Monday, April 21, 2025

Omloop Het Volk & Kuurne Brussels Kuurne 2008 – Day 2

-

HomeDiariesOmloop Het Volk & Kuurne Brussels Kuurne 2008 - Day 2

Getting to Flanders yesterday was painful – a two hour delay at Prestwick, then a battle through the rush hour traffic on the Brussels ring road. We’re here for the Kuurne Brussels Kuurne.

Dave and I are getting good at indiscriminate lane changing and not indicating, but we really have to brush up on our tail-gating technique if we want to drive in the authentic Belgian fashion.

The mission for last night was to have a ‘few’ beers with Dirk Van Hove. Dirk gave me a lot of help with my Gary Wiggins tribute and is a mine of information about Belgian racing.

The dull ache in my head and desperate need for sleep all day Saturday indicated that we had perhaps gone past the defined ‘few’ boundary.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
The winner-to-be fights his way back to the bus after signing-on. There’s Freddy Maertens!

Anyway, we were up skeking bikes early this morning – to some this ritual is sad, but it’s one we never tire of.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
Even with race radios, the pro’s need a little reminder of what’s to come.
Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
Freddy Maertens.

There’s no room for ‘trick’ machines in Belgium, what gets respect are “tools”, no-nonsense hardware that takes the cobbles and bergs in its stride.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
Tomas Buchacek – PSK Whirlpool.

Viktor is our style pundit – haute couture? Ridley, Lapierre, BH. Passé? we’ll say no more, I have friends who run bike shops and websites!

Viktor and I disagree on the Kogas of Skil-Shimano, I think they are cool, Vik says that the blue paint is wearing-on for; “flamboyant, like a f***ing Mercian!”

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
We bet you do have an opinion about this…

Viktor has also come down heavily against Slipstream’s Argyle, but the mere fact that we’re debating the subject, means that it’s doing what it’s supposed to – generate interest and publicity. We like it here though – it’s different.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
Stuey tweaks just before the off.

It was sunny but very blowy at the roll out, Bettini was stone last and not looking like he was motivated to be there.

We headed off to the Berendries climb; our modus operandi is to see the start and catch the action a couple of times on the road, then watch the finalé in a bar.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
Burgers on the Berendries. These boys maybe want to consider a different name for their enterprise!!

Berendries is almost exactly halfdistance – 100 kilometres – and the tail-wind-driven break was around six minutes clear at this stage. The bunch was being lead by QuickStep, who appeared to be relaxed about the staus quo. The peloton didn’t appear to be stressed either, but the faces of the guys off the back told a different story.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
The bunch swarms over the Berendries.
Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
Stragglers on the Berendries.

Next stop was the Eickenberg climb at 150 kilometres; the break was still clear and it was on this nippy ramp that Gilbert turned on the afterburners. He was flying over the cobbles and he only stopped for breath once he had bridged-up to the break. Boonen didn’t look like a winner here, nor did Steegmans. There was no unch anymore, just little groups of survivors.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
David Boucher slides off the back of the break on the Eikenberg.
Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
That is one heck of a seatpost! Wee Stanislav Kozubek of Whirlpool’s Author.

It was bar time and we had our Diet Cokes and coffee (it was Sunday afternoon before we could face pils again) in front of us on the table just on 40 kilometres to go.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
Thor meets the press.

Gilbert’s win was in the grand style and just to rub salt in the QuickStep wound, burrito boy Mike Friedman, resplendent in Argyle, was 14th with the laminated flooring team’s best 16th.

On the way back to Ghent we stopped off at Oudenaarde to see how the Flanders shop was faring without Frans Assez at the helm. The ex-pro and boss of the Flanders pro team would have made a world class window salesman – his patter was the best. Frans died two years ago, leaving a massive gap in a sport that can’t be filled.

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
Ronny Assez.

His son Ronny was a fair professional rider in his day and according to Vik; “he could suffer like a dog!” He’s a good talker too and as he showed us the latest carbon Flanders offering, all the way from China – just like yours – he explained; “We do this for 1,000 euros, but if we have a pro team, it must be 2,000 euros – to pay for the team!”

When we asked about the Pinarello replica, ‘double radius’ front forks, he explained; “Pinarello had the patent for a couple of years, but it’s expired now, so anyone can make them.”

We said our farewells to Ronny and headed for the world’s slowest Pizza Hut; which just happens to be in Ghent.

Instead of the usual abuse I get from Dave and Vik about the time it takes me to send-off my pictures at night, they were happy to lie on their beds; “maybe we took it a bit far last night boys?”

Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed was involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he was a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He was also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months often worked in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed was a highly respected journalist, his tales of chasing the Giro, Tour, Vuelta, Classics and World Championships - and his much-loved winter Six Days - are legendary, never the same twice, they gave our site an edge other cycling media could never duplicate or challenge. Sadly Ed passed away in January 2025, two years after suffering a devastating stroke.

Related Articles

Copenhagen Six Day 2009 – Day 5

Susie, my chow chow would love these meat balls; cold, greasy, smelly with around one percent meat content; it's a pity she's not here - but think how awful it would be if she bit Danny Stam. Dinner time at the restaurant; day one the food was cool, but as the week goes on, the menu refuses to budge and the temperature of the food drops; 'not good for riders to eat cold pasta,' says Ronnie our number two soigneur.

On The Road in Vigo at La Vuelta a España 2007

Here we are at the start of this year's Vuelta a España in the Galician Town of Vigo - if you don't know where that is, its on the most westerly coast at the most northern bit, just above Portugal, in fact it's only 30 kilometers from Portugal.

Giro d’Italia 2015 – Stage 17, Aprica – Lugano; Modolo’s Second

If you're working the race it's really hard to see a stage finish - the best spots get grabbed hours before. The answer is to find a good bar with a big tele, order a beer and enjoy the racing. That's what we did today, we were at the start then on the big climb and that was about all we could cram in. The traffic around Milan/Como/Lugano is absolutely horrible and to get from points A to B takes forever. There was no way we could make the finish, so a bar it was - on lovely Lake Como side, Bellana with cool beer and a nice TV...

Le Tour de France 2017 – Stage 12: Pau – Peyragudes, 214.5km. Bardet confirms and Aru goes Yellow!

It wasn’t until inside the last kilometre at Peyragudes that the drama really unfolded; Bardet confirms, as does Aru, Froome cracks a little, Quintana cracks A LOT and much as it pains me; ‘one season too many, Bert!’ And Bennett and Martin impress, especially the latter who’s carrying injuries from that horrible crash with Porte on Sunday.

At Random

La Vuelta a España 2014 – Stage 16; San Martin del Rey Aurelio – La Farrapona, 158.8 km. Alberto Contador From Froome

My son reckons he’s on something and will, ‘get caught; there’s no way he could break his leg in the Tour and then be as strong as he is... Let’s hope (and pray) not; but my perspective is different – I think Alberto Contador is one of the greatest stage racers the world has ever seen and as such you can’t compare him to lesser mortals. People forget that Contador has been as close to death as a man can get and still survive.

David Griffiths – Scottish Hill Climb Champion 2016

Unfortunately, VeloVeritas editor, Martin and I got out priorities wrong and instead of freezing on Purrinden for the Scottish Hill Climb Champs we were in warmer climes. But fear not, we tracked down the new champion, David Griffiths (Pro Vision) and here's what he had to say...

George Bennett – “I Couldn’t Say No”

With all the recent transfer news about who is going where in the ProTour, or UCI World Tour as it will soon be known, certain 2011 signings of interest seem to have slipped under the radar. One which caught the attention of VeloVeritas was with Team Radioshack's U23 feeder team, Trek-Livestrong. After another stellar season for Trek with at least five riders moving up to top UCI World Tour teams; including Britain's Alex Dowsett who's making the step up to Team Sky. These moves leave spaces to be filled and one of the riders moving into the top American U23 line-up is New Zealand's up-and-coming star George Bennett.

Preview: the South Carrick David Bell Memorial Road Race

It might be the middle of crit season, but the organisers of this Sunday's South Carrick David Bell Memorial in Girvan are delighted to have secured the strongest lineup in the race’s history.