28/02/2022

Johan Museeuw shares emotional phone call with Andrei Tchmil, who faces consequences of conflict in Ukraine territory

In the 1990's there were several battles in the cobbled classics, and between them were Johan Museeuw and Andrei Tchmil, two of the best riders at the peak of their careers. Nowadays the two are good friends, and Museeuw has shared the details of a phone call he's had with Tchmil.

Museeuw shared a video on Instagram where he explained the phone call he had received: “I just looked up in silence. After the two beautiful races this past weekend, I received a call from Andrei Tchmil, the man with whom I used to fight many duels in races. He told me we used to fight a lot of wars on the bike, but now I’m in the middle of a war.”

At 59 years of age, Andrei Tchmil was born in the Soviet Union, later obtaining Moldovan, Ukrainian and finally Belgium citizenship in 1997. Having won Milano-Sanremo, Tour des Flandres and Paris-Roubaix he was proclaimed as one of the best classics riders of his generation.

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Museeuw, with whom Tchmil had several battles over the years at the top level of cycling, revealed the Ukrainian described the situation he was in an how his family are dealing with the ongoing situation: "I live on the border area, 100 kilometers from where there is fighting. This morning I sent my wife and our 1-year-old son away to Romania to protect them. I myself am going to stay here. I’m going to fight. I just wanted to hear you, Johan. I don’t know if I’m going to be there tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I hope so, but I’ll give you a big kiss.”

Tchmil currently lives near Chișinău, capital of Moldova where in his post-retirement years he became minister of Sport and an ambassador for the improvement of cycling in Eastern Europe, besides owning a bike company. Despite not living in Ukraine, a migratory crisis is ongoing in Moldova and the two countries share an extensive border, with armed conflicts happening as close as 180 kilometers away from Chișinău in the Ukrainian city of Odesa.