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Ghent-WevelgemFreire revels in chaos
Despite a log jam of motorbikes and official cars which held up a late break but did not
affect the outcome (we got out of the way
a bit faster than the other guys so don't
blame us!) of Wednesday's Ghent-Wevelgem.
Run off in fine weather but still pretty chilly
temperatures the racing, as usual, kicked
off at high speed, with 40mph showing on
the speedo for quite long stretches of the
newly devised route which this year
avoided Ostende, the famous tramline
crashes and echelons. Instead, once the solo breakaway had gone clear the peloton hit the brakes and ambled along at 20mph
while team cars were kept busy fetching
and carrying clothing and bottles on the
narrow lanes.
So we headed for the Kemmelberg and the much anticipated new descent. The main
cobbled climb is the same and the run
across the top of the Kemmel also heads
towards the big stone memorial at the
other end, whereupon it now dives down
a smooth path to the left, not the cobbled
ski chute on the right.
We went to a sharp right turn on the
descent but the field took it steady and
this route down, which curves around the hill and comes out halfway down the old
descent, is totally safe.
Pozzato, Breschel and Gilbert livened up the two laps over the Kemmelberg but the high speed finale on opens roads made it very hard for breaks to go clear, although O'Grady tried hard and is looking very lean in the run up for Roubaix this weekend. I saw his team mate Cancellara slaloming along some cobbles in the manner of a Moto GP rider warming up his tyres. He will also be up there on Sunday, as will Boonen and probably Devolder, as all these guys had an easy day on Wednesday.
Freire is known as one of the classiest guys around and when he's on form the compact Spaniard is a win machine.
Commiserations to Mark Cavendish who is fast becoming a finish line soundbite star as he mouthed of in great style on Flemish TV about all the cowboys messing up his
big day. Hammond got 10th - another good
result for the Brit who will be strong in
Roubaix and maybe co-leader with Hincapie.