VeloVeritas

Erick Rowsell – On To Something Completely New (0)

Erick Rowsell is a name which seems to have been around for a long time; maybe because he was winning British medals five years ago – in 2007 he took bronze in the junior road race and individual pursuit as well as gold in the junior time trial.

The following season saw him with strong placings in continental road events; win the junior Tour of Wales and the British junior road race championship – whilst on the track he took two junior European silver medals, in the individual and team pursuit.

George Atkins – Time Trials, Belgium and Cooking! (0)

George Atkins was a name that suddenly appeared on the Scottish scene back in the summer.

And on Sunday the versatile man from Leicester took silver in the British U23 Time Trial Championships, but before his foray into the world of riding ‘alone and unpaced’, he spent six weeks in Flanders, so naturally we needed to have a word with him, not long before the British Champs.

Wouter Weylandt, Special Forever (0)

So I’ve been meaning to put together a blog post of my latest experiences of life here in Flanders. This season has certainly had its ups and downs, but all this seems rather irrelevant after the events of this week. Cycling indeed has its fair share of tragedies and the death of Wouter Weylandt in Stage 3 of the Giro this year is another one added to that list.

My first memory of Wouter Weylandt was when I watched a pro criterium in Sint Niklaas back in 2008 and since that night have always been a fan of one of the most popular Belgian riders around.

Highs and Lows (0)

Participation in cycle racing, like any other sport, is a constantly changing cycle of highs and lows, and the graph of peaks and troughs is also as fragile as it is changeable. This is an aspect of the lifestyle I lead which at first I found hard to take, but now I see as just that; an aspect of the lifestyle that simply needs to be dealt with.

The last time I wrote I was just beginning my Belgian campaign for the 2011 season, and it seemed like things were going well, which they were.

Wade Mangham – Happy in Belgium and Working Hard (0)

The phone rings, it’s Vik; “Why haven’t you spoken to that Wade Mangham boy? He’s getting round all right in Flanders.”

In line with VeloVeritas policy of trying to keep abreast of who’s ‘up and coming’ in the Flatlands, we tracked young Mr. Langham down – here’s what he had to tell us about dodgy club presidents, Shane Archbold’s mullet – and he has a chat with his bottle cages.

Dan McLay – “I need to focus on having a career” (0)

Dwars door Vlaanderen saw the re-birth of Nick Nuyens (Belgium & Saxo Bank) as winner; for those who know their Spring Classics it branded him as a potential Ronde winner – and so it proved.

But it was also further confirmation that the first big win for Geraint Thomas (Sky & GB) is not far away as the Welshman took second behind the wily Belgian in Dwars Door.

However, on the same day on similar roads, the Under 23 version of the race, the ‘GP Waregem’ saw another young Briton take an important step up the ladder with an excellent win over the cream of Flanders’ young cycling talent.

Since that win, Dan McLay has gone from strength to strength with a second place in Meer-Hoogstraten and back to back wins in Zele and Niel.

Christopher Macic – “I have to give it 100% this year” (1)

A few years ago, Vik and I were hanging over the barriers at a Friday night kermis near Gent; ex-pro Tony Bracke was Hoovering up the primes but one of the Kingsnorth Wheelers guys was catching our eye.

To refresh your memory, Kingsnorth is the Gent based but GB registered club run by Ian Whitehead, Peter Murphy and Staf Boone which has long provided a base for UK and Commonwealth riders. The Kingsnorth rider in question was a Kiwi and a tad ‘chunky,’ but was ‘getting round’ as Vik would say and eventually finished fourth amid much leaner, local opposition.

‘That laddie would be good if he lost some weight,’ said Vik as we headed back to Gent in search of a pizza.

Peter Hawkins – “if you do the work you do see the fruits of your labours” (2)

Our pal Viktor has been hard at work; it’s not everyone who could do his job, those long hours huddled over a computer screen, day in, day out – checking those Belgian cycling results websites.

Lifting his head only to make another coffee (“sometimes my fingertips tingle with the caffeine”), or to phone me; “Ed, there’s a boy you should be talking to…”

And that’s how I came to be parked up in a lay-by talking to 25 year-old Irishman Peter Hawkins on the mobile; he was on his way from Edinburgh Airport to a friend’s wedding in Newcastle.

The Season is Underway! (0)

Back in the heartland and my season is officially underway. It’s great to be back racing and despite a disrupted winter the body is feeling surprisingly sprightly. I have defied the norm these past few months.

From having much of the winter off the bike with an achilles injury, to starting the season (albeit a little later than originally planned) with testing figures that are higher than could have imagined six weeks previous.

My condition has returned remarkably quickly and it finally meant one thing: it was time to get myself back off to Belgium and get this 2011 season started.

The Job in Hand (0)

I’ve been in Belgium for a week now, but to be honest I feel like I’ve never been away with the same routines already re-emerging into the day.

It is really good to feel like a full time racing cyclist again as after months of spreading myself thin over winter, all I have to think about is riding my bike.

I arrived a week past Tuesday, the 1st of March, which was simply a date plucked out of the air to maximise winter earning time, but get here in time for the start of the season proper.

Kuurne – Brussels – Kuurne 2011 (0)

Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne used to be the ‘revenge match’ for Gent-Gent (Het Nieuwsblad); after poor showings in Saturday’s race, QuickStep usually rode on Sunday with great panache to salvage the weekend – they did this with Nuyens in ’06, Boonen in ’07 & ’09 and brilliantly with de Jongh in ’08.

In this year’s finale all of the survivors were sitting looking at Boonen to react when Rabobank Langeveld (the same fellow who won Gent-Gent on Saturday) went clear; Quickstep’s de Jongh countered and Lefevre, knowing that his boy would get the better of the Dutchman in the sprint told his floor layers to sit up and have a ‘blow.’

VeloVeritas at the Het Nieuwsblad 2011 (0)

The issue of weather for Het Nieuwsblad (or Gent – Gent as the locals still call it) is a dichotomy: if it’s wet it’s a proper man’s race but you get frozen and soaked whilst spectating; but if it’s a nice day and you’re not near-death when you stumble into your favourite bar to watch the finale then you end up watching 100-plus riders contesting the finish.

I’ll go for wet and cold – bike racing is an epic sport, it’ll be a while before I forget Traksel winning in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne last year and a while too before I forget Sebastian Langeveld’s ride on Saturday.

Kuurne – Brussels – Kuurne (0)

Sky Procycling just missed the win yesterday with Flecha finishing second in Het Nieuwsblad, but the team stepped it up a notch today, setting up Chris Sutton perfectly for a superb win in the bunch sprint.

Tom Boonen tried his hand with around five and a half k’s to go, jumping out of the bunch and with a fantastic turn of pace and joining forces with Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun), the only rider left in front from a small break. However, with 2km to go the pair were reeled back in, and the Sky riders gave Sutton the perfect leadout.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (0)

On a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon in Gent, Rabobank’s Sebastian Langeveld took the victory by inches from breakaway partner Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky Procycling and the winner last year), with another Sky rider Matt Hayman third.

The Dutchman had ridden very aggressively throughout the race, attacking and getting clear with more than 55km still to race, to be joined by Flecha with 16km to go the line.

A Friday in Flanders, the Day Before Het Nieuwsblad (1)

Donna Summer, Barry White, The Real Thing – and even a bit of Joe South; three pils for €5.40 and all the smoke you can handle – cigarettes and cigars. The Vivaldi, it’s a proper bar.

‘We won’t kick the backside out of it, tonight,’ says Dave on Thursday; but the pils was cold and smooth, the soul and disco flowed – we got to bed at 03:45 with all of Scottish Cycling and the UCI’s problems sorted out.