Very cool to watch Dwars door Vlaanderen on cycling.tv. My picture stuttered along, but maybe it was my dsl. Know what? I didn’t even care - I got to hear it live and see it, even if it looked like a slide show. This race is incredibly tough! There were eleven climbs, some had 18 and 20% grades in sections, most were above 10% grades in many places. They were pavé (cobblestone), really rough, and the road looked about as wide as a city sidewalk in the US. Those guys must feel like they’ve been hit by a semi truck when they finish that race across Flanders. It’s 202 kilometers, and the tough climbs came along in the last 60-65k of the race.

Roger Hammond and Stijn Devolder were just powerhouses - it was hard to tell for quite a while who was going to be the designated leader at the finish. But it became clear that Stijn was riding for Roger, and man, did he do his job - he was relentless in this attacks. It looked like Roger was gonna take it - he was just powering down the finish, but he started his sprint a bit too early, and Eeckhout went by him at the very end. Looked like he took it by about three bike lengths ahead of Roger. But great, super riding by the DC team. The teams averaged 42k an hour over this grueling course!

Cycling.tv will show two more live races in Belgium, as I posted yesterday, on Saturday and Sunday morning. One is free and one is $8 - I’d pay that any day to see the races in Europe...