RVV! The Second Monument in the Cycling Calendar

Ahhhh.... the Tour of Flanders, what a route! And what a race. This year looks like it will be "kind" from a weather perspective, the cobbles will be as hard and harsh as ever though!

It's now 4 years since I rode them, the memory of the route is still very much etched in my mind! And I "only" did around 75km of it, Andrea did more than twice that. It's not how long though, it's which part... and all of our riding was on the sharp and nasty final half... totally unforgiving.

Photos I've seen from the cyclo-sportif event today (the Saturday before the race) suggest it was cool but dry, great riding weather. The forecast is for more of the same so it won't be slick cobbles that decide the race, it's up to the hardest riders to turn the screws themselves. May the best win the day!

Here are a few pics from 2010... Boonen outside the hotel before the race.
Me.
And the two men who made it a race, at the moment they broke the spirit of the rest of the pack (this photo was published on velonews.com within minutes of it happening).