By far, the most formal team presentation I've seen to date: a tent, a band, even chairs for the spectators! Of course, I stood by the fence where I figured I'd have a better shot of saying hi to the riders.
Cofidis.
Lotto Belisol.
Trek Factory Racing.
BMC.
The crowd was reasonably sedate but they did get pretty pumped when local boy Philippe Gilbert was introduced–one of the commentators even serenaded Gilbert!
Topsport Vlaanderen.
IAM Cycling.
Garmin(!).
I won't pretend to be neutral: this is my favorite team and several of my favorites are racing LBL! So even though the audience wasn't doing much more other than politely cheering, I couldn't help but give a rousing, “Navardauskas!” when he was introduced.
Dan Martin, defending champion.
When Garmin left the stage, Navardauskas, Nathan Haas, and Ryder Hesjedal all said a familiar hi to me, which I especially enjoyed as it bewildered the annoying guy next to me.
Last week at Brabantse Pijl, Dan Martin moaned that I hadn't left him a big enough space to do a big signature, so today I had a photo of last year's LBL win just for his autograph. He laughed that I was so accommodating, but when he handed the marker back to me, he complained that it was brown. There's just no pleasing some people.
FDJ.
Belkin.
Europcar.
Today is Perrig Quemener's 30th birthday so the band played him “happy birthday.”
Giant Shimano. I'm always happy to see Simon Geschke (and his beard) and Johannes Fröhlinger.
Cannondale.
Omega Pharma Quick Step.
Sky. Apparently half the team was on a late flight as only Danny Pate, Nathan Earle, Josh Edmondson, and David Lopez attended the presentation.
Colombia. I'm thrilled that my favorite South American country is so well represented in the peloton.
Movistar.
Tinkoff Saxo.
Mick Rogers is returning to racing for the first time since he tested positive for clenbuterol after his Japan Cup win last fall. This week it was decided that he had eaten contaminated meat, though he was still stripped of his win (which went to Garmin rider Jack Bauer).
Orica GreenEdge.
Katusha.
Astana.
AG2R.
Lampre.
Rui Costa.
Wanty Group.
MTN Qhubeka. The band played “We are the world” as they walked on stage, which just felt oh so wrong. Songezo Jim, who I first met at Ronde Van Vlaanderen and again at Scheldeprijs, recognized me immediately and flashed a huge grin from the stage. I'm guessing there aren't too many other people in Belgium who recognize him.
Netapp Endura.
Exodus.
Today's 22 autographs came from: Darwin Atapuma, Warren Barguil, Edward Beltran, Natneal Berhane, Matthew Bushe, David de la Cruz, Leonardo Duque, Tony Gallopin, Jesus Herrada, Maxim Iglinskiy, Michal Kwiatkowski, Gustav Erik Larsson, Dan Martin, Christian Meier, Marko Minnaard, Matej Mohoric, Przemyslaw Niemiec, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Danny Pate, Christophe Riblon, Preben Van Hecke, and Jussi Veikkanen.
The countdown continues!
