It felt strange to be absent from the sign on this morning but that was the plan all along. We were headed to the Muur, a famous cobblestone hill with an average gradient of 9.3% and a maximum gradient of 19.8%. In other words, it’s steep! The Muur is a fabled climb in the world of cycling. It has been featured in many different races but was best known as the decisive climb in the Ronde Van Vlaanderen until recent years when the race course hasn’t included the cobbled climb.
The view downhill from near the top of the steepest section.
Looking uphill to the turn.
Since the pros find the Muur infamously difficult, amateurs can’t resist trying it themselves. There was an amateur race about an hour before the professional peloton arrived and only a couple of riders had to dismount and walk their bikes uphill.
When the professional cyclists arrived, it was Ian Stannard leading a small breakaway up the climb. Left to right: Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Pim Ligthart, and Ian Stannard.
The breakaway included Andre Greipel in the red jersey, Giacomo Nizzolo, Manuele Boaro, Ruben Perez Moreno, and Julian Kern.
They had several minutes on the peloton. I was astounded to see how fast they rode rounding the corner and hitting the steepest section.
Daniel Oss, Tom Dumoulin in the race leader’s white jersey, and Sylvain Chavanel led the charge.
As the riders climbed, their heads bobbed left to right like toy boats in stormy water. The peloton was still pretty cohesive and while their speed was impressive, I was able to pick out my favorites like Maciej Bodnar, Tyler Farrar, Aidis Kruopis (who gave a legendary fist pump when we cheered for him), Francois Parisien, and Svein Tuft, who looked like he was going to crack up laughing when I began yelling his name.
Russian champion Vladimir Isaychev and Danilo Napolitano were among the last up the climb.
A few minutes later, both riders rode down the hill. Since neither was well placed in the general classification, I guess they saw no reason to ride another 60+ kilometers and climb the Muur again, so they abandoned. In fact, the second time the peloton passed, it was remarkably smaller due to so many riders abandoning. In the end, just 111 of the original 168 cyclists finished the weeklong race.
As we waited for the second and final lap, a journalist from a local Belgian station approached me after noticing my Canadian flag and did a short interview.
While people walked up the Muur, trying to find a better spot, this little kid on this big bike rode up the whole climb! And he didn’t weave nearly as much as half the amateurs who had done it! Chapeau!
The breakaway was down to just a couple of minutes advantage and down to just 2 riders: Ian Stannard and Andre Greipel.
The next 2 riders to round the corner were Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and Pim Ligthart.
Chavanel and Oss led the peloton up the climb.
Tom Dumoulin and Lars Boom were about 2 bike lengths behind.
At this point, everyone was hurting. For the first time all week, I didn’t get much of a reaction from the cyclists when I cheered their names. The riders grunted, grimaced, and bared their teeth like dogs in a fight. It wasn’t pretty (but it was exciting to watch!).
Daryl Impey.
Koldo Fernandez.
Francois Parisien.
Svein Tuft.
Tom Veelers and Roy Curvers.
With around 25 kilometers to go, we figured the finish area would be too packed to get much of a view of the finish or podium, so we made our way towards the team buses instead. We happened to time it well as we arrived shortly before the peloton passed with about 10k left. Ian Stannard had dropped Greipel and rode solo.
Not far behind were Chavanel, Oss, Wilco Kelderman, and Greipel.
Tom Dumoulin had none of his Argos teammates with him and, at this late pointing the race, it was highly unlikely he would keep the white jersey and win overall.
Meanwhile, Laurens De Vreese was guaranteed the black jersey so long as he finished the day.
Robbie Hunter and Tim Declerq.
Francois Parisien.
Stijn Vandenbergh.
Alexander Porsev tried to eat a snack while negotiating a roundabout.
Bradley Wiggins and Chris Sutton.
Svein Tuft and Bernie Eisel.
When the last of the riders passed, we crossed the street to the team buses. Soon after, the first of the riders trickled in. Below: Andre Greipel.
Since there weren’t any speakers here, we had no idea who had won the stage and if Dumoulin had managed to hang on for the overall win. Watching the riders coming in to their buses, everyone looked absolutely spent (with the single exception of Tyler Farrar who said a cheery, “Hey!” when he saw me as a fan ran alongside him, nattering away). Not a single rider looked celebratory, so we couldn’t even figure out which team had won and we weren’t about to ask a team about the results.
Movistar’s bike frames, wheels, and luggage.
Luggage belonging to Lars Boom and teammates.
Saxo Tinkoff mechanics.
An Orica GreenEdge mechanic cleaned Sebastian Langeveld’s bike as kids waited around, hoping for water bottles or other team souvenirs.
Euskaltel bikes of Ioannis Tamouridis, Jon Aberasturi, and Jure Kocjan.
Not knowing the final result after following the Eneco Tour for the whole week felt a little anticlimactic, but I was happy just to have been able to say one last hello to my favorite riders. Since last Sunday, I filled my Canadian flag with autographs from half the peloton, got to regularly chat with some of my absolute favorite riders, and saw some great bike racing. What a fabulous week.
Results
Stage win: Zdenek Stybar
Points red jersey: Lars Boom (100 points to Greipel’s 99)
Combativity black jersey: Laurens De Vreese
Overall race winner: Zdenek Stybar
Huge thanks to the Cole family for your hospitality this week! Dank u wel! See you at Ronde Van Vlaanderen? 😉