This trajectory is based on the book by Matthias M.R. Declercq that he wrote in 2016. A book about a group of cyclists who got to know each other along this towpath. Five guys, five nice guys. More or less by chance, they meet over the course of a few years, at the beginning of this century, because all five of them have one goal: the course. They all aspire to a career as a professional cyclist. On the towpath along the Scheldt, from Ghent to Oudenaarde, they train together. Iljo Keisse, Wouter Weylandt, Dimitri De Fauw, Bert De Backer and Kurt Hovelijnck. They are young, virile, popular, and indeed make it to professional cyclists. Their finest hour, once they are. But life turns out to be harder than the dream. What brought them together, the course, also tears them apart. Merciless and definitive. Five guys, five nice guys.

The book De Val was also used as inspiration for the beautiful series Het Scheldepeloton. You can also see that series on VRT NU.