Dwars door Vlaanderen
After a brief stint on the cobbles at the start of the month with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the arrival of Dwars door Vlaanderen marks the beginning of the run into the Tour of Flanders.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT.
Also, hell yes: Today is a chance for the riders to deal the first mental blow to their rivals.
It's a dreary day in Belgium as the riders roll out for the neutralised start. Yup. Sounds about right.
Marco Haller has left the race, possibly because of a crash. This should be noted so we can always be aware of him in the future, and, when he's spotted, cry "HALLER!"
The break is: Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), Joey Rosskopf (BMC), Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal), Tom Van Asbroeck (LottoNL-Jumbo), Sven Erik Bystrom (Katusha), Alexandre Pichot (Europcar), Guiseppe Fonzi (Southeast), Michael Reihs (Cult Energy), Jay Thomson (MTN-Qhubeka), Brian Van Gosthem (Roompot) and Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha).
Based on names, I'm liking Sean De Bie (it sounds like a joyful sound a cartoon bee might make), Jonathan Castroviejo (I mean that's just a great name), and Guiseppe Fonzi (come on).
Lots of crashes in the rain today.
Trek is having not their luck today. 2 men out and they were already one man down.
Annnnnnd the break is brought back.
A morning chat with Kwiato provided on cyclingnews. I find him just delightful. He brings joy to my heart.
Love it. That's like a short story collection title (and cover) right there.
Sean de Bie is buzzing around the front again.
But all together once again at 130k to go.
8 away now apparently. The 8 leaders: Dockx, Brändle, Dron, Howard, Petit, Van Goethem, Wallays and Zepuntke.
I guess in this group you have to go with Pippo Pozzato's Aussie twin Leigh Howard here.
Though I do love a Garmindale and Zepunkte certainly has quite a name on him.
Omg and he's already crashed and his ass is on show. GO ZEPUNKTE.
And if Adrien Petit is ACTUALLY petit well then that's a bit excellent as well.
We have reached Oudenaarde, and the halfway point of this race.
Also, a guy named Martin has joined the breakway.
There may be a split in the peloton here? Twitter and cyclingnews are at odds on this.
In any event, 75k to go.
We've lost Petit Adrien in the breakaway to a mechanical, and now they're drinking Kirsch.
But they have as many seconds as they have men in the group, so not long til the catch now.
Rule #1: Be David Millar.
Ok is it #GiveItYourAll or is it #OurWay??
And anyway, between general resistance to authority (#KeepChallenging) and what sounds like an endorsement of B&E (#GoAndTakeIt), cycling fans are being induced into some weird behaviours.
Lotto-Jumbo have the most comprehensible #motto, and that's not even in the same language!
Though clearly that's not done them any favours as 5 of their 8 starters are now confirmed to be out of the race. Including Jos Van Emden, who has a great first name.
When did Alex Dowsett and Nathan Haas become besties and how is my heart supposed to handle that amazingness?
A non-Vanendert Jelle is off the front solo but still 58k to go to Waregem.
Kwaitkowski leading a severely diminished peloton following the Taaienberg. He looks at the rest of the group, none of them want to take up the pace setting so he pulls out a gap with a Topsport Vlaanderen rider. Kwiato, show 'em how it's done.
Annnnnd he's already caught Jelle.
DVB IS THERE TOO?!!?!?!!?!?!?
Ugh, although again cyclingnews is at odds here. He may in fact not be there. It was almost the coolest group on ANY ROAD. Maybe that was too much for the world to handle.
A small change to the make-up of that front group it is actually Dylan Van Baarle and not Sebastian Langeveld. Small change MY ASS.
Damn, excellent chasers as well: Boom Goes the Dynamite, Nikolas Maes, and Burghy! ...Among others.
And Jens Debusscherre and Stijn Devolder are also going for it??! EVERYONE IN THIS RACE IS COOL.
Chasers behind are all morphing together, but Kwiato is keeping the gap strong up ahead.
On the Kwaremont with a minute in hand and 39k to go.
There's some weird hexed corner where people keep crashing. Unconfirmed at this time whether this is Ned Boulting's fault.
HEARTS!
This has distracted me from the fact that Niki is sorta-kinda dropped.
So that means I won't be using the title You & Me and Niki Makes Three! as I'd hoped.
How did you know?
Another former winner, GATTO is on the chase!
GVK IS THERE TOO?!!?
Ughhhhh that means OPQS has safety in numbers!!! ALWAYS A BAD SIGN.
Just over 25k to go.
40 seconds for Kwiato's Heroes, with under 20k to go!
14k and it's raining and they're still out there.
Less than 10k to go. 30 second advantage Kwiato DVB et al.
This literally makes no sense but I second it!
OH MY GOD KILL ME! WHO'S IT GOING TO BE?????
The options are 50% AMAZING and 50% Blah!
AS IF I CAN FOCUS ON ANYTHING ELSE
Ugh. REALLY!?
What even happened there?? DVB in third and Kwaito 4th?? Meh.
And GVK was 5th. So let's start the podium at 3. WAHOO.
I suppose-- like Alex and Nathan communing from their respective flats in London-- a PERFECT WIN at DDV after last week's GORGEOUS Milan-Sanremo would simply be too much for this world.
Later:
Ummmmmm, BURN?? CALL IT OUT MICHAL!
.... If there was any doubt as to who that was for.
After a brief stint on the cobbles at the start of the month with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the arrival of Dwars door Vlaanderen marks the beginning of the run into the Tour of Flanders.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT.
Also, hell yes: Today is a chance for the riders to deal the first mental blow to their rivals.
It's a dreary day in Belgium as the riders roll out for the neutralised start. Yup. Sounds about right.
Marco Haller has left the race, possibly because of a crash. This should be noted so we can always be aware of him in the future, and, when he's spotted, cry "HALLER!"
The break is: Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), Joey Rosskopf (BMC), Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal), Tom Van Asbroeck (LottoNL-Jumbo), Sven Erik Bystrom (Katusha), Alexandre Pichot (Europcar), Guiseppe Fonzi (Southeast), Michael Reihs (Cult Energy), Jay Thomson (MTN-Qhubeka), Brian Van Gosthem (Roompot) and Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha).
Based on names, I'm liking Sean De Bie (it sounds like a joyful sound a cartoon bee might make), Jonathan Castroviejo (I mean that's just a great name), and Guiseppe Fonzi (come on).
Lots of crashes in the rain today.
Trek is having not their luck today. 2 men out and they were already one man down.
Annnnnnd the break is brought back.
A morning chat with Kwiato provided on cyclingnews. I find him just delightful. He brings joy to my heart.
Love it. That's like a short story collection title (and cover) right there.
Sean de Bie is buzzing around the front again.
But all together once again at 130k to go.
8 away now apparently. The 8 leaders: Dockx, Brändle, Dron, Howard, Petit, Van Goethem, Wallays and Zepuntke.
I guess in this group you have to go with Pippo Pozzato's Aussie twin Leigh Howard here.
Though I do love a Garmindale and Zepunkte certainly has quite a name on him.
Omg and he's already crashed and his ass is on show. GO ZEPUNKTE.
And if Adrien Petit is ACTUALLY petit well then that's a bit excellent as well.
We have reached Oudenaarde, and the halfway point of this race.
Also, a guy named Martin has joined the breakway.
There may be a split in the peloton here? Twitter and cyclingnews are at odds on this.
In any event, 75k to go.
We've lost Petit Adrien in the breakaway to a mechanical, and now they're drinking Kirsch.
But they have as many seconds as they have men in the group, so not long til the catch now.
Rule #1: Be David Millar.
Ok is it #GiveItYourAll or is it #OurWay??
And anyway, between general resistance to authority (#KeepChallenging) and what sounds like an endorsement of B&E (#GoAndTakeIt), cycling fans are being induced into some weird behaviours.
Lotto-Jumbo have the most comprehensible #motto, and that's not even in the same language!
Though clearly that's not done them any favours as 5 of their 8 starters are now confirmed to be out of the race. Including Jos Van Emden, who has a great first name.
When did Alex Dowsett and Nathan Haas become besties and how is my heart supposed to handle that amazingness?
A non-Vanendert Jelle is off the front solo but still 58k to go to Waregem.
Kwaitkowski leading a severely diminished peloton following the Taaienberg. He looks at the rest of the group, none of them want to take up the pace setting so he pulls out a gap with a Topsport Vlaanderen rider. Kwiato, show 'em how it's done.
Annnnnd he's already caught Jelle.
DVB IS THERE TOO?!!?!?!!?!?!?
Ugh, although again cyclingnews is at odds here. He may in fact not be there. It was almost the coolest group on ANY ROAD. Maybe that was too much for the world to handle.
A small change to the make-up of that front group it is actually Dylan Van Baarle and not Sebastian Langeveld. Small change MY ASS.
Damn, excellent chasers as well: Boom Goes the Dynamite, Nikolas Maes, and Burghy! ...Among others.
And Jens Debusscherre and Stijn Devolder are also going for it??! EVERYONE IN THIS RACE IS COOL.
Chasers behind are all morphing together, but Kwiato is keeping the gap strong up ahead.
On the Kwaremont with a minute in hand and 39k to go.
There's some weird hexed corner where people keep crashing. Unconfirmed at this time whether this is Ned Boulting's fault.
HEARTS!
This has distracted me from the fact that Niki is sorta-kinda dropped.
So that means I won't be using the title You & Me and Niki Makes Three! as I'd hoped.
How did you know?
Another former winner, GATTO is on the chase!
GVK IS THERE TOO?!!?
Ughhhhh that means OPQS has safety in numbers!!! ALWAYS A BAD SIGN.
Just over 25k to go.
40 seconds for Kwiato's Heroes, with under 20k to go!
14k and it's raining and they're still out there.
Less than 10k to go. 30 second advantage Kwiato DVB et al.
This literally makes no sense but I second it!
OH MY GOD KILL ME! WHO'S IT GOING TO BE?????
The options are 50% AMAZING and 50% Blah!
AS IF I CAN FOCUS ON ANYTHING ELSE
Ugh. REALLY!?
What even happened there?? DVB in third and Kwaito 4th?? Meh.
And GVK was 5th. So let's start the podium at 3. WAHOO.
I suppose-- like Alex and Nathan communing from their respective flats in London-- a PERFECT WIN at DDV after last week's GORGEOUS Milan-Sanremo would simply be too much for this world.
Later:
Ummmmmm, BURN?? CALL IT OUT MICHAL!
.... If there was any doubt as to who that was for.
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