Road Bike Racing - Driedaagse de Panne

Zanini nips van Petegem at the wire. Tchmil was third or fourth.

Second stage tomorrow, and two on Thursday, including a short ITT. This is considered the warmup for the Ronde de Vlaanderen next week.

Cheers...Gary

If all goes well, I may get to see the Ronde, thanks to Lotek and our Tape Underground. I can't wait- this year it's supposed to include the Koppenberg!

Ruskys wins the second stage, with Steels second. Overall should still be Zanini, as he had the same time.

The bad news is that there was a nasty pileup coming down the cobbled Kemmelberg, with five or six riders hurt, three badly. One (what appeared to be) broken nose, but the worst fears are for Tchmil. He is "90% certain" to have a broken leg, which one manager indicated during the interview could be a career ending injury if true.

Cheers...Gary

Baldato wins stage 3a, and van Petegem wins stage 3b, the ITT.

Overall it is van Petegem, Zanini, and Hincapie.

The good news is that Tchmil "only" broke two fingers, and has lacerations of the right thigh near the knee. He will miss the Ronde de Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, but thinks he will ride in the Amstel Gold, which is on April 28.

Cheers...Gary

Way to go, van Petegem!

What a bummer about Tchmil! SO many of the big classics favorites are injured. It's like the beginning of this season is plagued with horrible injuries and diseases.


What about Roubaix? Van Petegem could win that one too, but Hincapie seems to be doing pretty well so far- he mioght pull it off.

Check out graham Watson's web site. It has a new photo spread devoted to the Koppenberg, including Jesper Skibby's fall in front of a car which then ran over his bike.

Oh yes, the Koppenberg is hard. De Ronde van Vlaanderen has quite some damn difficult and hard "bergs" and "hellingen".
It´s really no pleasure to ride all of them in one day, I guess...

In fact, the Lotto team Directeur Sportif has filed a complaint - a little late, it seems - to the organizers for having included the Kemmelberg in the race at all.

While it may be tough on the riders, I have fallen in love with these classic races. They are really great to watch. Unfortunately I have to go stateside tomorrow, and will miss the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix.

Cheers...Gary

I've become more enamored of the classics as well, especially Roubaix. It's just wild. I liken it to the downhill at Kitzbuhel. If you make it down in one piece, congrats. If you finish in the top ten, you're superman. If you win, you're even more superhuman, if you win more than once you're God! Roubaix is like that. The list of abandons last year was longer than the list of finishers. I can see why for some it's their favorite race. It's the extreme of the extreme! I'm hoping that next year I can go to Belgium in time to follow the spring classics all over- who cares if the weather sucks. It sucks here too!

De Ronde was hard, but Roubaix will be harder.
It depends much on the weather. If it rains, there will be ugly mud everywhere and you can not tell the jerseys any more... who is who ? Nothing, just mud covered men...
If it´s dry, there will be much dust in the air, real clouds making it not easier for the riders.
It´s like you said wabbit, Roubaix is the hell of the north.
Acout 265 km throug little narrow roads with lots of cobblestones (total 49 km), about 10 degrees (Celsius), very often rainy wheather and this ugly and slippery mud... watching this on TV is way much more comfortable.
As Museeuw was 2nd in De Ronde and was a little disappointed, I think he will fighting just more in Roubaix and may he win this other monument.

looks like this : (picture from last years´ edition)