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

 

Easter Sunday saw the 97th edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, better known as the Tour of Flanders to the English speaking world.

 

In researching our trip to Europe to watch the Spring Classics, my friend discovered a package tour that would not only deliver us to eight different spots to watch the race, but would also give us access to the team area in the morning before the race! So, with her husband spending the day with their two year old son, Cameron and I set off to follow the Tour of Flanders.

 

Around 8:30am, the first of the twenty six team buses arrived in ‘t Zand (nope, that’s not a typo, that’s just Flemish!), a central square in Brugge. The riders from Team Saxo Tinkoff mostly stayed in their warm bus rather than venture out in the cold Belgian morning, but their mechanics were kind enough to place the team bikes in a central spot so that fans could snap photos. Below, Michael Morkov of Denmark returning his bike after taking it for a quick spin around the square.

 

My favorite team, Garmin-Sharp, parked not long after. Soon, the team buses began to pull in every couple of minutes until ‘t Zand was packed with buses, bikes, eager spectators, and the odd cyclist out for a short warm up ride.

 

The boys from Europcar looking nervous.

 

Some buses were more crowded than others. Not surprisingly, Omega Pharma-Quick Step (say that five times fast!) was a zoo as fans and the press alike were impatient to catch a glimpse of Belgian national champion and race favorite Tom Boonen. Boonen waited for the last minute to emerge, which meant Cameron missed seeing her favorite rider in person.

 

BMC, Sky, and and Radioshack Leopard (below) were also totally mobbed.

 

It really was a little overwhelming to be in such a small area with so much activity going on.

 

I figured my time would be best spent wandering the square and returning to the Garmin bus every few minutes. My strategy paid off as I got to chat with staff from Orica Greenedge, wave excitedly to a handful of riders warming up, and get a photo with Andreas Klier of Garmin!

 

With all the excitement of cyclist spectating, Cameron and I had to run to catch our bus before it departed for the day. The plan was for the bus to deposit us along the route in eight different spots to watch the cycling as the race traveled two hundred fifty six kilometers across Flanders. There were about thirty to thirty five people in our group, mostly groups of men and couples from Belgium. The first viewing spot was only a few kilometers after the official start. Spectators lined the road, waving the flag of Flanders.

 

Unlike the Tour de France, there is no publicity caravan in advance of the peloton, though there were at least a dozen race vehicles and numerous police and press motorcycles.

 

The first cyclist to speed past was Luxembourger Jean Pierre Drucker from Accent Jobs-Wanty (the riders are graceful, the team names are not). Even though I’ve seen before how fast the riders move, it always stuns me. In a matter of moments, the entire peloton of over two hundred athletes had ridden by and everyone from our bus tour was sprinting back to the bus. Not long after, the bus tour leader made an announcement over the loudspeaker in Flemish. I didn’t understand a word he said but when every Belgian on the bus groaned in disappointment, it could only mean one thing: Tom Boonen had crashed out of the race.

We took the highway to reach the town of Wevelgem before the riders. About two hundred sixteen kilometers remained in the race from here. A breakaway of five riders had escaped the peloton: (left to right, below) Alex Dowsett (UK, Movistar), a rider from Team Netapp-Endura, Andreas Klier (Germany, Garmin), and riders from AG2R and Lotto-Belisol.

Back to bus for a longer drive before we ate boxed lunches and stood on the roadside in Anzegem, teeth chattering, waiting for the riders. It was definitely cold but it was also great people watching. I spotted supporters of Euskatel-Euskadi holding their flag in the Basque style alongside a miserable looking but well bundled child on her dad’s shoulders.

The composition of the breakaway had changed with one hundred seventy kilometers to go and now included riders from Blanco, Saxo Tinkoff, Crelan-Euphony, Lotto-Belisol, Garmin, and two additional riders from different teams. By now the cyclists had been going hard for over two hours and yet the peloton looked reasonably comfortable as they rode by.

Johan Van Summeren (Belgium, Garmin).

We drove to a spot around Zwalm and Roborst with about one hundred twenty kilometers left. The way the road snaked through the hills, we could see a seven man break away heading towards us from a good distance. With a chasing group of five riders hot in pursuit, the leaders went by so fast that I wasn’t able to get any decent close up shots.

The chasing five.

We had to jump back on our bus in order to reach the next spot in time, which was just a little up the road, somewhere around Rozebeke where one hundred ten kilometers remained. Here the course took a tight left hand turn, so there were plenty of spectators already there. Determined to get the best possible vantage point, Cameron and I decided to sit in the brambles since no one else was there.

And what a view! Since it was a tight turn, the riders had to slow down a fair amount, which made it easier to pick out riders like Ian Stannard of Sky and RadioShack Leopard’s Fabian Cancellara (second picture below).

The cyclists had always zoomed by incredibly close to the curb so far but on this particular turn they were so close that I could clearly hear their heavy breathing!

The Tour of Flanders goes through the countryside, so it wasn’t a big surprise when the roadside in Sint Maria Horebeke (ninety two kilometers to go) smelled of manure. Six riders (two from Blanco, two from Lotto-Belisol, and two from two different teams) had the lead but were quickly followed by Stuart O’Grady (Australia, Orica Greenedge) and riders from Movistar and Saxo Tinkoff.

Support crew stood on the side of the road, ready with spare tires and water bottles to hand to their riders.

Below, Danilo Hondo (Germany, Radioshack Leopard) with a fresh water bottle.

Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in the French road champion’s jersey.

We hurried back to the bus to watch the cyclists face the famous Koppenberg hill. This cobble stone climb lasts for six hundred meters with an average gradient of 11.6%. Because the maximum gradient is an incredible 22% and the cobble stone road is so narrow, the peloton generally has to slow down so much that they come to a virtual stand and the riders stuck at the back must then run up the hill while carrying their bikes.

Our penultimate watching spot was a turn near Maarkedal with just sixty kilometers to go to the finish line.

Once again, the riders in the break away had changed and a small group rode by with the peloton not far behind.

There was a chaotic moment when we got to Ronse (twenty six kilometers remaining) as we just caught the tail end of the peloton pass by before the entire crowd scrambled to get a good spot to watch the riders climb up Hoogberg Hill. As I was trying to figure out which way to go, a man unexpectedly shoved something in my hand as well as in Cameron’s, saying with a smile, “Here!” They were spare water bottles from Vini Fantini, an Italian team! Cameron was quick enough to shout, “Grazie!” to the generous support crew. What a great surprise! The bottle I got was labeled “Gatto” for Oscar Gatto, while Cameron’s was unlabeled.

We were able to pick a good spot on the Hoogberg and had plenty of time to people watch. I noticed that Garmin’s support crew were directly across the street from us, so I made a mental note to see if I could score a free souvenir after the peloton had passed.

The peloton was visible from across a large field.

With less than thirty kilometers left in the race, the break away was falling apart. An Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider was chased by a Vacansoleil rider, with Lotto-Belisol and a handful of other cyclists hot on their heels.

 

Despite hours of tough riding, the peloton looked strong. In this photo below, Fabian Cancellara is the fifth face from the left, behind two of his teammates and two Astana riders.

Greg van Avermaet (Belgium, BMC) in number forty eight and Edvald Boassan Hagen (Norway, Sky) in the Norweigan road champion’s jersey.

As soon as the peloton had passed, I scurried across the street to the Garmin guys. Several people got to them first and were all turned away empty handed. Not one to give up, I saddled up to one of them and said in a loud whisper, “You don’t have to tell anyone if you give me a water bottle.” He looked over his shoulders and grinned, “Take it!” Success! Two water bottles!

Since we wouldn’t get to see the finish line, we joined the masses heading across some poor farmer’s field to watch the few remaining kilometers of the race on a giant screen.

As the kilometers ticked by, Fabian Cancellara’s lead grew incredibly. The field cheered as he rode away from Peter Sagan (Slovakia, Cannondale) to win by almost a minute and a half and they roared with delight to see fellow Belgian Jurgen Roelandts of Lotto-Belisol place a comfortable third place behind Sagan.

Hard to believe that just that morning, this square had hosted over two dozen teams, their accompanying staff and equipment, and a few hundred excited fans.

 

To watch on TV, this may not have been the most exciting Ronde van Vlaanderen ever, but to see it live in person was absolutely thrilling.

 

Results of the 2013 Ronde van Vlaanderen

1. Fabian Cancellara, Switzerland, RadioShack Leopard, 6:05:58

2. Peter Sagan, Slovakia, Cannondale, +1:28

3. Jurgen Roelandts, Belgium, Lotto-Belisol, +1:38

4. Alexander Kristoff, Norway, Katusha, +1:40

5. Matthieu Ladagnous, France, same time

6. Heinrich Haussler, Australia, IAM Cycling, same time

7. Greg van Avermaet, Belgium, BMC, same time

8. Sebastian Turgot, France, Europcar, same time

9. John Degenkolb, Germany, Argos-Shimano, same time

10. Sebastian Langeveld, Netherlands, Orica Greenedge, same time