Eneco Tour stage 1

So what do I do when I get to the sign on well before the cyclists (and the rest of the fans)? Today I used the time to finish a new sign for Garmin I started late last night while watching Tom Danielson win the Tour of Utah.

Eventually, more fans showed up and the cyclists did, too, though they certainly took their sweet time this morning. They have a one hour window for signing in and not a single rider showed up for the first 20 minutes. After 30 minutes, just a couple of Euskaltel guys and all of Topsport Vlaanderen had signed in.

Euskaltel kept rolling in and I was pretty excited to see Ioannis Tamouridis, the current Greek champion. I saw him race in Scheldeprijs and the Giro earlier this year and today he was the first person to sign my new Canadian flag.

Waiting excitedly for the peloton.

Hugo Houle was the first Canadian to sign in and he proudly signed my flag and even posed for a picture.

Several BMC boys came to sign in together. I picked out Taylor Phinney right off the bat. He’s a rider I love to watch race and have never had the chance to meet him. He parked his bike and I yelled his name as he started to walk towards the stage and he made a beeline for me and gave me a high 5!

After he had signed in, he came over to sign my flag. I often ask riders how their legs are feeling but with Taylor, I asked how his hair was doing since it was so remarkable at the team presentation last night.

As always, Marcus Burghardt came over to say hi and talk with Fien.

Pretty soon the cyclists were pouring in! It was hard to focus since my brain kept flashing with the names of different riders, but it was mental chaos of the most wonderful sort. Guillaume Boivin was super nice and looked really happy to sign my flag. (Note fellow Canadian Dominique Rollin just behind Boivin.)

Just as Guillaume was leaving, Francois Parisien arrived and the two greeted each other excitedly. It’s nice to see the Canadians all get along (especially since there aren’t too many)! Francois was excited to sign for me and we had a nice, quick conversation. I feel like I’m constantly saying that so-and-so is the nicest guy in the peloton and I’d like to add Francois to that list!

Garmin rolled up together as the zero hour approached and I got autographs from Robbie Hunter and Johan Vansummeren. I waved my new banner for the team and Navardouskus, who I’m fairly sure recognized me from the Tour de France, seemed impressed by my arts and crafts skills.

Here I am, not getting Alessandro Petacchi’s signature.

In all, I collected an astounding 19 signatures! I’m pretty sure that’s a new personal best. My flag was signed by #16 Taylor Phinney, #18 Danilo Wyss, #28 Stijn Vandenbergh, #58 Lieuwe Westra, #71 Stijn Devolder, #79 Jan Bakelants, #96 Gatis Smukulis, #103 Robbie Hunter, #108 Johan Vansummeren, #116 Francois Parisien, #131 Svein Tuft, #138 Jens Keukeleire, #139 Pieter Weening, #142 Guillaume Boivin, #153 Alex Dowsett, #162 Davide Appollonio, #166 Hugo Houle, #167 Julian Kern, and #178 Ioannis Tamouridis. It was great getting to see some of the riders I had met during the Tour de France and realizing that Svein, Marcus, and Jan Bakelandts clearly remembered me.

But it wasn’t just autograph hunting–I came to see a race! So Fien and I raced to the barriers to watch the official start and even had time to hang up my Canadian flag. Left to right: Garmin, RadioShack, Luke Durbridge, Ioannis Tamouridis, AG2R, Johnny Hoogerland, Svein Tuft, and Philippe Gilbert.

Bradley Wiggins and Sylvain Chavanel having a chat at the back.

The course took the cyclists on a loop and when they returned 17 kilometers later, Laurens De Vreese of Topsport Vlaanderen had a short lead on one of his teammates and a rider from Accent Jobs Wanty, but around a 7 minute advantage over the peloton.

The peloton, in no particular hurry.

From here, we bolted to the car with Fien’s family and we drove to Ardooie to catch the cyclists make 2 laps before crossing the finish line.

At the 1km banner.

We were lucky to find some space just shy of the finish line and directly across from the victory podium.

The same 3 riders maintained their breakaway from the start but their lead was now down to just a couple of minutes.

The peloton, led by Francois Parisien.

Philippe Gilbert and Taylor Phinney.

You know you’re in Belgium when a police officer in uniform at a cycling race crosses the street to hand a beer to his fire fighter buddy and then grabs a beer for himself.

On the next lap, the 3 escapees were seconds away from being swallowed up by the peloton, now led by Svein Tuft.

You can see the VIP tents across from my view so we were able to watch the peloton catch the breakaway shortly after passing us. With just 2km to go, Mark Renshaw made a move and was able to stay away all the way to the finish line.

Greipel pulled away to finish second.

When the last rider had come in, the barriers were adjusted so that fans could watch the podium from three sides, instead of the usual one.

Renshaw received flowers, a trophy, and a magnum of beer for his stage win.

He left the podium, only to return seconds later to receive the white leader’s jersey and a panda.

One final time on the podium for Renshaw today and it was to put on the red points jersey.

The black jersey for combativity went to Laurens De Vreese.

Nineteen signatures, lots of opportunities to interact with cyclists, and seeing the peloton 5 times? It’s safe to say the Eneco Tour is off to a great start in my book.