Wolvertem Nerom

These are pics from the first Wolvertem which I already wrote about. The second race in the same area two days later turned out to be a big mess with 8 of the strongest riders getting away super early. I didn't even know a break had gone and when I heard they had 35 seconds I promptly started going on the attack with the stronger looking moves. I got in several promising moves, but they never lasted long as the peleton seemed insistent on chasing everything that moved. It started to get rediculous when one team in particular who was not represented in the break would always instigate a hard chase, but at the same time would never make an effort to escape. The same guys would let gaps go and put their own teammates on the front to chase it down, it was like a massive rolling make work project, if they would have put just one of their guys in a move life would have been much easier. Eventually the group of 8 blew apart, but stayed away and the bunch sprinted for 9th. I was in the best position of any sprint so far this year, but got very unlucky with traffic and botched it completely.
Today we are racing a crit on the outskirts of Brussels. Lots of money, good course and no wind today should make for some good racing. The other good thing is that they capped the crit out at 70 riders so it should be relatively clean and controllable.
In other news I may get the nod to race with the pros next week. I race Monday in Kester which is supposed to be quite hard and then the pros are racing in Gullegem on Wednesday I think it is. Today in the paper several team announced their rosters for the race and it is one star studded line up. Check it: Boonen, Steegmens, Van Petegem, Devolder, McEwan, Hoste, Nuyens etc. This could be my one big chance to give it a go on Boonen's wheel. Two years ago I tried van Petegem's, but he is so small his draft was unsatisfactory.
This week represents a cycling fanatics dream with cycling on the television all afternoon long. Things get rolling at 14:00 with the Tour of Belgium and then after that is on the Giro takes over. The Tour of Belgium rolls almost right past our door tomorrow, if the weather is good I will try to capture the atmosphere on a climb or something to give you something to look at.