Omloop Het Volk & Kuurne Brussel Kuurne Diary
29th February - 2nd March, 2008
by Ed Hood

Day 1 ; Day 2 : Day 3

Day 1 - Friday 29th February, 2008

You know you're in Belgium, when . . the barman is Iljo Keisse's dad - and when there are posters for bike races in the loo!

But I'm getting ahead of myself; "live cargo", that's how the airlines refer to their passengers.

And that's how we feel: the flight is two hours late and we're sitting on the floor at Prestwick Airport, or 'Glasgow South' as Ryanair would have it, despite the fact that we're 50 kilometres from the city on the Clyde.

Eventually we board, running across the tarmac through sheets of freezing rain blasting in from the Atlantic.

Ryanair, we love them, you have to pay to check-in, there's no place to put your newspaper and the value for money on the in-flight refreshments is outstanding - four euros for a small tin of beer and five euros for a sandwich.

As the French pilot tells us, it's "bompee, in zee cloudz."

Charleroi Airport, and there's a shiny new terminal building; Ryanair's cheap flights from the airport have breathed new life into a run-down part of the Belgium.

But there's really no such place as Belgium: there's the French speaking south, Wallonia, where we are now; the cosmopolitan and elegant French-speaking capital city of Brussels, and then there's Flanders to the north. Up there, you don't hear much French spoken; Flemish is a harsh language, difficult to learn; similar, but not exactly the same as Dutch.

Until the demise of heavy industry in the the south - coal mining and steel making - the south was where the money was.

Fortunes are reversed now and there's a mood in prosperous Flanders that their impoverished southern brothers and sisters should be cut loose.

This winter has seen crisis after crisis in the Belgian parliament and for a long spell, the country was without leadership, leading to inflation in the economy. There's talk of Wallonia becoming part of France; Brussels becoming a city state like Luxembourg or Monaco and Flanders becoming a nation in its own right.

Hertz supplied the hire car and Ryanair's delay was perfect to drop us into the Brussels rush hour.

The knowledgeable talk is all Quick-Step.

Viktor was in the back seat checking-out the newspapers; big Gert Steegmans is the name at the end of most journalist's pens along with 'Tomeke' or 'Tornado Tom.'

With Bettini and Devolder also in the team, QuickStep are the big favourites, only a win will do Patrick Lefevre on Saturday.

The big teams stay at the Gent Holiday Inn for the Het Volk / Kuurne weekend and we always head there first to pester the mechanics, but we were too late, with just the AG2R spanner men still at work.

Being a Pro Tour mechanic seems like a pretty glamorous gig, until you see them on a night like this, washing bikes in the dark with a cold wind driving the rain off the North Sea.

Nearly everyone is at dinner, or relaxing on the massage tables - not the mechanics though.

Frittes were required, then pils; not just in any bar though - Iljo Keisse's dad's Café de Karper.

The service is good, the pils is cold, there's 70's disco on the PA and there are framed cycling prints around the walls.

We met-up with Dirk Van Hove at the de Karper; he was a close friend of the late Gary Wiggins and as the pils flowed, so did the 'Doc' (Gary's nickname) stories.

L to R: Dirk, Dave, Ronnie and Viktor "enjoying of the lager".

Ronnie Keisse joined us and told us that Iljo is in South Africa, training for the Track Worlds where he's riding the madison (with Kenny De Ketele), points and perhaps the scratch race.

Ronnie's bar is hard-core, even when you go to the toilet, you can't get away from cycling - there's a poster for the Deinze-Ypres amateur classic right in front of you!

Only in Belgium!

As Friday became Saturday we decided we better get at least some sleep and be fresh for taking you to the races.

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Day 2 - Saturday 1st March, 2008

Getting to Flanders yesterday was painful - a two hour delay at Prestwick, then a battle through the rush hour traffic on the Brussels ring road.

Dave and I are getting good at indiscriminate lane changing and not indicating, but we really have to brush up on our tail-gating technique if we want to drive in the authentic Belgian fashion.

The mission for last night was to have a 'few' beers with Dirk Van Hove.
Dirk gave me a lot of help with my Gary Wiggins tribute and is a mine of information about Belgian racing.

The dull ache in my head and desperate need for sleep all day Saturday indicated that we had perhaps gone past the defined 'few' boundary.

The winner-to-be fights his way back to the bus after signing-on.

Anyway, we were up skeking bikes early this morning - to some this ritual is sad, but it's one we never tire of.

Even with race radios, the pro's need a little reminder of what's to come.

Freddy Maertens.

There's no room for 'trick' machines in Belgium, what gets respect are "tools": no-nonsense hardware that takes the cobbles and bergs in its stride.

Tomas Buchacek - PSK Whirlpool

Viktor is our style pundit - haute couture? Ridley, Lapierre, BH. Passé? we'll say no more, I have friends who run bike shops and websites!

Viktor and I disagree on the Kogas of Skil-Shimano, I think they are cool, Vik says that the blue paint is wearing-on for; "flamboyant, like a f***ing Mercian!"

We bet you do have an opinion about this...

Viktor has also come down heavily against Slipstream's Argyle, but the mere fact that we're debating the subject, means that it's doing what it's supposed to - generate interest and publicity.

Stuey tweaks just before the off.

It was sunny but very blowy at the roll out, Bettini was stone last and not looking like he was motivated to be there.

We headed off to the Berendries climb; our modus operandi is to see the start and catch the action a couple of times on the road, then watch the finalé in a bar.

Burgers on the Berendries. These boys maybe want to consider a different name for their enterprise!!

Berendries is almost exactly half distance - 100 kilometres - and the tail-wind-driven break was around six minutes clear at this stage. The bunch was being lead by QuickStep, who appeared to be relaxed about the staus quo. The peloton didn't appear to be stressed either, but the faces of the guys off the back told a different story.

The bunch swarms over the Berendries.

Stragglers on the Berendries.

Next stop was the Eickenberg climb at 150 kilometres; the break was still clear and it was on this nippy ramp that Gilbert turned on the afterburners. He was flying over the cobbles and he only stopped for breath once he had bridged-up to the break. Boonen didn't look like a winner here, nor did Steegmans. There was no bunch anymore, just little groups of survivors.

David Boucherslides off the back of the break on the Eikenberg.

That is one heck of a seatpost! Wee Stanislav Kozubek of Whirlpool's Author.

It was bar time and we had our Diet Cokes and coffee (it was Sunday afternoon before we could face pils again) in front of us on the table just on 40 kilometres to go.

Thor meets the press.

Gilbert's win was in the grand style and just to rub salt in the QuickStep wound, burrito boy Mike Friedman, resplendent in Argyle, was 14th with the laminated flooring team's best 16th.

On the way back to Ghent we stopped off at Oudenaarde to see how the Flanders shop was faring without Frans Assez at the helm. The ex-pro and boss of the Flanders pro team would have made a world class window salesman - his patter was the best. Frans died two years ago, leaving a massive gap in a sport that can't be filled.

Ronny Assez.

His son Ronny was a fair professional rider in his day and according to Vik; "he could suffer like a dog!" He's a good talker too and as he showed us the latest carbon Flanders offering, all the way from China - just like yours - he explained; "We do this for 1,000 euros, but if we have a pro team, it must be 2,000 euros - to pay for the team!"

When we asked about the Pinarello replica, 'double radius' front forks, he explained; "Pinarello had the patent for a couple of years, but it's expired now, so anyone can make them."

We said our farewells to Ronny and headed for the world's slowest Pizza Hut; which just happens to be in Ghent.

Instead of the usual abuse I get from Dave and Vik about the time it takes me to send-off my pictures at night, they were happy to lie on their beds; "maybe we took it a bit far last night boys?"

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Day 3- Sunday 2nd March, 2008

Sunday dawned bright and clear and it was three refreshed men who headed for Kuurne.

Says it all, really.

This was bike skeking taken to a new level; two-and-a-half hours of it, and it wasn't enough.

Batavus are an old favourite of ours and their Professional X is cool, matt black against a tide of white this year.

We do like those Silence-Lotto Ridleys, the Basso's of Jartazi are just a tad 'blingey' for us, but we like the CA Looks, the AG2R BH's and the F des J Lapierres.

I had a good blether with Alan Buttler, the Astana mechanic, he's moved across from Disco with Mr. Bruyneel; "it's great, we can't do much racing, thanks to ASO, but it's a sound set-up."

I'm not a Trek man, but I liked last years colour scheme, this years? Well... I do like the SRAM 'Red' groupset though - different.

Jezza Hunt

We had a moment with ex-British champion, Jeremy Hunt of CA, he's a nice guy and still carries his Devon brogue, it's hard to believe he's been a pro since 1996.

Shimano electronic rear mech on the Skil-Shimano Koga.

'Find' of the day was the Shimano electronic gears to one of the Skil-Shimano Kogas and one of the Rabobank Colnagos; there'll be a feature on Pez this week.

Front & Rear battery packs on the Rabo Colnagos.

The start at Kuurne is always chaotic and this year was no exception, despite the best efforts of the stewards, the crowd always seem to infiltrate the bunch and the oom-pah band have to be restrained from launching before the riders - it's great!

Frites, Jupiler, rice cake and then skek the junior race - which was proceding at what looked liked pro speed; then head for the hills.

The top of the Kwaremont is a good spot, you can see the race three times, well - one of the three is actually at the top of the Cote de Trieu, which is only a five minute walk away.

Mathieu Claude (Bouygues Telecom) taking a bottle at the top of the Oude Kwaremont.

The cobbles on the Kwaremont need to be seen to be appreciated and when a guy like Devolder blasts past you in the big ring, it really is impressive. He was still at the front over the Trieu, if you were with him then you were still in the race, if not - it was all over.

We grabbed a bar for the finalé, pils and coffee this time. If you love the chess game that is pro racing, then you would have loved this one - QuickStep at their best, wonderful. For the second year running, they salvaged a disastrous Het Volk with a consumate lesson in professional cycling team tactics on the Sunday at Kuurne.

Karel Van Wynendaele - KBK was his idea - as was the Tour of Flanders.

Last year, big Gert Steegmans delivered Boonen to the line in an armchair, 'The Tornado' could hardly help but win.

This year, they put seven in the break, worked like bears to drive it clear without asking or expecting help, and at the end, just when the sprinters who had been unpaying passengers on the train were tightening their velcro straps, they allowed young Rabobank Dutchman Sebastian Langeveld go clear - but with their own Dutchman, Steven de Jongh (who won here in 2004) riding shotgun.

At the death, the wily old fox de Jongh was lengths clear, to give Patrick Lefevre something to smile about.

We would have loved a Boonen, Devolder or Steegmans win, but it was still a joy to watch QuickStep at their brilliant best.

Gilbert was a classy, convincing winner on the Saturday, he's a French speaker, so we can't indulge in the pagan idolatory we would reserve for a Fleming - but a great ride, nonethless.

Last item on the agenda was a drive down to Brabant and a meet with former British elite champion. To say his house is, "in the sticks" doesn't do it justice.

Hamish gives it loads , Tour of Britain, 2007.

He's a focussed, dedicated man and he looks you straight in the eye as he answers your questions.

Hamish winning in Flanders, 2007.

The full interview will be on Pez soon, but meantime, we wish the Mancunian all the best for 2008; the British press have neglected him, hopefully we can help change that.

We left Hamish and his partner Emma, and headed west, off down those long straights to Charleroi, an Ibis Hotel, Ryanair and snow on the M77 - ah well, soon be the Primavera!

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