It’s that time of year again when the cycling elite pit their wits not only against the elements and each other, but the truly legendary cobbled route that is the ‘Tour of Flanders’. This is Northern European racing at its gritty best and not for the faint hearted.

Traditionally taking place the week before Paris-Roubaix, this cobbled classic is a fans dream throwing everything at the riders, from steep cobbled climbs, fast descents and tight, sharp twists and turns. The 94^th race at 261.9km this year won’t be the longest race in the world (easy for me to say), but the organisers have made some of the most significant tweaks to its course in years and one of the most notable changes is the Molenberg climb, which replaces the Eikenmolen after 217km.

Last years winner – Stijn Devolder (Quick Step) will be looking to make it three in a row this year, but it’s doubtful he’ll get the same leeway as last year to attack and all eyes will be on him to react to any movement. This might mean that Boonen could slip under the radar and get a break away, but with his pedigree on the cobbles, this looks doubtful. Former Tour of Flanders winner Alessandro Ballan and team mate George Hincapie will be expected to do well this year after they joined the impressive looking BMC Racing Team and a whole raft of serious contenders have emerged to make this a prediction nightmare, especially with the home grown Belgian contingency of Nick Nuyens (Rabobank), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) all wanting to impress.

We’ll be studying the form book and sticking a finger in the page with one eye closed as usual to bring you our predictions on Thursday. One thing is for sure however, this will be an absolute cracker with riders keeping one eye on Paris-Roubaix, the ever approaching Tour de France in July and hopefully the road in front!

Take a look at this years route in Google earth. Download the KML file here.

---

Cervelo Test Team Documentary on 2009 Tour Of Flanders.

Fifth episode in a series charting the development of Cervélo TestTeam and their first season in the professional cycling world.

Team Probikekit.com rider – Jamie Howard gives us his race report from a windy (surprise surprise) Ilton Race on Saturday 27^th March.

As my first race back after quite a long lay-off from a knee injury – I approached Ilton feeling pretty nervous about how I would perform. It’s a big unknown when you’re trying to come back to fitness so I decided to expect nothing and see what happened.

James Smith leading the way!

I was racing alongside fellow PBK team-mate James Smith. It was a big surprise to arrive and find out we had a team mechanic for the race! James had organised a chap called Mark Shoe from “the creaky crank” to look after our Cyfac bikes – we’ll post some more info about his company soon; but if you’re in the need for bike tuning services in the Somerton area – give him a call.

The days weather was pretty good overall – mixed sunshine and cloud and as always…….. windy as hell! Plenty riders were complaining about the early season cold before the race, but it’s all soon forgotten as the race gets under way.

With only 20 or so riders signed on, it looked to be an interesting race – riders keeping a close eye for any moves. On the second lap James Smith and Ben Luckwell rode up the road and managed to stay a good 45 seconds up on the bunch right till the end of the race. I heard James shout encouragement to me to “GO!!!” and as I stomped on it on the first corner of the second lap, Ben and James came through and the break formed – right into the wind. I didn’t have the confidence in my ability at my current level of fitness and decided not to attempt to hold on to it. Possible mistake? Well maybe, they didn’t come back but my excuse was to try and control any attempts to chase.

As it happened, a few other riders did get away but no-one caught Ben and James and they finished the race, Luckwell taking the win closely followed by our PBK rider James Smith.

I finished in the bunch with six up the road, coming fifth and netting me 11th place. I was pretty pleased with that overall and now feel I’ve got something good to build on. Next time I’ll have the confidence to be a bit more aggressive – we’ll see…..!!

Great to see the team racing in all conditions and across a wide range of distances/courses. Also pleased to see Team Manager – James Smith leading by example and racing hard and fast!

Duncan Orme Global PBK Team rider gives us his review of the Lancaster CC Spoco TT at the weekend.

The Lancaster Cycling Club 21.6 miles time trial is a local event for me, so I know the roads well as I spend a lot of time training up and down the Lune Valley along which the course runs. Unfortunately for me as the LCC are my 2^nd claim club and the organiser had decided to put me off as the first rider, so I had nobody to chase. I always prefer to have someone to aim to catch as it gives you some direct feedback on your performance, but it was not to be.

Having ridden the Circuit of Ingleborough the day before my legs weren’t as fresh as I would have liked plus I was suffering from a reoccurrence of the sciatica I had this time last year, but I did have the benefit of my nice new HED Stinger 9’s and local knowledge of the course. So after a long warm up on the turbo to loosen my legs up it was off to the start. The first 10 miles or so are on the flatish eastern side of the river running through Hornby and on the day this was predominantly a tailwind until Greta Bridge where the course turns and you get more of a cross wind up to Kirkby Lonsdale. I hoped the wind wouldn’t be too bad but by the time I got to Greta Bridge my legs were feeling the effects of the previous days race and every little rise in the road was taking its toll.

By the halfway point and the crossing of the Lune at Kirkby I was praying that the headwind on the return leg wouldn’t be too bad, this side of the river is much hillier with 6 climbs in the space of 6 miles a couple of which have pretty poor road surface after the winters frost and rain. The first stretch through to Arkholme wasn’t too bad as the surrounding hills seemed to be giving some shelter, but then the climbs began. At first you can be lulled into thinking these are ok in the big ring, but years of riding up them in training have shown that it’s much better to tackle them in the little ring if you’re riding into the wind and today was no exception. There is very little time to recover as they hit you one after another and with next to no shelter from what was now quite a strong cross/headwind.

The pain in my legs had either gone or they were numb from the cold as I seemed to be getting up the hills quite well considering the previous days efforts and very quickly I was over the worst of them and close to the downhill finish. It was flat out over the last mile leaving just enough to shout out my number as I passed the timekeeper, a quick look at my computer and I’d got under 56mins, so an improvement of over 4 minutes on last season. Once all the times were in all 3 of us were in the top 10, Chris 4^th, me 7^th and JPS 10^th and winning the team prize to boot, so a good morning out for all.

1	Alfred	Hilton	Congleton Cycling Club	V44		52	58
2	Peter	Greenwood	Clayton Velo	V58		53	45
3	Duncan	Park	North Lancs RC	V43		55	06
4	Chris	Anderson	Teamprobikekit.com	V46		55	10
5	Paul	Warrener	Rossendale RC	V43		55	34
6	Rob	Dickinson	North Lancs Road Club	V43		55	41
7	Duncan	Orme	TeamProBikeKit.com	S		55	49
8	Andy	Marshall	VS Cycles Brighouse	V43		56	00
9	Rick	Warrington	ABC Centreville	V44		56	21
10	Jose	Pinon Shaw	TeamProBikeKit.com	V42		56	41

Great work from our local Probikekit.com Team!

Remember to let us have your race reports and training experiences so we can all share in the PBK Global team’s efforts.

First off some sad news. Last week Phil Wood passed away at the age of 84 at his home in Baxter, Iowa.

For those of you that have never heard of Phil Wood, then shame on you! He was the first person to introduce sealed bearings into bicycle hubs and the company which he started in 1971 is now one of the oldest cycling component manufactures in America. The company which he sold in 1991 now produces more than 200 unique hubs, along with bottom brackets, cogs, tools and lubricants.

A moment of silence.

---

Mark Beaumont is used to pushing himself to the extreme, in 2008 he smashed the record for pedalling around the world in 194 days! This time he has set him self a even harder challenge – cycling the length of the longest mountain range on earth. From the Rockies in North America to the Andes of South America covering an impressive 13,000 miles through 12 countries and if that wasn’t a challenge in itself, he is also planning on scaling the summits of the two highest mountains in North and South America; all in nine months!

Marks needs to consume 6,000 calories a day to keep him going in the saddle with an extra 30kg of kit attached to his bike. He is self sufficient as well, carrying everything he needs to complete his journey.

The first part of his trip saw him riding to Mount McKinley to climb the first of the two mountains on his trip. At 20,320 ft, it is the highest peak in North America and even though it is not as high as Everest, the climb from base camp to the summit is actually further! With Mount McKinley being one of the coldest mountains on earth, it has a fearsome reputation having claimed 100 lives and Mark joined a team of mountaineers to set off on his trip where he was truly out of his comfort zone.

Back on the road and Mark had a continuous battle with his surroundings, from bears at the side of the roads, to the massive RV’s that roam the roads and even forest fires stopping him in his tracks.

After 1,300 miles Marks bike had started to feel the strain with one broken pedal, 10 punctures and having to swap his tyres around due to his rear one being completely worn down due to the poor road surfaces and the weight of his bike bearing down upon it.

The first part of his journey is available on the BBC iPlayer for those of you who can view it this week and it is well worth a watch.

---

The UCI Track World Championships in Copenhagen is well under way this week with some great racing already taken place.

Australia took an early lead on day one with Cameron Meyer in the Men’s Point Race and Anna Meares winning the first of her two gold medals on offer in the Women’s 500m Time Trial.

In the men’s team sprint, the four year winning streak of the French came to an end when the German team beat them in the final. Team GB came in to get the Bronze ahead of China even after Team GB had a pedal snap on them in a qualifying round.

Day two and Australia continued where they left off on day one by winning another two golds with Anna Meares taking her second gold in two days with her team mate Kaarle McCulloch.

But us Brits are never down for long with Sir Chris Hoy stepping up to the plate and taking his third keirin victory and his 10th world title. Although he didn’t get the race that he is used to, with the rest of bunch keeping him from getting to the front where he likes to be to dictate the pace. Not able to get up to his usual pace early on and storm into a lead, he was pushed all the way to the line with the Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang challenging, but Hoy did not falter and kept his pace all the way to the line.

With more action coming tonight and over the weekend there is sure to be a lot more exciting racing to come.

---

To finish off some track related nonsense.

Supposedly, this is next years look!

Wall ride!

The Lotus Sport bike that Chris Boardman rode to victory in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

Colnago track bike from the future!

One for the mantelpiece.

For this weeks tedious link. The Track World Championships this year are held in Copenhagen Denmark and there has been some very talented women riding their bikes and enjoying themselves immensely whilst doing it. This lady below is also enjoying riding her bike…

But maybe a little more!

New in at PBK headquarters this week is the range of clothing from Hincapie USA. The current American Road Race Champion sure knows a thing or two about cycling and the clothing needed to succeed and enjoy every ride. The tag-line of the company is “style in motion” and I thought that the best item we’ve seen so far to do this is the Hincapie Gilet.

The Gilet is light, very packable and full of neat details. George’s love of cycling and the sport in general led him to found Hincapie clothing. It’s been going for a few years now and after the success of the BMC Team Kit we thought it wise to offer this range and our first impressions are brilliant.

The Gilet:

• On an unpredictable day a Gilet easily makes the difference between a pleasant warm ride and a cold, wet miserable slog home.
• This one is made of a very light fabric which easily folds up small enough to fit into a jersey pocket.
• The waist, arm holes and collar are all lined with a fleecy fabric for a snug fit.
• The zip is sturdy and the side pocket handy to put keys in etc.
• The fabric is transparent enough to show your race number through it.
• Reflective logos for safety at dusk.
• The high collar keeps draughts and rain out.

Our entire range of Hincapie is available today and caters for those living in the northern and southern hemisphere. Everything from warmers, booties and gloves to bib shorts and jerseys are here. What makes the range stand out from the rest are those little details which are invaluable when out riding and could only have been thought of by a cyclist.

Click here for the Hincapie range

The classics season is now under way. The ‘Dwars door Vlaanderen’ took place yesterday with Matti Breschel riding away from a group including Boonen to take 1st place – what a ride!

This gives Saxo Bank a boost going into the weekend with him, Fabian Cancellara and Stuart O’Grady sure to go well on Sunday.

But who are our 3 picks for the Gent-Wevelgem???

Fabian Cancellara

Strong as ever and with what seems like a brilliant team around him, if he can handle the climbs he’s a descender of outrageous class and must be a sure fire favourite.

Tom Boonen

Another favourite who loves this kind of race and he’s hopefully put all of the off season activities behind him and has the hunger back. He’s won before, so his pedigree can’t be questioned. Who will stop him again this year?!

Heinrich Haussler

Now that his knee injury is sorted he should go well. Narrowly beaten by Cavendish in last years Milan-San Remo he’s talented enough to take the win and will want to set his stall out for the season by claiming this race as his own.

The route on Sunday is tricky and features 16 climbs all very close to each other – the eventual winner will need fresh legs, a good team and a bit of luck. We’ll be taking up our positions on the sofa to watch how the race unfolds and will have a report early next week.

James Smith – Probikekit.com’s enigmatic Team manager gives his race report from the weekend and will (like all of us here in the UK) be looking forward to some decent weather for a change!

A day for hard men and lovers of the rain awaited the riders at the Qinetic Circuit.  This closed road circuit at Barnesfield has a number of different routes and today the easier route was chosen without the large hill every lap, although there is a slight rise after a sharp right turn.

This proved to be the staging point for many attacks.  As soon as the race went away two DHC riders attacked and managed to stay away for five laps.  I tried to jump across to them but ended up stuck in no man’s land so sat up.  As soon as the group came together I attacked again and got a decent gap for a couple of laps.  This again failed and now the group was together, this time I attacked as the race turned into the headwind.  I gesticulated to let other riders know that I wanted help and finally Harry Bulstrode (DHC), Steve Dring and Stu Bowers came across this proved to be the winning move.  As we approached the final corner I attacked trying to avoid the inevitable sprint but Bulstrode who was super strong dragged me back before attacking again leaving me gapped and Steve Dring struggling to stay with him.  There was no chance as this guy dropped both of us and finished strongly.  I was bringing Dring back but not quick enough as he went over for second and I finished in Third.  A hard day of racing in atrocious conditions.

Results

Provisional Result
1st Harry Bulstrode (DHCyclesport/Colnago)
2nd Steve Dring (Team Echelon-Spiuk)
3rd James Smith (Probikekit.com)
4th Stuart Bowers (Hargroves Cycles)
5th Andy Bryson (DHCyclesport/Colnago).

Follow the Probikekit.com season as it unfolds on the our blog.

More videos from Cervelo Test Team – Beyond the peloton coming soon!

This weekend (the 28th of March) is the running of the 72nd Gent-Wevelgem classic race in Belgium and a little bit of France.

At 220K it won’t be a massive day in the saddle like last weekends Milan San-Remo but this course has 16 classified climbs along with plenty of rolling roads along the course. They come in close succession and are sure to break riders and split the peloton into groups who will then have around 35K to chase everything back and race for the line.

Many of the climbs are cobbled and the descents steep and dangerous. The first time I saw this race was 2008 when on the Kemmelberg descent a stray bottle caused Jimmy Caspar to hit the deck, mainly with his face, a few others came down alongside him and this really makes you realise how dangerous cycling can be. The race of course went on and Oscar Freire who’s just won the Milan San-Remo took first place.

Last year our office favourite Boasson Hagen took the honours in his Columbia kit, Boonen is a sure favourite and he’ll be wanting to show some good form the weekend before Flanders.

Action is never far away in this race, and it provides us with another afternoon of entertaining TV and an excuse to watch someone else do the work for a change, keep an eye out for our race predictions later in the week…Classics racing isn’t for softies, the hard-men of cycling will shine through on the day – which is often wet, cold and miserable.

Boonen won it in 2004, can he do it again?

So we got our favourite 3 a touch wrong on friday (http://www.pbkblog.com/?p=4328) with Cav, Boasson Hagen and Thor touted as the winners.

We arrived back at home on saturday afternoon to watch the live coverage which started with about 65k to go with a beer or two (we’d earned this with 2 hours of the wet and windy Lake District’s lanes) to be greeted with Cav in a second group and looking quite tired. This didn’t bode well but we stuck it out, including the regular and disturbing Sidi adverts which end with Pozatto and a pair of ergo II’s protecting his modesty. As usual this race is fairly ordinary until the final K’s when everything goes out of the window. The race started in similar wet conditions with a few spills and a broken collar bone which soon had the riders looking less than ‘euro’:

ISD, the team with the dayglo kits and Cippolini bikes were keen to push things on but couldn’t compete with Liquigas and FDJ although the young Ukranian Grabovskyy of ISD soon caught and rode straight past lone attacker Bouet on the Capo Berta.

The fashion police also weren’t too pleased with the ISD’s peaked helmets:

After all of this the race arrived at the final climb, the Poggio with Garzelli putting the hammer down (returning a favour?) preventing any attacks – we all wish we could ride up hills like this! At the summit a Columbia rider had a go along with some others and but the descent they all came back together, Nibali from Liquigas leading the way downhill. With one of our favourites Thor around we though he was in with a good chance. As the sprint loomed Boonen was lurking but just couldn’t match Oscar Freire on the day. The Rabobank rider easily held him off and stormed over the line for his 3rd win of this awesome classic race.

Sky didn’t really feature which was a shame, with their best rider Flecha finishing 18th and Boasson Hagen 6 minutes down in the same group as Cavendish. They did look cool though, the massive deep section rims and understated kit combination going down very well:

Thor managed 6th, just finishing this race deserves respect, when was the last time you raced 300k’s?!  We’re now looking forward to Ghent and the Tour of Catalunya which begins today with an individual TT with Cav and Wiggins hoping to fly the British flag.