If it's Wednesday, it must mean cycling in Belgium! Today was the 102nd Scheldeprijs, won by Marcel Kittel the last 2 years.
Maple syrup's unofficial spokesman, Ted King!
After a bus, a tram, and a drive (and only one circle), we drove under the 1k to go banner.
The course featured 3 laps plus the finish. A 6 man breakaway had about 3 minutes advantage with over 50k to go.
The peloton.
Lap 2 breakaway.
And the peloton.
Third lap and their lead was quickly diminishing.
The peloton on the chase.
I respect this man's eyebrows.
The bell rang and everyone scrambled to get the best view possible of the sprint finish.
From 100 meters out, it was clear that Kittel had it, but what I was thrilled about wasto see Tyler Farrar come in second!
After crossing the finish line, the riders all pulled a U turn and rode to their buses. When Tom Boonen rode by, the crowd went absolutely nuts. That's what happens when Boonen's in Belgium.
The diamond studded trophy worth €50,000 would go to Kittel, the first man to win 3 consecutive years.
Tyler on the podium! Even better was him waving to me from the podium!
Danny Van Poppel was third to grab the final podium spot.
Kittel was really eager for them to all spray their champagne, so it was pretty funny to watch them all struggle to open their bottles. In the end, Kittel couldn't remove his cork, but Tyler and Danny saved the day.
Walking back to the car, we took the scenic route and passed all of the melee at the team buses and cars.
Today's 22 autographs: 26 Marcel Sieberg, 27 Boris Vallée, 28 Jonas Vangenechten, 33 Steve Chainel, 62 Silvan Dillier, 66 Greg Van Avermaet, 71 Peter Sagan, 73 Ted King, 81 Arnaud Démare, 93 Lasse Norman Hansen, 98 Steele Von Hoff, 108 Bjorn Thurau, 118 Gatis Smukulis, 133 Markel Irizar, 137 Jesse Sergent, 141 Kenny Van Hummel, 154 Gert Jõeäär, 181 Francesco Chicchi, 204 Zak Dempster, 211 Michael Van Staeyen, 215 Tom Van Asbroeck, and 231 Danilo Napolitano.
