The non-Flanders-preview edition...
- Boonen vehemently denies being either 24 or ill. He's 25 and has bronchial discomfort, according to CyclingNews. He pulled out of Driedaagse this morning to rest up, after proving to himself he is 25 and can pull through repeatedly. His fitness and age are ideally positioned for Sunday. Nevertheless, here's the VN interview that made Drew put his foot through a monitor.
- The Paceline has Dirk Demol's take on Discovery's big win this morning, and some Flanders thoughts...
- Bicirace's interviews read like their audience is 14 years old, or maybe Italian riders are all just a bit formal and sweet-tempered. Still, they nabbed Damiano Cunego for a few moments.
- Andreas Klier talks the talk over at the T-Mobile site.
- Finally, a Flemish website in English. Not as hyperventilating as Het Nieuwsbladt's coverage, but I'm through trying to guess my way around foreign languages.
- Tales of toughness No. 1,569,274.5, or wherever we are. These seem to pile up during the cobbled classics, which gets to my earlier point about how great these races are. Anyway, today's entry concerns Liberty's Carlos Barredo:
Despite his injury, Barredo tried to continue with his team-mate Abeja before a policeman ordered them both to abandon. "I took a new bike and wanted to think that it was nothing. I had to change the seat, which also broke, and we continued to race for another 40 kilometres, but I could neither brake nor hold onto the bars." Upon his arrival at the hospital in at Oudenaarde, it was confirmed Barredo had a fracture of the third distal in his left radius that would require a plaster cast, which would see the 24 year-old out of competition for four to six weeks.
Four to six weeks? What a wuss...
- I'm a bit unclear on what else they do, but CyclingFans.com is the authority on live feeds. It might be worth checking in tomorrow or Sunday to see what they unearth about Ronde live video.