Roeselare 2013 - 2025

The partnership with the Koersmuseum

2013–2025

The partnership centres primarily on the private collection assembled by Noël Grégoire in Lavaux-Sainte-Anne. A cycling enthusiast since childhood, he began collecting autographs, followed by jerseys, bicycles, trophies and memorabilia that had belonged to great cyclists. In 1997, he opened a private museum in his home, which welcomed visitors until 2003. The collection notably includes items linked to Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, Francesco Moser, Antonin Magne and Lucien Buysse. KOERS – a portrait of Noël Grégoire

Following the abandonment of an initial plan for a public museum in Blegny-Mine, a partnership was established in 2013 with the cycling museum in Roeselare, then known as the Wielermuseum and later renamed KOERS. Museum van de Wielersport. The physical transfer of a significant portion of the collections to Flanders was documented in early 2014. Matélé – ‘Cycling treasures head for Flanders’

This partnership was based on a long-term loan. Noël Grégoire remained the owner of the items, whilst the museum in Roeselare was responsible for their conservation, public display and scientific and cultural promotion. This arrangement provided the collection with exhibition conditions and a level of visibility that a private museum based in a private home could no longer offer.

During this period, the objects were incorporated into the museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions, but were also used in various documentary and digital projects. KOERS undertook their cataloguing and digitisation, linking certain items to the stories of the champions and the competitions to which they relate. Among the objects showcased are, in particular:

• a trophy belonging to Jean Aerts, the first item in the Grégoire collection;
• a Belgian champion’s jersey worn by Eddy Merckx in 1970;
• medals and a pennant associated with Ferdinand Bracke;
• a jersey belonging to Johan Bruyneel;
• a memento from Federico Bahamontes’s 1959 Tour de France;
• a commemorative book dedicated to Antonin Magne;
• the terry-cloth cap worn by Alex Close during the 1956 Tour de France.

The collaboration also had a publishing and commemorative dimension. Noël Grégoire helped to recount the origins and history of certain items, as in his account dedicated to Alex Close. The collection was therefore not merely on display: it served to pass on the legacy of cycling and the personal stories associated with the objects.

In summary, from 2013 to 2025, this partnership enabled a private Walloon collection, originating in Lavaux-Sainte-Anne, to be brought into a professional museum setting and made accessible to a much wider audience. For KOERS, it represented a considerable enrichment of its holdings thanks to rare items spanning several generations of Belgian and international cycling. For Noël Grégoire, it ensured the conservation, study and public display of the heritage he had amassed over several decades.

The collaboration between the Noël Grégoire Collections and the Koersmuseum came to an end, by mutual agreement, in 2025, after twelve years of partnership. The collections have since been transferred to a venue offering excellent conditions for conservation and security. There, they are carefully preserved, perhaps in anticipation of a new opportunity for collaboration that would allow them to be presented to the public once again and to continue passing on this important cycling heritage.