Isn't it about time to start ramping up in anticipation of all those cobbles? http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/races/calendar/2012
As always, excited for Flanders, though curious and a little apprehensive of how the 'not very popular' altered route will affect the race. Should also be exciting to see many new incarnations of the big teams as well. I would imagine the pressure will be on BMC to capture a couple of the monuments.
This weekend Omloop Het Volk (Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for the freaks) start list http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/omloop-het-nieuwsblad-elite-start-list-1 Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne start list (Sunday) http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/kuurne-brussel-kuurne-start-list-1
The asshole who scrapped the Wall has now come out and said that he might close off part of the circuit in a few years and charge money. The only way in which he could become more hated over here is if a video surfaced of him roasting a life puppy.
Be a good egg and call it the Omloop or the Omloop het Volk. I do not know anyone who uses the stupid new name.
Nope...you caught me. I know you are sensitive to it and I just had a momentarily lapse of reason. Fixed.
Best time of the year. Will be good to see Taylor Phinney get his first taste of the Classics as a pro.
Vanmarcke (Garmin) pips Boonen for the win. Boonen went just a tad too early. Flecha takes third. Haussler takes 4th from the bunch sprint. 1 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Garmin-Barracuda 2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 3 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Sky Procycling 4 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Barracuda 5 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing
I really enjoyed the race yesterday and what a surprise! Not only Vanmarcke beating Boonen in a sprint, but also his overall strenth uphill and on the "kasseien". I would be surprised to see Vanmarcke win anything big again this year, but I sure hope he will be a contender in the spring for years to come! (That is, if he does not break under Flemish expectations, which has proven quite debilitating when directed at young cyclists....)
Me too. I can't really dislike BMC because they employ Cuddles, but if it weren't I'd probably have some issues with them. On to KBK. Any reason to doubt that Cav will win this?
It will be nice to see how Tejay van Garderen and Phinney grow under riders like Gilbert, Thor and Evans. Looks like there has been a split...and it looks like Lotto and Greipel are the losers there
It's sick how automatic that guy is. Short of sabotaging his bike or something, I think he wins 90% of sprints that he contests these days.
Just to make things easier, we can throw all Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, etc... stuff in here as well.