Nys came away with a solid 8th in the afternoon stage today to Boonen. Lars Boom is also having a great ride. The cross boys are really riding well!

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Boom is performing less better tham a few weeks ago. He won a time trial en rode better.
Nijs is a good shape what i've seen. He's very alert and in the endsprint he compete.He's training his sprint for the CX-races against Wellens and co.
At this moment the 4th stage has a lead group with Richard Groenendaal.

Simon.. watch out for that people;)

Other cross guys as well are riding great at this moment. I rode a hard race with the Fidea team last weekend: in the hilly section in the middle of the race suddenly Bart Wellens started a duo-attack with team-mate and cyclo-cross world champ Erwin Vervecken. Quite impressive, and Wellens took the "mountain prize". I have to make the remark that, by the end of the race, Wellens and Vervecken felt back. Fidea-riders Jan Verstraeten and Kevin Pauwels were in the first group and sprinted to 3rd and 8th place.

Some other riders were not in top shape yet: Peter Van Santvliet and Wim Jacobs abandonned quite soon. I suddenly met Camiel Van den Bergh on a steep flemish hill going very slow; I spoke to him after the race, and he's really nice guy (he was riding SRM, and told me he is planning to import SRM in the Netherlands through his own shop).

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that's some good news!! I like it to hear that Erwin and Bart are in good shape.

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Scott CR1 6.67 kg

Gadret was also quite impressive in the Giro

and broke in the giro his clavicula:s

did gadret ride with the clavicula crank ont his teambike? ( picture?)
i don't like the look of those b'Twin racing bikes

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Good luck Sheldon Brown and may Igor fly with you.

Here is he, with his broken clavicula






I forgot to say I rode races with some other cross pros as well. I was in the Triptyque Ardennais (stage race won my English champ Russell Downing) with Maarten Nijland, Wilant Van Gils (in his national selection), Ricardo VDVelde, etc. It's early in the season and they did well in such a hard race. - see pictures from wielerfoto.wimdelouw.nl
I noticed some weeks ago my former team mate Jan Soetens (now cyclocross pro in team Jartazi) is riding hard on training.

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I raced against Gerben de Knegt & van Gils last sunday, good to see them back on the (mountain)bike. It's not that I can keep up with them any better on the mountainbike than on the 'cross bike, but still...

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Chains to the right!

I have met those cross guys riding road races on accasion as well. I know they are pro's and mostly ride amongst amateurs but still I think they do very good also considering this is only preparation for the cx season for them and they do some tough races as well. They are all really good road riders as well and I thought it was cool to ride together with Nys and Wellens etc. as well on the road
C a s r a n, how did you do in the triptique, weather didn't look all to good?

Lol... you find a picture of me, Christian.
I really wasn't pleased with the wheather indeed. I was training in the Ardennes a week before when the wheather was great, just like summer... and then, when I had to race over these roads, it was terrible: the first stage we had rain, wind and hail all day. I'm the kind of rider who can't perform that well under these conditions, and on a fast rainy descent the back of the peloton lost contact with the main group... I tried to ride back to the front on the next climb but did not succeed. We lost some minutes.
The second stage started in dry wheather, but on the longest climb (Baraque Michel, one of the highest points of Belgium) we suddenly got stuck into a thunderstorm: lots of water and hail coming over us, stormwind, several centimeters of water on the roads, a limited sight of about 10 meter... pfff, some riders got really cold. It was a tricky decision they didn't neutralize the race there. I abandonned the race a bit later. - second picture is just when the rain started only a little bit
Well, quite frustrating my performances were limited due to these extreme conditions, but I'm glad I did not get sick (I only had a nasty cough for about a week, making me lose contact with a brakeaway in a small race in my own village ), and after all I felt my legs were pretty good... so that's the good conclusion after a very unlucky first part of my season.

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They did a mountainbike race last weekend?

What is in fact the plan of these guys... Do they just switch from road races to mountainbike, and then back to cx races next summer?


btw: nice website, Exar!

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I know De Knegt was a mountainbiker before he did CX, don't know about van Gils, but I can't recall having seen him on a mountainbike last year, whereas he did at least two races this year, the same goes for Camiel van den Bergh (he was at the Beneluxcomp in Oldenzaal but he either wasn't trying or wasn't in good form, because he rode around position 50 and quit the race after like 2 hours).


@C a s r a n: thanx! I merely supply the content... If you're interested in a training ride you should go to Ronse this weekend, heat #3 of the Benelux Competition, Nijs and Meirhaeghe should also be there.

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Chains to the right!

Thx, nice suggestion, but I'm too busy Sunday. Besides I'm even worse in mountainbike, due to a total lack of a good steering technique off road, than my humble performances on the road... whatever, it's the joy of racing, the efforts I do and the determination that keeps me riding, not my talent since I can't change the latter.

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