4/5/14 3:45 PM

Seven of the friends we normally ride with two or three days a week have just headed to Europe to catch a bit of racing and do some touring. They're staying in Oudenaarde for the next week or so, and should have ridden the etape of the Ronde van Vlaanderen today before watching the race itself tomorrow. For some reason the national Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad interviewed them the day after they arrived - the Google translate reads quite amusingly when I loaded the link into Chrome:

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=dmf20140403_01053931

4/7/14 7:53 AM

That was some race yesterday.

4/7/14 10:43 AM

It's good these events are becoming more popular with non-locals.

I've always had the dream of riding the amateur versions of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Back to back weekends. And watching the pros go at it from some place I'd imagine that'd be just like the Manayunk Wall...

Sandiway

4/7/14 9:11 PM

I'm off to Paris on Wednesday to take in Paris-Roubaix.

Sandiway- the difference is that the beer is better on the Muur than on the Wall :) !



I rode the last 100km of P-R one year and we stopped in at the Carrefour de l'Arbe café for hot chocolate. Cool mural of all the WC / Roubaix winners on the wall.

4/8/14 2:10 PM

quote:

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I'm off to Paris on Wednesday to take in Paris-Roubaix.

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4/8/14 6:15 PM

Enjoy Tony, I know you will. ;)

4/8/14 11:39 PM

Our friends have been putting together quite an entertaining blog - they'll be over there for three months, touring Belgium, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. They scored entry to the VIP start area at the Tour of Flanders - here's a couple of photos from there:

Fabian Cancellara on his way to the sign-in


Why pros have long stems on their bikes (from the handlebar tape colour I think this is one of the Orica team bikes)


And here's the Koppenberg viewed from the bottom - looks quite enticing. This from a ride a couple of days later, when they decided to revisit some of the hills to ride them again without the hordes.

4/13/14 9:42 AM

Well that was some race today...

4/13/14 6:52 PM

It was definitely an exceptional addition to the Paris-Roubaix legacy.

4/14/14 6:21 AM

"It was really special. I was so satisfied that I finally had a big one. I already had some nice victories, but always you hear that these are small races. It's the biggest Classic for me that I can win and I was really emotional when I crossed the big line," he said in the post-race press conference. "It's a stupid race - too old fashioned - but that's why it's so special and that's why I love it so much."
Niki Terpstra upon winning Paris Robaix

4/14/14 6:33 AM

Theo de Rooy on Paris-Roubaix:


“It's a bollocks, this race!” said de Rooij. “You're working like an animal, you don't have time to piss, you wet your pants. You're riding in mud like this, you're slipping ... it’s a pile of shit.”

When then asked if he would start the race again, de Rooij replied:


“Sure, it's the most beautiful race in the world!”

4/15/14 7:16 PM

Niki posted his winning ride to Strava.

I bet this TdF will have tons of riders posting to Strava this year.
Oh to be part of that little start up and their app.

4/16/14 5:19 PM

See http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/cnt/dmf20140416_033?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=koers&utm_content=article&utm_campaign=seeding

4/18/14 6:51 AM

...including perfectly legal pain killers. Considering it was found at the site of a crash, it could have been something given to a rider by an ambulance crew. For that matter, it could have been there before the race came through or could have been "planted" by the fan to get his "fifteen minutes of fame". Without a lot more context and an analysis of what was in the bottle, there's really no story here. Assuming that this is tied to doping is a huge stretch.

4/18/14 7:55 AM

BTW Tony, I love those shots.

4/18/14 8:07 AM

"...this is a race for dick-heads..."
-- B. Hinault

he promptly went on to win it then never raced it again.

4/18/14 11:32 AM

Yeah, thanks for sharing...

4/18/14 11:50 AM

quote:

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Considering it was found at the site of a crash, it could have been something given to a rider by an ambulance crew

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4/19/14 6:46 AM

Where's the photo? More importantly, we still don't know what is or was in it. Again, it could be something completely legal.

4/19/14 10:19 AM

Yes, there is photographic evidence, see below. But the photographer didn't want to give away which rider it was.

quote:

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Brampton told the Telegraph that UK Anti-Doping had said it would collect the vial. He photographed the rider and the vial falling from his pocket but refused to reveal his identity. However, he will inform UKAD. From Daily Telegraph via cycling news.com

“I’d rather not say who was involved or where exactly it happened, but it was roughly halfway through the race between cobbled sections, not on a cobbled section itself, Brampton said.

“Basically the crash happened and then they all got up and the soigneur pushed the rider [in question] away. I’d already spotted the vial, as had others. It was actually pointed out to the soigneur who sort of shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘nothing to do with me’."

“It will absolutely be possible to pinpoint who the vial belongs to. I have 34 in-sequence photographs from about 15ft away, pin sharp. In one of them you can actually see the vial falling from the rider’s pocket."

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4/23/14 5:42 AM

...he's protecting the rider's identity until more is known. We'll see what happens.