Cobbles Alert: Nokere Koerse

In keeping with the post right below this one, I need to keep this one short, but I didn't want to fall silent on the fact that a race from our Six Weeks of Cobbles guide is on for tomorrow, namely the 64th edition of Nokere Koerse. Here's a handful of things to know:

* Official Website! Assuming they haven't changed much of anything, here's last year's parcours in narrative form (as opposed to, say, a freaking map). After rolling out of Oudenaard for 40km or so, they do ten laps of a circuit around Nokere, Waregem and Kruishoutem. [Koerse doesn't appear to be a destination; maybe this is Flemish for course?] The Nokereberg is a modest cobbled climb inserted in the circuits to flesh things out, and the finish appears to be on a slight, cobbled incline. Translation: bring your power.

* Wouter Weylandt is the defending champ, and main person of interest here. The startlist shows a predominance of continental riders, and yet the last ten winners are mostly bigger names like Weylandt, Bert Roesems, Leon Van Bon, Steven De Jongh, etc. This is a fair fight as Pro Tour vs. Continental Tour classics go, but Pro Tour teams like Rabo, Quick Step and Silence-Lotto won't be messing around. Interestingly, Katusha are in, but Columbia -- who put Greipel on the podium last year -- are not coming. UPDATE! The Startlist has been revamped, and Kenny DeHaes is now the captain for Katusha. That about doubles my interest right there.