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Flemish works of art - the custom Fizik shoes David Millar will wear at Tour of Flanders tomorrow

Garmin-Sharp rider talks through design of some very special footwear - and reveals what a Dark Red Alarm is

We’ve mentioned before the custom-made Fizik shoes that Garmin-Sharp’s David Millar is wearing in each race during what is his final season as a pro – but the ones he will sport in tomorrow’s Tour of Flanders are truly spectacular.

The season-long project aims to raise money for the Small Steps Project charity, with each pair of shoes auctioned on the website Sellebrity.org.uk – currently, bidding on those he wore at last month’s Milan-San Remo stands at £400.

The shoes are designed by the VCRC Style Council in partnership with Fizik, and each pair aims not only to celebrate the race in question, but also to relate the story of Millar’s own relationship with it.

In an article on the Fizik website, Millar says that the Tour of Flanders “is a race I have learnt to love in the twilight of my career,” and one that in contrast to the Grand Tours “seemed like a totally different sport, more like the bike racing I’d known as a junior.”

He adds:

With this shoe I wanted to try and capture everything the race represents in my mind, which is quite simple really, the Lion of Flanders flag and the race plan. If there’s one thing we see more than anything at the side of the road it’s this flag, hence the yellow colour and the right shoe having the lion on its toe.

Then there’s the race plan. This is something we tape to our stems, a list of the climbs with markers listing the climbs and tactical points, Andreas Klier, the Classics Directeur Sportif for Team Garmin-Sharp gives us our race plan the night before and gave us a version to use for the shoes.

The highlight to the race plan is shown on the left toe, the Belgian stripes represent the home straight and the final climbs, it will be noticed that there is an indication called ‘Dark Red Alarm,’ this is Andreas’ deep shit point.

Basically Red Alarm isn’t enough, it’s DARK RED. Equivalent to DEFCON 1 in US military speak. Tactics go out the window here, it’s time to disengage brain and just go. There’s definitely an overload of information on the shoe, and that’s the point, because the race itself is so complicated, that is, up to the point your brain stops working and survival kicks in, aka DARK RED ALARM.

The final addition was the Belgian sole, a little tribute to the fact it’s Belgium, and we like Belgian bike races.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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Jack Osbourne snr | 9 years ago
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I'm a Partick Thistle fan so the colours are acceptable at least.  21

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Gkam84 | 9 years ago
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These are the best ones yet, but looking at the prices these have been going for, they are a little out of reach for me. Would love to see some pink ones, with the Italians and Irish flags, but I don't know if he will be riding Giro yet. Its doubtful

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