Commentator José De Cauwer hopes to make up with ex-colleague Michel Wuyts: "I'd like to have a glass of wine with him"

For years, Michel Wuyts and José De Cauwer provided all fans with a quality commentary from cycling races at Sporza. In 2021, Wuyts had to leave as commentator, while De Cauwer stayed on. Now it turns out that the bond between the two never went much further than colleagues, and that nowadays they'd barely talk to each other.

In an interview with Humo, De Cauwer reveals some details about the collaboration with Wuyts. While he is full of praise of Wuyts, he also speaks with some less positive words about his former colleague. "I have always found Michel to be a fantastic professional, but we have never been friends. Yes, we have cried together sometimes, far from home, while we were talking about our children, but somehow he has always considered himself my boss."

That requires some explanation. Wuyts is now a columnist and analyst for Het Laatste Nieuws. But even in the time that the two gentlemen worked together, there was quite a skewed relationship between the two. The ex-rider was then told that Wuyts made sure that De Cauwer himself could get to work at all. "He even literally told me that once. When I was going to the Giro while he wanted to do the Tour of Belgium with me, he said: 'I'll give you work'.''

It hurts De Cauwer quite a bit, he honestly admits. "We haven't had any contact since. What hurt me the most is that I wasn't invited to the farewell show in Leuven that his children had organised. I thought: come on, I don't belong here. But Michel wasn't informed. Maybe his family was outraged." It's a shame, the former national coach thinks. He certainly hopes to run into Wuyts again. "If I run into him tomorrow, I'd like to have a glass of wine with him."