Another Double Header

So after the excitement and enjoyment of the Rapha Super Cross weekend it was back to relatively normal fare the following week. However both events were new venues and the Doncaster race was billed as a 'Super Cross'.
Doncaster Super Cross 22nd October
Jo was off down south for the weekend so no @Hanglebad pictures (just a quick iPhone snap) and a solo drive to Doncaster Keepmoat stadium - not aided by traffic jams on the A1. Once there the set up was excellent and the course most definitely making a Category A standard, three sets of double barriers and lots of steep climbing. Besides the parking, changing etc facilities provided by the stadium there were also a couple of trade tents and a food hospitality tent - not quite up to the high bar set by the preceding weekends festivities (no beer!) but a definite step up from the norm. The course felt very tough, all rideable by the strong boys but involving a one or two dismounts for most of us, plus the barriers. The final steep slope I managed a couple of times before fatigue made running it a more reliable/faster option. Race wise I ended up a bit in no-mans-land and finished mid field in 18th. As Phil Thackry said it was like a big tough Belgian course - if it had been wet it would have been a monster, especially the steep loamy descent! A brilliant race and setting. The turnout was a bit low considering the quality of the event, perhaps suffering with competing events further south and not being a 'points' race. Thoroughly recommended and hopefully next year will see it grow in stature and popularity.

Paul Oldham on the steep bank

Yorkshire Points Round 6: Brighouse 23rd October
After the tough climbing of the previous day it was, joy of joys, another hilly one! Another new course with two steep climbs and descents. The first climb was ridable by most but the second was a heros only affair. I managed it once on a practice lap at a constant 'stalling' pace and on another attempt fell off by pulling the front wheel off the ground! That decided it, I was going to 'run' it in the race. Good to see another race with more technical climbs and descents. I got a good start and stuck to the game plan of running the second climb, not being at home to 'Mr cock-up' on the descents and mashing it on the flat sections. I gained a couple of places as the race progressed eventually finishing 9th. Waggey had a bit of a nightmare time with his chain jumping off and he eventually abandoned in understandable frustration. I'd dropped my chain a couple of times on both days trying the lazy drop it onto the small ring just as you hit the hill (non) technique with all the rapid transitions from fast down/flat to steep up. As a result I reckon I might fit a Dog Fang as extra insurance against fatigue induced sloppy technique. No photos as @Hanglebad was still away. Hats off to the organisers again for a very good, tough course and a very rapid turn around with the results, unlike myself with the race write-ups which seem to be running a week late - I'll try to have Huddersfield up before the weekend!

2:32:24 Hours in Hell

Blood Sweat and, in Ben's case, near Tears

2hrs 32mins and 24sec is the total time three plucky Belgians endured the Muddy Hell that was Mugdock Country Park – Round 3 of the Scottish Cyclocross Series.  See Facebook for photos.

Me exiting the muddy descent

Although not plagued with rain on the day, the previous days of heavy rain meant that the mainly tree covered course was pretty wet and nasty to say the least!  This is Scotland after all and they do do ‘wet’ well.  In addition, the overwhelming numbers of competitors, prompting the decision to split the V/W/J race into a W/J followed by a V, and resulting in an hour delay for both the vets and senior’s races, meant heavy traffic throughout the day.

Ben opting to leg it across one of the muddy sections

The Mugdock round of the SCX Series is organised and run by a local mountain bike club, and it shows.  The interesting and technically demanding lap included plenty of twisty, rooty, muddy, locally rutted, single track – some impassable by bike – with a steep and slippery run up, a tricky decent, and also dismounts for a log jump, hurdles and rocky step. 

My veteran’s race was a very enjoyable affair and generally went without hitch.  I acquired a few small cuts and bruises, but nothing to write home about.  I dished out as much pain and suffering as I could to those around me and battled to 60^th position (78No. started) and was reasonably pleased.

Andy taking the Rocky Step at speed

The 73No. strong senior race saw both Belgian Ben and Belgian Andy (competing in his first ever CX race) putting in commendable performances on the now perhaps 30% unrideable course!  Belgian Ben took a bit of a heavy tumble but clung on to finish 55^th.  Ben is OK and on the mend.  Andy achieved 60^th, which is very impressive for a first outing, and considering the rarely encountered extremes of the Mugdock course.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…..

CSP Hope Cross

earlier this year at the AGM for Cycle Sport Pendle it was decided to organise a cross race, the silence was audible so I said i would organise it.

We had a contact at West Craven school - Dean the head of PE and he couldn't have been more supportive and really wanted the event to go ahead. the downside we needed the governors stamp of approval which seemed to take an age to get the final nod. In fact we only knew for certain we could use the course in early September.

Alan (Crossjunkie) and myself ventured out one Sunday morning to scope out a potential course on the playing fields available. With some imagination and inventiveness we managed to put together a course that had a lot of grass and a little technical bits in to.

In the meantime Hope had agreed to sponsor coming up with tape, gift vouchers, shit shifter, stickers and water bottles. A night out provided another sponsor as Al and Carl chatted about the event Carl generously stumped up a wad of cash to help us out (many thanks again).

The Sunday before the race the Welsh family, Ian Ashworth and myself went to the school to do a little course prep and found two football games in full swing. We had been assured by the school no one used the fields after early October so we had a free hand. to make matters worse the footballers seemed to think they would be playing on the day of our event! This proved a headache for a few days as I frantically called the school and the organiser of the local football league. It turned out the school didn't know the teams were playing on the pitches and they have never been given permission, the school told us we had booked it so it was ours. Luckily there were no matches planned for the day anyway, but it did give me a few sleepless hours.

Race day and an early start for the CSP team as most of the course needed to be taped, Al and myself made sure it was to plan and made a few last minute changes to give us a longer lap, the off camber sections were a Crossjunkie flash of inspiration and I have to say an evil glint appeared in his eyes!

We had a full day of racing with local pro Ian Wilkinson turning up and not only riding but happily helping with the prize presentation for the kids - true gentleman and he help make the day special.

Pictures and results are on NWCCA website so I'll not repeat them here.

was it worth it??? yes it was we had fantastic help from all the CSP guys and ladies, setting up and clearing the course BBQing when the hog roast failed to show up, getting stakes from various places and returning them to their rightful owners and for cheering on the riders all day.

we had great feedback from riders, spectators and officials with comments such as best event this year and best course.

We already have a few tweaks lined up for next year - no bottle neck at the steps for example and Al has his eye on a couple more sections too!!!

So don't just think about it get it done - Al and I would gladly throw our experiences in to the pot for what they are worth.

Finally it wouldn't have happened without the help and support of the CSP gang, Hope, Carl, Physiofusion, NWCCA, Louise Gore and daughters for lap keeping and riders for taking part.

thank you all and see you all next year

Almost there.

This weekend is the National Hill Climb Championship and I won't be there. Had my entry returned as not quite good enough to qualify. Although disappointed, I've had a great autumn. I've done a mixture of road races and hill climbs. Apart from York City Centre I've been able to be part of the racing and had a great time. For anyone who's toying with the idea of racing, just dive in and give it a go! You'll love it!! It's certainly given me a taste for it again, so I'll get stuck into a good winter and be back next year.

Scottish Cross - Plean

The second race in the Scottish series had me visiting Plean for the first time and racing in a true Mudfest of a race. This is the first time I have had to race in such heavy conditions, and I think its fair to say that the mud won on this occasion.

Clearing mud from the bike every few hundred yards had me dreaming of dedicated pit crews, jet washers and spare bikes!

Failing that I could always try pushing a bit harder on the pedals!!

Gin & Trombones

I've been racing since the Three Peaks on a 2012 Gin and Trombones frame set Van Dessel (the USA based company of former Belgian pro Edwin Bull) which has been kindly supplied at a nice discount by 'The Bearded Man' - an offer he extended to all Here Come The Belgians riders via Duncan. The bike has a definite 'Flandrian' flavour with its black and yellow paint job and Leeuw van Vlaanderen top tube decal. What follows are my impressions of the frame and forks so far and a few mechanical musings thrown in for good measure. I'd count myself as an experienced cyclist - I met @crossjunkie back in the late 80s at an MTB event whilst I was working as a bike courier in Manchester and I've been riding bikes fairly seriously ever since. I'm not an expert (but I do spend my own brass so I'm fairly honest) - I don't get to ride multiple bikes to make direct comparisons so please bear that in mind, other online reviews such as CX Magazines review may be more appropriate if you're after that sort of expertise.

Van Dessel Gin and Trombones

First off from the home mechanics view point the frame built up fairly easily straight out of the box. Two new technologies BB30 and a 1.125 - 1.5" integrated headset meant the purchase of some new tools but the assembly was trouble free. As I had existing 24mm spindle (external BB) cranks I used a Wheels Manufacturing adapter to fit them to the BB30 bottom bracket. I purchased the Park Tool BBT 30.3  tool and used my existing headset press to do this - check out the Park Tools site for more info. I'm not a massive believer in all the new BB technology, yes it does allow lighter stiffer cranksets but some of the arguments are a bit lame for mortals, don't forget that at the last Olympics most of the British track riders including Hoy were still on square taper, if they didn't need the stiffness I'm quite sure I don't! Having said that press fitting the bearings was simplicity itself and they certainly spin freely and replacement will be cheap and easy. The headset required a new, massive, crown race setter and I was a little nervous as I slammed it down on the full carbon fork but there was no need to worry as it seated perfectly. Just pushing the bearings into the frame by hand without cups or a headset press seemed weird to my old school mechanic's senses. Integrated headsets are becoming the norm but I must admit I'm not convinced - there are some serious forces at work there and the fit of the bearings is not 'precision', very easy to replace but I feel they will wear more rapidly (hard steel race soft aluminium frame) and on the supplied headset there is no real sealing which may exacerbate wear in CX conditions. In the end this will mean the frame doesn't last as long, but for a CX frame that will probably be replaced in five years or less it's probably not a huge problem. OK thats the grumpy old git bit out the way. The Seatpin was 27.2, front mech 31.8, all fairly standard and straight swap across for my kit. The frame set was supplied with a neat FSA CX headset, carbon steerer tube bung, seat collar, BB cable guide, spare rear mech hanger, touch up paint and some plastic blanks to use if you remove the canti studs and opt for discs.

What is it like to ride? Light, lively, superb! My previous CX bikes are Planet X Uncle Johns and they are very good bikes - a little weighty maybe but rock solid and great handling - fantastic Three Peaks Bikes. The Gin and Trombones is a LOT lighter. I reckon it saves 750g over the Uncle John, partly down to the full carbon fork but the frame is a good 400g lighter itself. On my inexact scales with a fairly normal 'build' it registers around 18lbs (I'll get an accurate figure soon) In terms of geometry it has a steeper seat tube, shorter chain stays and a lower bottom bracket. The massive BB area also means it is laterally stiffer (yeah yeah laterally stiff and vertically compliant - I'm not going to say it!). Ride wise to me it feels 'snappier' a little more road bike like but still very stable and sure footed. The lower BB may help here but I'm not convinced I can really tell the difference as I could just be imagining it - the new kit placebo effect if you will. I do notice that the bike is marginally easier to remount. To be honest I've not been able to detect any negatives as far as the handling goes, in my view it's all good and that massive head tube really stiffens up the steering adding precision. I have caught a pedal once accelerating out of a corner but whether that was because of the lower BB is moot - it may well just be incompetence or the fact that the planted feeling of the bike allowed me to lean over more. At Brockhole the technical root rocky decent from the house proved no problem for the lower BB so short of full on MTB terrain I can't see an issue. One of the more important selling points for me a are the frame clearances, they are massive. If you're an enthusiastic weekend warrior it is unlikely that you have a dedicated pit crew. In muddy races you'll either be riding the same bike or swapping once (no one will be there to clean the pitted bike). You NEED decent clearances. The clearances on the G & T are fantastic both around the rear wheel (infront of especially and to the sides of the tub) and the fork. At Brockhole on day one of the Rapha Super Cross I didn't need to pit - others suffered severely clogged bikes (Waggey actually quit in frustration on his Focus) or had to swap bikes. The G & T was unaffected. Another muddy selling point to me was the full shifter housing run down the seat stays. I've actually drilled the stops out on my previous bikes to achieve this but the G & T came ready fixed - a sign of a design team that understands muddy cross! Gore cables may be excellent but they're pricey and a fiddle to fit, full cable housing runs at the rear are virtually as good - I used this system all last year never suffering a single cable related problem with shifting. The front shifter cable is routed along the down tube, again my favourite choice. Is it me or does it make little sense to route the front mech cable along the top tube, down the seat tube to a pulley (that can clog) then up the seat tube to the mech? Certainly with Campag the front mech doesn't need the precision shift you need at the rear. As of this year the frame is also disc ready but I'm still on Cantis so can't give any feedback on that front.

In conclusion the Gin and Trombones provides a responsive, snappy yet stable ride, with massive clearances for North of England mud and a cable routing set up that should ensure a reliable ride. Did I mention the gorgeous 'Flandrian Yellow' paint job? The only weak point I can think of is the integrated headset's durability and this is really a reflection current 'fashion' in the bicycle trade. The bottom line is that I intend to spend my own brass and get a another so I can again pretend to look pro with matching bikes!  Any Belgians in the Yorkshire area who get a G&T and want to pop over to use the tools just drop me a line. Please feel free to play 'bike review buzzword bingo' in the comment section below

Rapha Super Cross

Brockhole Windermere
I don't think you can have a truly bad day at Brockhole, a bad race maybe but a bad day no. This was my third outing here having ridden the first event in 2009 which was a sticky mud bath of epic proportions and the North of England Championship last year where deep snow resulted in the vets lining up in sub zero temperatures with bikes shouldered to run the initial 250 yards!



This years event was 'soft' going but not the mud fest a few of us were expecting. Rhinos had been duly glued up during the week and Jo and I spent Friday night at the FRCC hut in Langdale in order to ease the early start on Saturday. Our early arrival allowed a chilled out reconnoitre of the course (similar to last year, no big logs up by the house but a much muddier technical descent) and a second coffee of the morning together shared in glorious sunshine and rapidly warming temperatures. Soon we were meeting up with @crossjunkie (riding in Rapha Candy stripes), @sportsartuk, @ckingimages @DaveHaygarth and a host of other friends including Waggey and Mandy who had made the journey up from York. The supply of Rouler Cowbells were rapidly exhausted with a corresponding increase in spectator noise and soon the kids races were off including Elsie Haygarth racing to victory in the under fours now enshrined in pixels on the Rapha website. The atmosphere was fantastic - great to see what an injection of media/marketing savvy cash and enthusiasm can do allied to the grass roots graft of local clubs so a big thank you to Rapha, Rouler and the Lakes Road Club.

Soon enough it was time for the massive Seniors, Vets and Women's field to line up (140 plus). Al managed to sneak a couple of bike lengths on me before we even started and I spent a few laps getting back on terms. The rest of the race was thoroughly enjoyable, yes it is a technical course and yes it was muddy (not too much) and rooty but it is cyclocross and courses like Brockhole typify an 'old school' Northern course that should be cherished. I had a wonderfully problem free race and the excellent clearances on the Van Dessel G&T meant I didn't even use my pit bike. Others weren't so lucky and Waggey ended up abandoning with terminal clogging around his front fork which was a shame but allowed him to save his legs for Sunday - a cunning move? Check out the great photo of @crossjunkie over on @ckingimages Flickr stream. Once we crossed the line it was off for a quick change and on to the Duvel beer tent which had already claimed its first victim with one of HCtB favourite pro photographers missing the start of the Elite race - ahem, no names no pack drill... Being able to watch the elite field tackle the same course we'd just riden was the icing on the cake and made made it possible to pick up lots of pointers to improvement; get faster, get stronger, improve uphill remounts, improve technical skills... errr the list got a bit long! Mechanicals played a role in the elite event too with both Paul Oldham and Jody Crwaford (joint favourites) being affected with Lee Williams turning out the eventual winner. The weather helped enormously in creating a festival atmosphere which is hopefully a pointer to future 'SuperCross' style events in the UK.

New College Huddersfield
Some rapid bike washing and prep, some epic kit washing from @Hanglebad (thanks love) and we were ready to roll for day two in Huddersfield. A very different course, more 'euro' grass crit with some steep bankings so a great compliment/contrast to Brockhole.



Again a big thank you to Rapha, Rouler and Huddersfield Road Club for a fantastic event including Tour legend Brian Robinson and Marsden brass band! The Rouler Cowbells had been replenished and like a big kid I asked @Hanglebad to nab me one. Again we were treated to a Duvel beer tent, crepes, Rapha mobile shop and coffee, trade tents, coconut shy - did I mention the beer? The course was fast and almost dry which meant no rest or let up. Another massive field, 140 plus of just Vets and Women this time! The second day of racing left my legs a little lacking (that's my excuse) and though I got a relatively decent start I couldn't close the gap on Wayne. Waggey had a very good race getting to within 25 seconds of Al at the finish, that clogging excuse was obviously a ruse to save his legs for another PB. Another quick change and off to get a Duvel (to aid recovery and with Jo driving I could have a couple) and watch and heckle the seniors race with Tim (looking very strong) and Tom representing Velocake. Thanks to (Flemish) Nicole and John we now know that Duvel is pronounced Der-vel (Devil) and that its a not a lager - something she felt announcer Anthony McCrossan needed to be made aware of as soon as the elite race finished! Jody Crawford won a close fought sprint with Paul Oldham with Hope Technology securing their series lead in this team based format.



A totally brilliant weekend bringing a little Euro/Belgian/US flavour to the UK!

Rapha Super Cross 15/16 Oct

Apologies if you have seen this elsewhere but it's worth plugging for those within striking distance of the North of England this weekend......

After a last minute scare with impounded cowbells, final preparations are being made by the respective race organisers and the Rapha Super Cross team for a weekend unlike any other weekend of UK cross, kicking off on 15th October at Brockholes, Windermere.

Belgians will be out in force as Saturday's Brockholes race is a NW League event, a firm favourite on the NW League calendar with the iconic Brockholes course providing contrasting course conditions over the past 2 years, from mudbath to frozen snowy waste, but looking good this year for another mudbath. Expect different faces the day after, as Sunday's race is a dyed in the wool Yorkshire League event, at Huddersfield, on a windswept field-based course that is bound to be a real test.

Both will have the full Rapha Super Cross treatment - elite racing, cowbells, beer, music, lots of spectators, a good dose of silliness and marshmallows.


I am risking being permanently outcast from the Belgians fold having agreed to ride in the support races for both days, in the candy stripe colours of the US based Rapha-Focus cross team. Hey ho, I'm easily pleased...

So come along to either venue if you're not already racing, have a beer and watch the silliness and throw marshmallows at me. Just don't shout 'splitter'.......

A come back like Lance but without the murky allegations

The first race of the North Wales Cyclo-Cross series saw me putting Chris Carmichael's training approach to it's 4 week test. Over the course of eight laps of the woody, rooty and muddy Glynllifon Country park Course in Caernarfon.
I pushed my self to the limits (hitting 100% hr at one point). After a number of tusssels and two crashes in muddy corners. The checked flag loomed. I had finished 15th out of 23 and beat a couple of people who normally leave me in their wake. Need to do some running practice now as if I had been better I would have made up two places at least. Very pleased with the result, especially as I've just celebrated my 45th year on the planet and it appears that Mr Carmichael (who trained Mr Armstrong) has a point.
I was a little naughty and had a couple of Duvel's last night to celebrate.

Looking forward to round 2 in Bethesda on 23.10.11. Hopefully get some more Duvel in the fridge!

Belgians Time Trial Special

Inspired by the perspective that I could now start officially at a time trial, I decided to give it a try. On the continent we do not have a weekly 10 miles TT or something like that, but we do have the Stoppomats. A Stoppomat is a timing device for a given distance, having a start box, where the time is stamped on a piece of paper and a finish box to stamp time again. Now comes the problem: this distances are usually uphill. Guess the French expression for TT (contre la montre) was translated by someone with of similar knowledge of French then myself: I referred montre to the Latin mons, montis, which translates to hill. Guess what: I had Latin in school and no French.

One of the Stoppomats is installed in the Elbe valley, roughly half way between Dresden and Meissen. Distance 4.5 km with an elevation of 187 metres. Maximum 12%.Using this service is free of charge, take the card and stamp it with the time at the start (pictured above) and stamp it again at the top (pictured below).

If one drops the card in the box at the finish, the time will be published on the website. 15 mins and some seconds is actually not a good time. As they said in the old Rom: tempo fugit. I mistimed me effort, as I lost too much time in the first half. For more excuses follow the link.

Dresden in the classical Belgian style

Not only can one ride time trials in Dresden, but also cobbles, lots of them, worst of them between Neustadt and Blaues Wunder on Körnerweg, major problems are the gapes between the stones, so I decided to take it slowly instead of going full speed. But also inside the city of Dresden many cobbled streets can be found.

Round 4 Yorkshire Points : Temple Newsam

With a mixture of grassland, woods and a beautiful Tudor-Jacobean house the Temple Newsam CX has a fantastic backdrop for the racing. This year the weather was in stark contrast to 2010 when the car park was flooded and the course absolutely sodden. I'd enjoyed a good result there in the adverse conditions but todays event promised fast racing and a patina of dust rather than oozing mud.

This race also saw the debut of the new Gin and Trombones frame from Van Dessel and The Bearded Man, I'll be writing a review of the frame in a few weeks after its been raced a bit more but suffice to say that it put a big smile on my face at Temple Newsam on its first outing. The Belgian 'Flanders black with yellow' colour scheme and De Leeuw van Vlaanderen on the top tube were approved by Vlaanderen Nicole (and John) who were there taking high risk photos at the bottom of one of the single track descents.

The vets race saw (what I think is) a record field with 105 riders which made for a 'busy' opening lap. I had a reasonable start but then nearly got taken out as we entered the first taped section (along with several other riders) as people squeezed in or misjudged the room etc. Some emergency braking and dodging avoided collisions but also lost a bunch of places. I get the feeling that with such big fields there is going to be a need to have longer 'spread the field' sections at the start of the vets events. If you're faster enough to get the hole shot then its a non-issue but further back there are some initially very fast riders who get a bit 'lost' after 400m. The rest of the race was lovely with good woody single track and fast open grass as well as a nice off-camber 180 which was later to do for Paperthin Ben's front tub in the senior race!

I gradually made up places passing a fair few riders and as far as I recall not getting passed (a sign of a slow start), never managed to catch up to Wayne (York Cycle Works) though. I eventually finished in 17th which I'm happy enough with on a new build bike and post 3 Peaks. Waggey had a good race with a PB placing of 38th which is excellent post 3 Peaks. John was creeping up the order too (79th) and it was good to see Tim (Velocake) racing in the seniors and Tom spectating (Velocake & HCtB) recovering from an unfortunate broken finger. SportsSunday were there taking pics along with Jo @Hanglebads so photographic coverage was pretty much sewn up - though I reckon my pic of Ben gets the "un moment decisif".

Hi

Well, I thought seeing as I've now received my jersey, I should formally introduce myself.

I'm Tom, and relatively new to this cyclocross lark. I've owned a CX bike for the last year, done a handful of races, and I'm becoming increasingly addicted. Thoughts of tubs, glue, Belgium, mud, bell laps and dismounts fill my mind.

For the time being CX will be an added extra to my mountain biking and running, but I can't think of many ways I'd rather spend an hour or so on a Sunday. I'll try keep you updated with my experiences, as well as writing here and here.

See you at the (mainly Yorkshire series) races!

Tom (@24tom on twitter)

The Final Five...

As we're rapidly approaching the time of year when our affiliation to British Cycling is renewed and as an alternative to a subscription fee, I have 5 spare team caps available for purchase, to fund our affiliation fee.

Caps are priced at:

£15.00 UK including postage

£20.00 Rest of the world including postage.

As an incentive, this is the last of this design and will be replaced in the next kit order (Feb 2012), so get em while you can.

BC Fund Team Caps

Team Cap - UK - £15.00Team Cap - WORLD - £20.00

Scottish Cross - Irvine Beach

The Scottish cross season kicked of this weekend with a return to the sands of Irvine beach and arguably one of the highlights of the Scottish calender.

The race was brisk from the gun and I quickly made my way to the back of the bunch, where I set about making the most of my poor form by throwing caution to the wind and trying to limit my losses against the pack.

All went well until I was passing through the sand section for the second time and took a rather spectacular and unexpected tumble over the bars. After the fall a quick body scan informed me I was non the worse for my little diversion into the dunes. Sadly my bike did not escape so lightly and brought the race to a premature end and my first DNF.

Hopefully my next outing as a Belgian will go a little smoother.

Ben P

The World Championship

While most seem to have spend the days on the dirty side of life, I took it upon myself to travel to the east. Crossed the sea and got to: Copenhagen. The place saw the "real" Belgians coming. I mean the guys You can see somewhere back in the picture:

I may assume You may be now know how the race ended, so useless to post a picture of the winner. Never the less we have exclusive material from the start. Yes, I had to cut my breakfast short just to take this picture:

And I managed to sum up most of the race action in just one singular picture:

Oh, good news for the Belgians: Phil Gilbert signed!! The best rider of the classics, the best rider of this year!!

Well, I mean not a contract with us, at least he signed the Jersey. Yeah, but also we paid a lot less to get his signature than the Swiss guy!

For my typical non race related comments, you may wish to follow this link.