100th Ronde

   This entry is a bit overdue, but as explained previously I’ve had a rather busy schedule, and it has subsequently taken me some time to get caught up with my “to do” list around the house. However, I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to mention this weekend’s coming of the 100th Ronde van Vlaaderen – the Tour of Flanders.

   Boasting a region rich in cycling history, the Flemish people see this race as a regional symbol for the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium. The race starts in the market square of Bruges and heads south over flatlands on mostly broad roads for about 55 kilometers. However, the flavor of the race truly unfolds as the route heads east and the landscape becomes more undulating.

   The race twists and turns through the Flemish Ardennes, seeking out a succession of hills (appropriately called hellingen) which are notoriously short, steep and (mostly) cobbled. These nasty climbs are usually the decisive points of the race, and powerful riders will use them as opportunities to attack.

   Previously I had provided an introduction to my next project bike, which was inspired by this Sunday’s historic event, but I am also excited about the race itself because two of the big favorites come into the event showing excellent form. Peter Sagan has been in the winning move in nearly every race he has entered this year, and even though he has had his share of disappointing runner-up finishes, including a one second loss in the Tirreno-Adriatico stage rage, the current World Champion came up with a big win last weekend at Gent-Wevelgem (photo below).

   Fabian Cancellara (photo below), himself a three-time Flanders winner, has won the Strade Bianche (also for the third time) and two stage race time trials this season. He also looked fantastic at Gent-Wevelgem, losing out in the final four-man break to the aforementioned Sagan, and the E3 Herebeke semi-classic last Friday, where a broken derailleur forced him to make an amazing chase on a replacement bike to close a two-minute gap and get back into contention. Unfortunately his efforts left him unable to respond to the winning move by Michal Kwiatkowski and (again) Sagan.

   It was just three years ago when Cancellara and Sagan were in the winning move together at Flanders, with the Swiss powerhouse breaking away during the final climb over the Paterberg and soloing to victory. Check out Cosmo Catalano’s humorous review of that race here. 

   Although I have managed to finish off a couple of repair jobs, I haven’t had a ton of time recently to devote to the Ridley “Flandrien”. I did clean up the wheelset a bit, put on the tires and assembled the new headset, stem and bars - at least to make it look like a bicycle, in time for the Ronde.