Midweek in Belgium in Spring is a wonderful thing. Hordes of people come from seemingly nowhere to fill the bars and line the roadsides when presumably they’d usually be working, or at school, or some such. That the only ones who appear to be working are the bartenders and frites dispensers reinforces my belief that Belgium is the greatest country in the world.
You can bet your bottom dollar that the town of Huy will once again be heaving on Wednesday when the riders of La Fleche Wallone tackle the horrible, beautiful Mur de Huy three times in the afternoon (whether you regard the climb as horrible or beautiful largely depends if you’re on a bike or in the pub). While three times up the Mur is never going to be fun, the last ascent has to be one of the most brutal finishes to any race, on any climb, anywhere. It truly is horribly beautiful.
I guess the talk will now centre on Dr Phil and whether he can repeat, threepeat or maybe even Steve Peat his way into the history books after his wins in Brabantse Pilj and Amstel Gold in the last week. The way he’s riding, the only surer bet you could make is that Abandy doesn’t show up. So with that thought, get thee to the start list, watch the timer (if we’ve managed to work it out) and get your picks in to stay in GC contention for the greatest prize pool in internet based cycling related tipping competitions.
First place overall wins a Veloforma Strada iR Velominati Edition frame in addition to the customary VSP winner’s VVorkshop Apron.
Second place overall wins a set of hand built CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelset in a custom Velominati paint scheme laced to orange Chris King hubs. (CR Wheelworks is Café Roubaix’s new wheel goods brand.)
Third place overall wins a full Velominati V-Kit with accompanying custom orange Bont Vaypor+ road shoes.
Good luck and bottoms up!
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View Comments
Aargh damn, missed it.
This was going to be the moment I attacked too, just been lulling you all into a false sense of security up to now.
Bugger, Delgado'd...
Gotta hope that an early break stays away then, and no-one gets any points.
A train crossing would be good.
@Gianni Thank you for your extra effort, I really love this website but my computer seems to have a real problem with it. For example I pulled it up this morning and the banners read that I still have a day to pick for Fleche Wallone, and trying to access the thread for the women's race is an exercise in frustration. I haven't heard of anyone else having problems so I'm sure it is all on my end, any suggestions would be appreciated.
1. Moreno
2. Gilbert
3. Valverde
4. Kwiatkowski
5. Martin
pow..... that just happened....
@Island Bike
Have you tried clearing the cache on your browser?
Can't get any of the streams to work. Anyone got a link?
@Island Bike I noticed some slightly screwy behaviour yesterday while trying to access the site on my iPad. The latest comments section on the sidebar was about 12 hours out of date, and when I clicked though to the VSP for the women's Fleche, there were no comments showing up. Also, after I logged in, the top of the page still said "Log In". I logged in again, and when I went back to the front page, I then saw the "Log Out" text. I could then see the comments on the VSP page, plus the latest comments in the sidebar were then up to date.
@LeoTea
Yeah, me too. Missed my picks with the timing (still says its open now...) but anyway. Love all the work that Frank does so I'll cut him a lot of slack before I throw the toys out of the cot.
Europcar digging