Tour de Vinny! Burnley-supporting cyclists ride from Brussels to Turf Moor in honour of Vincent Kompany

Adam Bradley, Anthony Heys, Michael Ryan, James Bird and Andrew Greaves rode from Brussels to Turf Moor over five days on the so-called ‘Tour de Vinny’.

The ride was named in honour of Clarets boss Vincent Kompany following his achievements in leading the club to the Championship title in his first season in charge.

“We really enjoyed it,” organiser Andrew Greaves said.

“We had a good laugh. We saw some nice cities and ticked off the miles probably quicker than we thought we were going to.

“I have to say I did spend quite a bit of time in the van on the final day because I had ridden for three days in absolute agony and I couldn’t get on my bike in Leeds. I couldn’t even pedal.

“But other than that it was good, really good.”

The riders were waved off from their starting point in Belgium by Kompany’s father Pierre, who is the mayor of Brussels.

Once they were back in England, they passed by Kompany’s statue at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, before meeting the man himself at Burnley’s Gawthorpe training ground after a quick stop at Turf Moor.

The group of amateur cyclists were given a tour of the club’s training facilities while Kompany posed for pictures and handed over some signed shirts.

“We got a message on Friday basically saying Vincent was at the training ground waiting for us. They basically said ‘we’ll be here until late, so whenever you turn up, turn up’,” Andrew added.

“When we got there he was in a meeting but then he showed us around the training ground and spent a good 10 to 15 minutes chatting to us, before he had another meeting at like 7pm on Friday night.

“He was great. He actually thought we were Belgian riders riding from Belgium because his Dad hadn’t given him too much information. He said it was very typical of his Dad to not give him too much context!

“But he gave us some signed shirts and signed our cycling jerseys, which we designed as a nod to the famous ‘V’ shirt that the Clarets wore in the late 1970s. He couldn’t believe a group of people would travel all the way from Brussels on a bike.

“We started at Anderlecht in Brussels with Pierre Kompany giving us the wave off. He was a really nice guy and he managed to organise for us to meet Vincent when we got to the training ground, which was quite nice. He was very helpful."

The ride, which took place from April 28 to May 4, has so far raised £3,810 for three charities: The Barry Kilby Prostate Cancer Appeal, Andy's Man Club and BX Brussels.

"“We’re not far off from £4,000 now which is great,” Andrew said.

"The money will be split between three charities that meant something in terms of physical health, mental health and inclusion, so that’s the reason why we picked those charities.”

The ride was sponsored by Haffners, Althams Travel, Hargreaves Plumbing Supplies Ltd, Oros Aerospace, Hanson Construct and Burnley Van Hire.

If you would like to donate, visit the Just Giving page at www.gofundme.com/f/tour-de-vinny