at least it's not my job...

It's tough to keep up w/ these posts on the races. A lot of crap to cover so 'ere goes!

ToC (as it's affectionately known) provided no new suprises since the last post. Well maybe that the T-Mobile men decided to get themselves on the board w/ 2 wins by Olaf Pollack, several days after the ladies opened their account for the season. May have been some harsh words on the bus before the starts on those days. Floyd showed us all that he has the cojones to lead a team and not crack like Jan when someone attacks him. Levi gave it his all but came up a little short in the end results. We still love you Levi, you're named after jeans. Then again it would've sucked if you were named "Husky"…

The true cycling season has started in Belgium w/ the arrival of Omloop Het Volk, and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, the 2 semi-classics. Het Volk is a small race in comparison to it father the Tour of Flanders, and it's mother Paris-Roubaix, but nevertheless provides some exciting early season racing. You can count on the race to provide the worst weather Belgium has to offer; and the Belgian racers wouldn't have it any other way.

Omloop Het Volk saw Phillipe Gilbert (Francaise Des Jeux) solo to a magnificent win in front of World Champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and a couple thousand of his closest Belgian friends. Tom rode a strong race but was a marked man. Wearing the rainbow jersey will have that affect; you're hard to miss.

Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne bore witness to another strong Boonen ride, but yet again to no avail. The Belgian was instead a super-domestique to one Nick Nuyens (Quick Step), winner of last year's Omloop. Nick was the opportunist of several attempts to get away from the lead group that itself was only 30 seconds in front of a hard charging peleton. Nick's final dig was the clincher as no one wanted to work w/ the possibility of bringing the World Champion and one hell of a sprinter to the line w/ them. Boonen doggedly sat on their wheels as Nuyens continued towards victory. A late dash gave Leif Hoste of the Discovery Channel claim to second place on the day while Boonen cruised in to win the sprint easily for third.

The season has officially started. The big ones are coming!

Photo courtesy of Cyclingnews and Luc Claessen