Here comes sickness.
Can you feel that? That itchy, twitchy feeling… that’s anticipation, it’s expectation, it’s Belgian fucking racing fever! You know you’ve got it, and you can’t fight it, you don’t want to fight it, you need it bad because it’s been way too long. Some may call it Spring Fever, Cobblebone, or Kassientitis. It manifests itself deep in the bones, chilling your very core, while simultaneously warming your heart. This is the best time of the racing season, and it’s affecting me more than ever, because I won’t be attending the clinic this year. And that makes me sick.
While the VSP doesn’t kick off until some 300k Italian sprint bores us to death in a couple of weeks, we all know that the real start to the season is this weekend on the bergen of Flanders, and we want the worst possible weather for it. As we bathe in sunshine in the bottom half of the planet, those of us inflicted with the sickness really long to be wrapped in our Flandrien Best and getting dumped on by cold rain and icy crosswinds on some shit-covered road, just waiting to get to the next sector of stones, the next steep and slippery climb, where once on it you curse with all your deep-seated hatred until it is crested, and a strange sense of joy briefly appears, not giving itself up fully until the first Malteni is opened hours later. It’s the medicine that doesn’t cure anything except a lack of Flahute in the system, and that’s just how we like it.
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@brett
Reading my post again, i feel i was a little...how to say that in english..overbearing?
But i am happy for you. It always feel nice getting back on the saddle.
But i should not have talked about injury: today as i was laying some V in the big ring i felt something in the front of my right knee getting overextended. No pain as such, but something is wrong...
Not when the good weather is coming for fuck sake! To the doc tomorrow...
@Buck Rogers
I recall being informed of a particular principal when a person was considering or even actually breaking rules. Ultimately it was best just to keep that information it to one's self yes.
So, I wager that 1) The World Champion smashes P-R and that 2) He saves some watts on the leg thing. He's just training now.
From what I gather Hinault was last WC to win P-R and that was back in '81. Before that was Moser in '78 and Merckx in '68. I'm thinking Sagan this year wears the rainbow jersey atop of the podium at P-R.
@wilburrox
I am now in a position to pour scorn on Sagan's legs. Hair-wise, that is. I am in awe of his gunnage. And I seem to have achieved total VMW acceptance.
Also, if Sagan can win P-R with a Vth of the panache that Hinault did, I will love him forever. I can watch those grainy highlights from '81 again and again...legendary.
@wilburrox
Interesting. Local bookmakers have him at 7/1 to win P-R, with Kristoff favorite at 9/2. I'm not normally a gambling man, but I like those odds on Sagan. Might be worth a flutter! He looks like he's in great form, but also like he's been holding something back. I reckon he's going to smash it too.
@Owen
Looks like your VMH isn't the only lady Stuyven had worked up on the weekend. Have a look at the expression on the woman in the background while he lays it over around this corner!
@Mikael Liddy
Man, he looks the business, doesn't he? I wonder if we have seen the "Next Big Thing" in Classics this last weekend or not? Tommeke and Sparty are getting old and Tommeke burst onto the scene in 2002 (at least that's when I took notice of him) when he was 22 years old. Stuyven is only 23. Not trying to say that he is the next Merckx but it will be fun to see what he can do this spring and in the coming years.
@Mikael Liddy
That kind of riding causes pregnancy. Green lady doesn't know it yet, but she's expecting twins in late November.
@wiscot
Well, thread over. You win.
@Buck Rogers
Junior Road WC in '09 shows there's some pedigree back there.
I seem to remember watching a video online somewhere a couple of years back that involved a behind the scenes view with the Bontrager Livestrong squad, and there was about 5 minutes on this young Belgian kid who was just obsessed with Flanders & Roubaix, pretty sure it was him, and I think it ended in a fairly good result in the U-23 Roubaix. Fucked if I can remember where I saw it though.
Get psyched folks, sure it may not be in Belgium or Northern France, but there's an epic 1 day race happening this weekend in Italy that could deliver the kind of classics weather we like.
Here's how that looks when you combine it with a bike race...
Like I said, epic.