The second greatest day in Belgium cycling

The 92nd edition of the Ronde is in the books and I am buying Primus for everyone!! Tough man Stijn Devolder has taken the win today for all of Belgium. Rode away with about 25k to go and rode over the Muur and Bosberg by himself. It was touch and go with about 5k to go with Nuyens and Flecha but he had the power to hold them off.

Got up early and turned on http://www.cyclingfans.com/ to see who had the live feed and low and behold, Eruosport was open to the world. Big Brian and Dash called from AZ to let me know that over at http://www.cycling.tv/ you can use the same login on multiple machines so there was a backup plan.

Up the race came with 70k to go and we are off races fans. Was just sitting down to breakfast when the Koppenberg came up and Tommeke was powering up and killing the field. A couple of k's later and there is Leif Hoste, standing in the middle of the road with a dead bike and no team car in sight...that feeling has to suck!!

A few minutes later, Angel Gomez from Sanuier Duval had one of the biggest crashes I have ever seen. He is chasing with his head down and runs straight away into a parking island, the cop with his flag had to move so he would not get hit. Carbon Scott bike and Mavic wheels everyone...dont think the mechanic will be able to put that back together.

From there it was all Stijn, all the time. He waited for attacks to come back from Oscar Freire and Thor. Decieded it was time to hit the GO button on the Eikenmolen at 25k and waved bye bye. A great win for him in the tri-color of Belgium national champ.

Next up on the menu is Gent Wevelgem on Wednesday as Flanders week heads down the road and then Sunday, the greatest day in French cycling, Paris Roubaix.

Big Brian, Dash and I have always bet on races since we met. Tour, Giro, Classics, City Park, 2 kids on bigwheels riding down the driveway, it does not matter who is in it. We have a 3 rider parlay going for this week. You get 20 points for a win and 2 pts for 20th and you get 1 point for your guy finishing the race.

For Flanders, here were our picks

Brian - Fabian Cancellara

Dash - Phillipe Gilbert

Rich - Sylvian Chavanel

The highest points after next Sunday wins and the 2 losers have to buy beers at the Cheeky Monk.

Update - Let me also add that Velonews SUCKS!!! They have a story on George with the title of : Can Hincapie suprise at Flanders? But they have a picture of him in a Disco jersey from 2 years ago!!! Bettini is right behind him in a regular QS jersey...he has been WC for 2 years now. Note to VN staff: Get a current picture of George or dont put up anything...you look like you dont know anything about cycling!!!

Velonews - tuning into the "People" magazine for the cycling industry