born Irishman of team MTN-Qhubeka heard about the sprint for Stene Molen beer from former cyclist Nico Mattan. The Belgian wrote on Twitter about the prize that he arranged 33.6 kilometres after the start in Bruges.

Another former professional, Brit Daniel Lloyd read the message on Mattan’s Twitter on Saturday night and told Brammeier about the beer on offer.

Brammeier did the rest. He made the escape with six other cyclists and out-kicked them for the brew.

“The main thing was to get a rider in the break,” MTN’s general manager, Brian Smith told Cycling Weekly.

“It was more about getting visibility, more than anything else.

“Matt was nominated to do so with Jay Thomson, he’s very good at getting in breaks. He marks everything down, so of course, he marked down the beer sprint.”

MTN wants to help American Tyler Farrar and German Gerald Ciolek win the 264.2-kilometre monument. Farrar finished fifth in 2010.

Brammeier races with an Irish licence, but is from Liverpool. He spends his time between mainland European bases in Girona, Spain, and Belgium.

Smith added, “Like all cyclists, he likes beer.”

Mattan told Cycling Weekly that he would award the Stene Molen Beer in 75cl bottles at the start of the Scheldeprijs on Wednesday in Antwerp. Brammeier weighs 73kg or 161lb according to the South African team.

With 135 kilometres to race, Brammeier’s escape group had 6-22 minutes on the main group today.