That's a legitimate Pain Face right there.
Everybody knows there are two kinds of cobbles. Big cobbles, little cobbles, grippy cobbles, and slippy cobbles. And when it comes to mastering the stones, no one is better than the undisputed King of the Cobbles, Kenny Van Vlaminck. And speaking of cobble legends, there is a great piece on our friend Johan Museeuw over on Rouleur today.
According to the weather reports, there is going to be wind and rain on Sunday. And if you watched the live coverage of Gent Wevelgem last week, the storm that blew in after the race was wicked intense. And, since I’ve decided not to visit Belgium this year, you can be pretty sure that the weather will finally be rubbish. You’re welcome.
We rode the RVV route (the classic route, not the crap new one) in the wind, rain, and hail a few years back, and it was striking how slippy the cobbles on the Paterberg and Koppenberg are in the wet. These climbs are borderline doable in the dry, and if you need to get out of the saddle for some extra juice, it is going to take some good bike handling to keep from spinning out.
And don’t forget we’ve got wicked prizes on offer; Don Walker is giving a free custom steel frame to the winner of the VSP overall, and Café Roubaix is awarding a set of their CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelsets to the runner-up. Third place gets a free V-Kit. Boom. So get prognosticating and get your picks in before the clock goes to zero. Good luck!
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Having been doubtful about Sagan in the past I have to say he crushed it today.
His physical ability was never in question but his tactical brain never seemed to be firing on all cylinders and I feared it would continue when he was jumped by Kwiatkowski in E3.
But when it really mattered he followed the right move (Kwiatkowski's), worked when he needed to work and jumped at exactly the right time. Cancellara made the mistake of not following Kwiatkowski and Sagan and he missed his chance when he couldn't bridge across to the front group before Sagan had kicked on.
He could have been the greatest classics rider never to win a monument so I'm pleased he's got the monkey off his back.
Pity Boonen wasn't in the mix. His day is done I suspect.
So much for the curse of the Rainbow Jersey. Sagan's career looked to be all but in the toilet, and now that he's in the bands the boy is en fuego. Talk about N.I.T.R.O. !
@Harminator
@frank Does this count?
Does it count for what? You posted 2 pictures twice, so you are now nr 1 on the ranking of the VVSP: VVield Systems poorly
Does it count as NITRO if you have Pinchy, Faboo, Sep V and Pistoff as 2,3,4,5? I would have raked the points in if Stannard had shown up yesterday... Or if anyone else had won...
@KogaLover
But isn't @Harminator just playing around with the theme of "Duh-ble" rainbows here?
@ErikdR
Aha, now I get it, thanks!
Bit of science:
While a primary rainbow is visible when light is reflected once off the back of a raindrop, a secondary and usually dimmer rainbow is spotted when light is reflected twice in a more complicated pattern.
The colors of the second rainbow are inverted, with blue on the outside and red moved to the inside. The second bow appears dimmer or cloudier because much more light is released from two reflections, and both bows cover a larger portion of the sky.
It is rare and unlikely, but three or even four rainbows can be seen on occasion, but only if they are reflected off of the earthly objects.
@KogaLover
Cheers!
A question, while I remember: That blue 'Signature' Koga you ride (and recently published a tantalizing 'partly' picture of) has an alloy frame, as you mentioned. But I'm assuming the front fork is carbon?
The only double rainbow that matters!
@ErikdR
Hi Erik, yes fork is carbon. The frame is made out of 6069 alloy, which is lighter than say 7005 or other well known aluminium alloys. While 6069 is not lighter than the lightest carbon frames, it is lighter than the heavier (or cheaper) carbons. I attach some links with background info.
http://racefietsblog.nl/mooie-nieuwe-alu-racer-van-eigen-bodem-de-koga-a-limited-aluminium-6069/
http://www.cyclingonline.nl/artikel/632_cyclingonlinenl_test-_koga_a-limited.html
http://www.tour-magazin.de/raeder/rennraeder/koga-a-limited-aluminium-6069/a22755.html
http://wielrenblad.soulonline.nl/leesvoer/koga-a-limited-al-6069-test/
http://www.test.koga-signature.com/docs/news/NL_122013_FTS_A-limited.pdf
@hudson
Great photo! Vlaanderen Centenary, WC's podium - perfect!