Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen 2012
The Keepers and Rigid rolled into a region in France called Flandres which, without doing any further research into the matter, we assume is the coloquial French term for this region of the world. If its anything like the other regions in Europe, these places have roots that extend way past any modern country’s border and situate themselves in a history long past.
They do, however, speak French with all the stubbornness that we have come to love from the French. None of us in the group speak French very well, and no one we’ve found in Lille speaks English very well. Which means we’re all communicating with arms and legs more so than with words. We’re on our way to Kemmel, which means we’ll be able to speak a bit of Flemish again.
With Keepers Tour: Cobbled Classics 2012 about to begin in earnest, we’re busy organizing ourselves and making final preparations, so we’ll have to forgo the usual insightful, hard-hitting, race insight we usually produce for the VSPs. What’s that you say? We’re usually full of shit? Ah, right. You’ll have to forgive us the usual shit, then, and take today’s flavor.
Watch the countdown timer, get your VSP picks in by Sunday morning at 5am Pacific. Winner of this VSP event will earn the right to comment all year with the Leeuw van Vlaanderen commenting badge. We will also forgo the usual Symbol Pack prize awarded to a Monument and award the winner a copy of the local newspaper the day after the race.
Flag spotted!
NBC breaking from commercials every now and then to show some bike racing.
TOMMEEKKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKKEKEKEKEKEKEKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Castle Anthrax (my house) today. Ignore my nasty yard.
@Buck Rogers
Oh Peter, ik ben zo teleurgesteld. ::sigh::
@Buck Rogers
Tell us how you feel about that, Buck!
With his third RVV Tommeke ties the all time win record of RVV and also ties Museeuw with three RVV and three P-R’s, if I am not mistaken. AMAZING!!!
@Nate
Can this season get any better?!?!?!?! Well, in one week if Tommeke pulls off P-R, then I can die a completely contented cycling fan!
Really nice win of Tom Boonen, and a great ride by Pippo too!
@Buck Rogers is that you?
I’m happy, Italians are back, in style.
Tom Boonen on the verge of an amazing four piece like Gilber last year .
E3
Gent-Wevelgem
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Paris – fuck my arse – Roubaix
Keepers i hope you all enjoyed Belgiums high mass , it’s biggest wildest day , the day Boonen kicked down the door and joined the ledgends even more by winning Flanders for the third time , its a select club who can claim that feat !!!
@Mikael Liddy
Looks a lot like me about 20 years ago and perfectly expressing how I’m feeling right now! Man, never have been so happy to get my VSP pick wrong! Named three of the top five but screwed up the order and could not care less!!!
Great race, bad picks……..Ah well.
2012 Tour of Flanders Results Results
1 BOONEN, Tom (OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP) 6:04:33
2 POZZATO, Filippo (FARNESE VINI – SELLE ITALIA)
3 BALLAN, Alessandro (BMC RACING) + 0:01
4 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 0:38
5 SAGAN, Peter (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE)
Fabian triple collar bone fracture :-(
@Belgian Cobblestones
Fabian’s season is as good as over then. Focussing now on the rainbows I think?
Wow, what a race. Just freakin’ brutal. Boonen said he didn’t feel great at the beginning, but that he didn’t feel any worse while everyone else was suffering at the end. Too bad about spartacus. Tough break.
Oh, and SHOUT OUT TO THE KEEPERS ON THE OUDE KWAREMONT!!! I was looking for you guys the whole race and saw the banner on the penultimate climb. Velominati represent!
@The Oracle
Awesome!! I hope someone here recorded the race in HD and can get a screen cap and post it here.
As for myself, I got my ass up at 5:15 am to watch, but none of the English feeds were working on steephill. So I watched the flemish feed and wound up falling asleep for about 40 kms towards the end.
I am totally underwhelmed by watching cycling on my computer. Between the grainy free feeds, and the non-english commentary I can’t follow, it makes watching sort of frustrating.
Has anyone used Cycling TV? I’d be totally willing to pay to watch races in English, in decent resolution – you know, so I can actually make out faces stuff.
Please, puuuhhlleeease tell me that this was not Pere Fronk:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/langeveld-crashes-after-hitting-spectator-in-tour-of-flanders
@Buck Rogers
Ugh, I saw that – can’t people just stand still when the riders come by? If he didn’t try and run across the path they wouldn’t have nailed his leg.
Totally bummed about Faboo
@mcsqueak
It’s hard I guess to look round, see a rider (or skateboarder) bearing down on you and not have some sort of fight or flight reaction. It’s true that standing still is the best policy (the rider doesn’t want to hit you and will be planning on going round you) but I think instincts kick in. Just an accident out of anyone’s control. It’s a pity Langeveld didn’t escape without injury though, and Cancellara too. Cav had a crash due to a thrown bidon the other week but he was luckier.
@Buck Rogers
Nope, wasn’t Frank. That spectator obviously didn’t realize how fast they were coming at him and tried to cross at the last second. For what it’s worth, the spectator flew up into the air almost as high as Langeveld did.
@mcsqueak
I’ve been watching races on Eurosport, it’s £3.99 per month but I’m not sure if you’ll be able to subscribe in the US. If you can, do.
@mcsqueak
I’ve got it on my DVR (with NBC Sports channel), but I have no idea how to get a screen capture. I thought I saw it on the second time up, but wasn’t sure, so the last time they went up the Kwaremont I made sure to watch closely (no easy task with three little hoodlums running about vying for my attention!)
@The Oracle
LoFi solution get a picture of you tv screen with your phone and post up asap
@The Oracle
Yeah I’d just pause it and take a photo with your phone, it might turn out OK!
@Belgian Cobblestones
@mcsqueak
Derp. Of course. I’ll give it a shot. May not be til later, as I have to, you know, feed my children.
Okay, here goes. I hope they show up. These are the best I could do with the “Lo Fi” method. Look on the right side of the screen as Ballan goes by.
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@The Oracle
Dude, awesome! Thanks for sharing. I wonder how many people saw that flag and recognized it, or didn’t know what it was and will now visit the website.
@The Oracle
Most excellent
Is that Frank in the second picture, yelling his head off?
That is SO COOL!!! I missed it during the race, thanks for posting!
Zombie Fabs: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/11508/CHF-54-million-operation-could-salvage-Cancellaras-Roubaix-dream.aspx
Aprils Fool? Real? It sounds possible enough, and how awesome would it be to make Fabian the man of carbone?
I went through it frame by frame, and i didnt see anyone kwho was obviously one of the guys. Those shots are taken after Ballan passed the flag, so assuming they were near the flag, I dont think I got anyone in the shots.
@The Oracle
What a great view!
Respects to Cancellara via RadioshackNissanTrekFan.com
http://www.radioshacknissantrekfan.com/cycling-news/fabian-cancellara-crashes-in-tour-of-flanders/
Regrets to Langeveld !!
Yep, that’s when I saw the flag. I noted that there was another black flag closer to the camera which is evident from Oracle’s snaps of his TV – Cool!
@The Oracle
YOU ARE MY FUCKING HERO.
VSP Points up. Sorry, we couldn’t be bothered to do this earlier as we were watching Boonen fucking rip it up and are now completely pissed (English word for “Drunk”).
Fucking spectacular day.
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Ballan on the Oude Kwaremont:
Boonen and Potato rippin’ up after ‘im.
What a race! I’m thrilled for Boonen. I really like him & think he’s just riding so well. Cheers, Tom, for pulling it all back together after a couple thin years & having a few of us question your dedication and determination. Must take a massive amount of self-belief and commitment to return to such lofty heights.
I’m also really happy for Pippo. Great riding not long after a crash. And not long after he too was thought to have seen his best days fading. Yeah, first second but damn I wish I could ride to that place behind Boonen. I thought he was going to get him there at the end.
And congratulations too Ballan! Again, maybe we questioned his form, but no matter what the dude is a very strong cyclist & a fine racer.
Get well soon, Fabian & Sebastian!
I typically watch alone, maybe calling the VMH in for the final 5km. Today was at a post-party brunch and got a few non-cycling friends and a few “oh, watching guys ride bikes? How boring!” folks to watch around 40km and get into it. Couldn’t concentrate as well, but that’s what a solo rewatching is for!
mcsqueak – I watch all the races online. I don’t mind Flemish or Italian anymore. Maybe I can deal with it because I don’t own a t.v. I’m happy when the VMH let’s me watch (not working on it) on her nice mac. If not, I’m on my netbook (so tiny, but I still love the racing!) or desktop. But, you either need to get used to it or find a solution. Can’t have you not enjoying the races!
I didn’t see the Keepers. I can only imagine the fun partying they’ll do all night.
@Buck Rogers
Standing in Flanders Fields, in the midst of all the shit that’s happened in the past and watching these men ride by, for some fucking reason the fist person I thought of as I screamed in joy as Boonen crossed first was how happy you must be.
About 10,000 Belgians within earshot shared your joy. As did I.
That was such a class break – Boonen almost unhooked on the Patersberg, and on the run-in they all worked. Ballan had only one chance: Break Clear. Boonen had only one chance: Arrive in a group. Pozato had only one chance: Arrive as fresh as possible. All of them did their job and it was a brilliant race.
Hmmm, thought I already had 30 0r 31 points but with my 8 from today I only have 37. Guess it’ll be sorted eventually, as well as my point for pickin Arndt in the women’s race.
@frank
Man, for a long term Boonen fan this year is magical, especially after the last two years. And to stand on that hallowed ground, both in terms of miltary/world history and cycling history, just the thought gives me goose bumps.
Enjoy it, Brother, you deserve it! And, if you would, throw back one or two for me in the local brewery!