Categories: Racing

It Begins

The Lion Roars This Weekend

This weekend proper bicycle racing starts for the season with Omloop Het Volk (yes, I know it’s not called that anymore but I like the old name better and it’s easier to spell for my dumb American ass) and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Now that riders have stretched their legs in the TDU, Oman, Algarve, Qatar and various and sundry other spots on the planet, the peloton gets down to serious business in the country that suits it best in weather that will hopefully befit Rule #9. Can I get an A-Merckx from the cog-gregation!?!?

Although the Velominati Super Prestige won’t launch officially until Milan-San Remo, we thought it would be fun to have an un-official, no points awarded banter about this weekend’s races. Is Flecha going to repeat in Gent? Will Vaughter’s strategy of splitting Thor and T-Bone to captain each race respectively result in two for the win column for Garmin-Cervelo? What of Phillipe Gilbert, is he primed to start an onslaught on the great podiums of his country? Will Steampunk show his form in a semi-classic by tipping the winner or bluff until a monument? We will never find consensus among us when it comes to tipping the winners and also-rans.

The one thing I can say for sure is that we’ll all be cheering for rain to cover, no deluge, the cobbled bergs of Flandria. The potential for a heaping helping of Rule #9 served up on a big old platter of the V is the one thing we can all agree would make this weekend’s racing that much better. So I tuned in Al Roker to see what the chances are that our heroes will need to don arm and knee warmers underneath rain capes and he says yes, more than likely. The Flandrian forecast for both Saturday and Sunday looks like precip has an 80% chance of coming from the heavens. Looks to be a good weekend.

So tip your top five for OHN and KBK here if you’d like and know that no points will be awarded. But at a minimum, we felt the need to create a space where we could discuss the weekend’s festivities. Our V-Chalice runneth over with stoke and it just wouldn’t be right if we didn’t have a dry space for it to spill.

Marko

Marko lives and rides in the upper midwest of the States, Minnesota specifically. "Cycling territory" and "the midwest" don't usually end up in the same sentence unless the conversation turns to the roots of LeMond, Hampsten, Heiden and Ochowitz. While the pavé and bergs of Flanders are his preferred places to ride, you can usually find him harvesting gravel along forest and farm roads. He owes a lot to Cycling and his greatest contribution to cycling may forever be coining the term Rainbow Turd.

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View Comments

frank says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:23 pm

@Oli Brooke-White
Cool it, mister. We're all just having a bit of fun here, no need to start getting personal and heaving insults.
Buck Rogers says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:33 pm

frank :
@Buck RogersSure, he's a hardman, but that's not the only reason to like someone. I admit, I'm probably exaggerating my dislike for him, but I hate his salute, don't like how he looks on a bike generally, and his idiotic move in P-R a few years back when he took out half the group of favorites in one corner put the last nail in coffin.

I thought that Tomeke had paid him to go down in the corner like that! :) Actually, I have no dislike for the guy, he's a tough competitor and a fair one, as far as I can see.
Did you have an accident with a bow and arrow when you were young or something? Seems a bit of a deep loathing without much reason here.
frank says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:34 pm

@Ron

Sitting in Prague, drinking some Czech beer and watching KBK...I feel as if I've shed my domestic pro status and upgraded to Continental PRO!
Either way, just feels a bit cooler to be in Czech Republic and watching a race in Belgium. Somehow feel a bit closer to the action. Now I need to get to a race in person while I'm here.

Very cool, Ron!
Oli Brooke-White says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:38 pm

frank:
@Oli Brooke-White
Cool it, mister. We're all just having a bit of fun here, no need to start getting personal and heaving insults.

Ah sorry, I was just having a bit of fun too - if I was serious I would have used the word racist. Damned interweb lack of expression.
frank says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:42 pm

@Buck Rogers

I thought that Tomeke had paid him to go down in the corner like that! :) Actually, I have no dislike for the guy, he's a tough competitor and a fair one, as far as I can see.

Ha! Yeah, and of course Boonen blasted off the front, so under other circumstances you could charge him with attacking during a crash, but that would violate my principle of blindly loving Boonen no mater what he does.

Seriously, though, even though Tomeke benefited, I would have preferred to see the the whole group hit that sector ensemble and see what happened. Though I love how hard Boonen when off the front that Hushovd couldn't keep it up in the corner. Here's hoping for a more exciting P-R this year than last. And fewer motors.

Did you have an accident with a bow and arrow when you were young or something? Seems a bit of a deep loathing without much reason here.

Good one. Just seems so overly contrived. In fact, I stopped like Bartoli when I saw him do his gladiator "slaying" salute...those contrived salutes just put them in the wrong category for me.

Imagine this: Flecha breaks away in P-R and slays the cobbles hardman style to arrive in the velodrome alone. The shadows of all the legendary races whispering in the crowd's roar, he rolls up towards the line and starts playing charades. You be the judge.
frank says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:43 pm

@Oli Brooke-White
Ha! I was wondering about that. No worries, mate! Now please excuse me while I go work on my "Windmill" salute. I need at least two arms for it, but am trying to figure out how to work one of my legs into it as well.
mcsqueak says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:46 pm

@frank

Time to start a whisper campaign. Six degrees of separation and all that. Someone here must know someone who knows someone who knows a rider that has a statistically significant chance of winning at least one stage this year. All we need is one photograph of it...
mcsqueak says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:47 pm

@Oli Brooke-White

What we need are Velominati emoticons!

(kidding, please holster your co2 chucks...)
G'phant says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:50 pm

@frank
"It's no more clever than a British bloke who's last name is "Biscuits and Tea" going across the line pretending to have a tea party with himself."
Actually, that would be kinda funny. Got me thnking about salutes I'd like to see (or, at least, be amused to see):

Tommeke - doing a line
Clenbutador - eating a steak. (Actually, nix that - I don;t want to see any salutes from him.)
Schlecklet - pumping iron
Banged n Felled - nothing; just keep holding those bars and stay upright until someone grabs you, Christian
Cadelephant - anything, as long as he SMILES
Marcus says:

Feb 27 2011 at 12:53 pm

@frank

@Oli Brooke-White
Museeuw's leg in the air salute - now that was cool