Race # 1: Grote Prijs Affligem

Your man in Flanders reporting


Got to the business end of things early on with a nice cobbled classic to start of this seasons racing campaign.
This race was held on Sunday and started in beautiful spring sunshine outside the Hekelgem church. To be contested was a race in the famed Belgian interclub series. The past winners of this race include many successful professionals of them Eddy Merckx was twice a winner. On the start line were 200 riders from a host of Belgiums top amatuer outfits, a French team, a Dutch team, US national and 3 continental teams including my old team which is now PictoFlex.
The course was a total of 160 km with two big laps of 50 km and the rest of the race finishing on a 15 km short lap. The course was a tough one with 4 KOM climbs per big lap plus 3 other unclassified climbs. Each lap included 5 km of cobbles spread over three sectors, all uphill. The race started extremely fast, even with the hilly course and the turns (approx; 200 for the entire race) the average speed was 46 km/hr for the first hour and 43 after that. As a goal I knew a finish in this race would not be realistic considering I have no racing speed in my legs and the level of the race so I just wanted to see the short laps. I felt really good on the climbs and the cobbles making up spots there and after the two big laps I was still in the game, but the fun didnt last and I was in the cars at the end of the first short lap and stayed there for another 6 km before I pulled the plug and called it a day. I struggled most when the peleton was single file in the gutter of the flats going 60 km/hr (which it did far to often), racing speed is what I need more of. Our top rider placed 46th, my ex team from last year took the win as well as 3rd and 4th, they are a really strong team this year after making a number of purchases this winter.

All in all I was very happy with the race and so was my team and even my director from last year was somewhat surprised. Looks like the training has done me good and I look forward to the next race, an elite kermesse on Saturday.

Cruising at 50 km/hr after the second cobbled section. I am the one in the drops with the blue shoes.
Ready to roll, Chris skipped the picture, but these are the rest of my mates for the race.

Cobbled sector one, 180 turn at the top to make things interesting. The key was to hit the sidewalk with 500 m to go to the top, cyclocross skills are an asset, I hit up the smooth route every lap and gained a lot of places. If you look closely you can see me in the top right hand corner heading left.