Before the start of the 101st Scheldeprijs, each team was presented to the public in front of the Mas Museum in Antwerp. As I usually do for cycling races, I arrived well ahead of the start to find the square was completely empty and the only people around were the crew setting up the presentation podium and the course.
The blank sign-in roster before the team presentation.
Somehow I missed getting a picture of MTN-Qhubeka, the only African team in the race. Oops!
Vini Fantini
Far right: Kevin Hulsmans (Belgium)
Roster: Raphael Andriato (Brazil), Stefano Borchi (Italy), Roberto De Patre (Italy), Pier Paolo De Negri (Italy), Kevin Hulsmans (Belgium), Michele Merlo (Italy), Luigi Miletta (Italy)
United Healthcare
Roster: Lucas Euser (USA), Alessandro Bazzana (Italy), Ben Day (Australia), Aldo Ino Ilesic (Slovenia), Christopher Jones (USA), Jacobe Keough (USA), Jeff Louder (USA), John Murphy (USA)
Topsport Vlaanderen
Roster: Michael van Staeyen (Belgium), Jasper De Buyst (Belgium), Gijs van Hoecke (Belgium), Yves Lampaert (Belgium), Tim Mertens (Belgium), Jarl Salomein (Belgium), Kenneth Vanvilsen (Belgium), Sven Vandousselaere (Belgium)
Europcar
There were a total of three Canadian riders in today’s Scheldeprijs and David Veilleux was the first to be introduced, so I cheered like mad for him. The crowd had been incredibly sedate thus far, so the emcee and Veilleux were both a little surprised to hear such cheering. Gesturing towards me, the emcee asked Veilleux if his girlfriend was here, to which Veilleux responded with an embarrassed, “No.” I didn’t completely catch the next part as my French is a little poor these days but the emcee said something about a kiss before moving on to the next rider.
Far right being interviewed: Sebastian Chavanel (France)
Roster: Sebastian Turgot (France), David Veilleux (Canada), Sebastian Chavanel (France), Jerome Cousin (France), Damien Gaudin (France), Yohann Gene (France), Morgan Lamoisson (France), Bjorn Thurau (Germany)
Rusvelo
Roster : Valery Kaykov (Russia), Alexander Rybakov (Russia), Andrey Solomennikov (Russia), Roman Maikin (Russia), Victor Manakov (Russia), Ivan Savitsky (Russia), Serguei Klimov (Russia), Igor Boev (Russia)
Netapp
Roster: Russel Downing (UK), Markus Eichler (Germany), Roger Kluge (Germany), Ralf Matzka (Germany), Jonathan McEvoy (UK), Erick Rowsell (UK), Andreas Schillinger (Germany), Michael Schwarzmann (Germany)
Crelan-Euphony
Roster: Koen Barbe (Belgium), Kevin Claeys (Belgium), Joeri Bueken (Belgium), Kurt Hovelynck (Belgium), Kevin Peeters (Belgium), Baptiste Planckaert (Belgium), Stijn Steels (Belgium), Pieter Van Herck (Belgium)
Champion System
I got a smile and a wave from Ryan Roth (Canada) when I cheered for him! When the emcee introduced the South Korean rider, he asked if Jang thought North and South Korea would go to war soon! Jang responded by saying, “No, I hope peace.”
Matthew Brammeier, Irish road champion
Ryan Roth (left), Canadian road champion, and Chan Jae Jang (center), South Korean road champion
Roster: Clinton Robert Avery (New Zealand), Matthew Brammeier (Ireland), Kin San Wu (Hong Kong), Matthias Friedmann (Germany), Chan Jae Jong (South Korea), Mart Ojavee (Estonia), Fabian Schnaidt (Germany), Ryan Roth (Canada)
In case you’re wondering where I was standing to shoot these photos, here’s a picture of me with my friends (including their 21 month old son!) in the front row that we later found on the Antwerp Gazzette!
Vacansoleil
Right: Kris Boeckmans (Belgium)
Roster: Kris Boeckmans (Belgium), Juan Antonio Flecha (Spain), Romain Feillu (France), Bjorn Leukemans (Belgium), Barry Markus (Netherlands), Kenny Van Hummel (Netherlands), Woulter Mol (Netherlands), Danny Van Poppel (Netherlands)
Saxo Tinkoff
Roster: Matti Breschel (Denmark), Jonathan Cantwell (Australia), Jonas Aaen Jorgenson (Denmark), Christopher Juul Jensen (Denmark), Anders Lund (Denmark), Michael Morkov (Denmark), Matteo Tosatto (Italy)
Accent Jobs-Wanty
Roster: Steven Caethoven (Belgium), Jean Pierre Drucker (Luxembourg), Jerome Gilbert (Belgium), Tim De Troyer (Belgium), Roy Jans (Belgium). Staf Scheirlinckx (Belgium), James Vanlandschoot (Belgium)
Sky
Ian Stannard (center), UK road champion, and Bernhard Eisel (Austria)
Fifth from left: Geraint Thomas (UK)
Roster: Bernhard Eisel (Austria), Matthew Hayman (Australia), Salvatore Puccio (Italy), Luke Rowe (UK), Ian Stannard (UK), Christopher Sutton (Australia), Geraint Thomas (UK)
Leopard Trek
Left and center: Hayden Roulston (New Zealand), and Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), winner of Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen
Roster: Fabian Cancellera (Switzerland), Stijn Devolder (Belgium), Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spain), Yaroslav Popovych (Ukraine), Gregory Rast (Switzerland), Hayden Roulston (New Zealand)
Lotto Belisol
Roster: Kenny De Haes (Belgium), Jonas Vangenechten (Belgium), Gregory Hemderson (New Zealand), Frederik Willems (Belgium), Maarten Neyens (Belgium), Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spain), Frederique Robert (Belgium), Tosh Van Der Sande (Belgium)
Movistar
Francisco Jose Ventoso, Spanish road champion
Being interviewed: Jose Joaquin Rojas
Roster: Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spain), Alex Dowsett (UK), Imanol Erviti (Spain), Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spain), Jesus Herrada (Spain), Eloy Teruel (Spain), Francisco Jose Ventoso Alberdi (Spain), Giovanni Visconti (Italy)
FDJ
Looking like bank robbers in the freezing cold
Roster: Johan Le Bon (France), Yohan Offredo ((France), Arnaud Demare (France), William Bonnet (France), David Boucher (Belgium), Mickael Delage (France), Geoffrey Soule (France)
Katusha
Far right: Alexander Kristoff
Roster: Alexander Kristoff (Norway), Luca Paolini (Italy), Vladimir Gusev (Russia), Marco Haller (Austria), Vladimir Isaychev (Russia), Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Russia), Rudiger Selig (Germany), Gatis Smukulis (Lativa)
Blanco
Robert Wagner (Germany)
Roster: Theo Bos (Netherlands), Rick Flensing (Netherlands), Robert Wagner (Germany), Graeme Brown (Australia), Moreno Hofland (Netherlands), Mark Renshaw (Australia), Jos Van Emden (Netherlands), Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium)
AG2R
Hugo Houle, the third Canadian racing today, seemed pleased to have his own cheering section!
Left and center: Yauheni Hutarovich, Belarussian road champion, and Gediminas Bagdonas, Lithuanian road champion
Roster: Yauheni Hutarovich (Belarus), Davide Appollonio (Italy), Gediminas Bagdonas (Lithuania), Manuel Belletti (Italy), Steve Chainel (France), Hugo Houle (Canada), Valentin Iglinsky (Kazakhstan)
Astana
Left and far right: Assan Bazayev, Kazakh road champion, and Borut Bozic, Slovenian road champion
Roster: Andrea Guardini (Italy), Assan Bazayev (Kazakhstan), Borut Bozic (Slovenia), Evan Huffman (UsA), Jacopo Guarnieri (Italy), Arman Kamyshev (Kazakhstan), Ruslan Tleubayev (Kazakhstan), Dmitriy Muravyev (Kazakhstan)
Garmin
I’ve been a huge Jack Bauer fan since the men’s time trial at the Olympics last summer so I yelled, “GO JACK BAUER!” when he was introduced. It was, of course, otherwise dead silent so he heard me loud and clear, especially since he was about fifteen feet away, but he grinned a big smile and flashed two thumbs up so I was happy!
Tyler Farrar (USA) being interviewed in Flemish
Left to right: Jack Bauer (New Zealand) and Andreas Klier (Germany)
Roster: Tyler Farrar (USA), Jack Bauer (New Zealand), Andreas Klier (Germany), Martyn Maaskant (Netherlands), Jacob Rathe (USA), Sebastien Rosseler (Belgium), Raymond Kreder (Netherlands)
Euskatel Euskadi
Roster: Andre Schulze (Germany), Pello Bilbao (Spain), Ricardo Garcia Ambroa (Spain), Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Spain), Steffen Radochla (Germany), Adrian Saez (Spain), Alexander Serebryakov (Russia), Ioannis Tamouridis (Greece)
Argos Shimano
Defending 2012 Scheldeprijs champion: Marcel Kittel (Germany)
Roster: Marcel Kittel (Germany), Nikias Arndt (Germany), William Clarke (Australia), Roy Curvers (Netherlands), Bert De Backer (Belgium), Ramon Sinkeldam (Netherlands), Albert Timmer (Netherlands), Tom Veelers (Netherlands)
The sign-in roster after twenty four of the twenty five teams were presented.
Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Mark Cavendish (UK) being interviewed
Roster: Mark Cavendish (UK), Andrew Fenn (UK), Iljo Keisse (Belgium), Nikolas Maes (Belgium), Gert Steegmans (Belgium), Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Belgium), Stijn Vandenbergh (Belgium), Martin Velits (Slovakia)
I honestly couldn’t feel my toes from standing in the freezing cold for close to three hours but that wasn’t about to stop me from seeing the unofficial start of the race. I sprinted as best I could and claimed a spot in the second row where I saw the whole peloton ride by at a casual pace on their way to the official start 9.5 kilometers down the road.
Mark Cavendish (UK), Sky.
Later in the afternoon, we made it to see the end of the race, thanks to a very knowledgable and determined taxi driver. He dropped us off and pointed us in the right direction, so we set off and in no time we found the 2km to go sign!
As you can see, the road was empty so we continued up the road to see how far we could get. There was a great corner which would have given us a spectacular view but we decided to keep going and ended up at the 1km to go mark! I couldn’t believe it! I never thought I’d get to see a race pass through the final kilometer and certainly not by sauntering up to it less than an hour before the end of the race.
The helicopter started to whirl nearby and race vehicles barreled down the road, so we stayed put to watch the peloton pass.
It was hard to pick out individual cyclists since the entire peloton was still together at this late point in the race but I did catch Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland, Leopard Trek). I turned to watch the cyclists who had already passed me and I saw a huge chunk of bum peeking out from badly ripped shorts. Cancellara had crashed earlier in the race so his distinctive wound made him pretty noticeable!
There was a pub conveniently located at the 1km banner, so we dashed in to watch the finish on TV and realized that the peloton still had another 15km lap to go.
We hit the streets running and finally settled on a spot about 275 meters from the finish and where all of the team buses were parked. You can actually see the finish line in the first picture below underneath the pea green Scheldeprijs sign.
The road was dead straight so we had a beautiful view of the peloton approach and pass us.
Mark Cavendish (UK, Sky) on the far left.
Moments later, the race was over and Cavendish had finished second to the 2012 winner, Marcel Kittel (Germany, Argos Shimano).
Even though cyclists were still on the course and had yet to finish, the finishers had already turned around and were starting to ride back to their team buses.
Left to right: Assan Bazayev (Kazakhstan) and Jacopo Guarnieri (Italy) of Astana
We walked down the residential lane to watch the cyclists return to their buses. (I can’t imagine what I would do if a pro cycling team parked in my driveway on a Wednesday afternoon!)
Stijn Vandenbergh (Belgium, Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
Jacob Rathe (USA, Garmin)
Jack Bauer (New Zealand, Garmin)
Right (shivering!): Jonathan Cantwell (Australia, Saxo Tinkoff)
The woman in the window was wondering what all the commotion was about.
No sign of winner Marcel Kittel (Germany) or his bike, but his teammates’ bikes were all parked in front of the Argos Shimano bus.
We had lingered as long as we felt we could get away with without being creepy (my raincoat made me a recognizable Smurf and several of the riders noticed me at the morning’s team presentation after all). As we walked back towards town in search of a bus, I realized Cavendish was riding towards us. He seemed absolutely crestfallen. In the morning he had said that he was especially eager to win today because it was his daughter’s first birthday, but it seemed that his lead out train failed him and he ended up with a disappointing second place. I said a sympathetic, “Hi, Cav,” and he responded with a sad smile. His daughter is too young to appreciate how hard her father tried to bring her a unique birthday present, but I have no doubt that she is one very loved child.
Further up the road, I found a much happier Barry Markus (Belgium, Vacansoleil) who finished in third place.
I know the Scheldeprijs isn’t one of the bigger races, but it is rare to get so close so easily to the riders, so I will definitely follow this race closely in the future! Below, Cameron, Beckett, and I on the finish line.
Results
1. Marcel Kittel, Germany, Argos Shimano, 4:42:20
2. Mark Cavendish, UK, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, same time
3. Barry Markus, Belgium, Vacansoleil, same time
4. Andrea Guardini, Italy, Astana, same time
5. Alexander Kristoff, Norway, Katusha, same time
6. Tyler Farrar, USA, Garmin, same time
7. Kenny Dehaes, Belgium, Lotto Belisol, same time
8. Theo Bos, Netherlands, Blanco, same time
9. Roman Feillu, France, Vacansoleil, same time
10. Michael Van Staeyen, Belgium, Topsport Vlaanderen, same time
