Flanders

So, I got to do my first European race which was De Ronde van Vlaanderen Espoirs (U23 Tour of Flanders). This was a Nations Cup race, so all the teams were national U23 and looked resplendent in their national kit. At the start/finish area, there are hundreds of well informed Belgian cycling fans all after a cap, gloves, bidon, something with a national logo on to take as a souvenir. For me, quote of the day went to one of our riders getting hassled for his aussie gloves by a young cycling fan.

It was a pretty dry response, “Why don’t you make your own national team and get your own national gloves”. The race itself was the usual craziness you would expect from a Tour of Flanders race, steep pinching bergs, big ugly cobbles, crashes, mayhem. The feed zone was one of the most manic things I have seen for a long time. Riders craving in and out of the line of soignies, scattered through the convoy as they were getting spat out the back, and they came through real fast too. It certainly didn’t feel like a safe place for me to stand. I did get to chase the convoy through some sections as I headed back to the finish line, and it surprised me how long it took to get onto the back of the convoy. I had a moment of sympathy for the rider struggling up one of the steep bergs that couldn’t catch up to the punter (baggy lycra, hairy legs, paunch) riding between vantage points just ahead of him. Poor kid.

So that was my welcome to European racing. We were based near Ghent at the Lepelbed Hotel which was some amazing accommodation. They certainly know how to look after cycling teams. In fact, Garmin Cervello use it as a base and the team rocked up after their Paris-Roubaix win. I had a great chat to their soignies and managed a tour of the support truck decked out with everything a soignie could need.

The next race we headed off to France for Le Tour de Picarde, near the Somme. Wow, the bread was great, cheese superb and the chocolate mousse sensational.

I had a morning to wander around Gent, which involved checking out a castle or two, soaking up some wonderful medieval architecture, trying Belgian waffles and some sweet treat that was pretty much a sugar bomb. At any moment, I was waiting for some musketeers or Captain Alatriste to come careening out of one of the side streets.

The last race for this trip involved a trip to Holland, to Goes for the ZLM. Goes was a great little town and had the market in the town square in full swing as we arrived, very good atmosphere for a race start. Had a super waffel straight off the hot plate for a buck, seemed like a pretty good deal to me.

At the end of this trip, headed back to Varese for a night’s sleep and then straight down to Follonica for the start of the Tour of Toscana. I will try and get some photos up shortly.