Dastardly and Muttley?

   My blog is a bit late this week because I had been taking care of some work in my shop. The first job was replacing an old, collapsing shelf unit with a higher-quality piece of furniture. My wife was remodeling one of our second floor rooms to claim as her own work space and donated a large desk/shelf combo that she didn’t want. I now have plenty of room for all my parts and tools, plus even more table-top workspace!

   The other work involved a small problem with the Bottecchia - I only say “small” because I received a refund to cover most of the costs, but it required removal and replacement of the Miche headset lower cup, which had a small crack. I also discovered a crack in the seatpost, but that part isn’t quite as essential to completing the rest of the bicycle’s assembly. Without the headset and fork, I had no stem or handlebars, which meant I couldn’t install the brake and shifting systems.

  One of the reasons I like to “watch” cycling is that I can often have it on in the background while doing something else. After hundreds of events over the years, I don’t need or want to watch every second of what is going on (or most moments when nothing is going on) during all the major races during the season. The Eurosport announcers will often comment on something that is happening, and I can glance up in time to see what they are pointing out, or catch a replay if it was an important enough moment.

   However there are some races like Paris-Roubaix, or the occasional mountain stage during one of the Grand Tours, where the action is absolutely riveting. The racers are very familiar with the terrain and know where the strategically important sections on the course are located. Teams jostle for position, the action is tense with a high pace, and there is an anticipation of the instant when attacks and counter-attacks start.

   Then there are those races that unfold with all kinds of incidents which keep your eyes glued to the screen, and Sunday’s Tour of Flanders was such an event. As one of cycling’s Monuments, the race’s high status always ensures aggressive riding by the teams contesting the challenging course. Sunday’s race was even more incredible because of all the crazy mishaps that popped up - it started to remind me of the old Wacky Races cartoon!

   You can see every incident here as it unfolds in Cosmo Catalano’s excellent video summary, but this is what happened: 

1. MTN-Qhubeka’s Youcef Reguigui went down hard on a very narrow road, which forced dozens of riders to hop off of their bikes and run cyclocross-style across the grass to get around the pileup.
2. A Shimano neutral support car attempted a dangerous move by coming through the inside of a curve past the early four-man breakaway group. The driver ended up bouncing off the curb and hit the lead rider, Trek’s Jesse Sergent. I gasped when I saw the replay, as I thought he might get caught under the car, but as it was, Sergent fell hard on his shoulder, breaking his collarbone.
3. Shimano’s other vehicle rear-ended the FDJ car as its crew was pulling over to assist team member Sebastian Chavanel, who had a mechanical problem. The FDJ car was forced into Chavanel, who spiraled onto the air, lucky to escape with just some bad bruising!
4. One of the inflatable advertising archways that line the course sprang a leak and forced several cyclists trailing at the back of the peloton to swerve and/or duck in order to continue down the road. 

Oh, and then the racing really started! Team Katusha has been having a marvelous season, largely based on the success of strongman Alexander Kristoff, who has won nine World Tour events this year. The Norwegian star pulled away with Etixx-Quickstep’s Nikki Terpstra after the last ascent up the Kruisberg, 16 miles from the finish. Last year’s Paris-Roubaix winner knew he couldn’t match the powerful sprint of Kristoff and unsuccessfully attempted to shake him on the nasty climbs remaining over Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg. Terpstra even left his breakaway mate to do most of the work during the last few kilometers, but the sprint was still an easy victory for Kristoff.