Been a busy day already... Today's winners:
- Tom Boonen -- new bike, new back, old results.
- Nico Eeckhoudt -- looked like a serious challenger, albeit on a flat course.
- Francisco Jose Windy -- Another win at Castilla y Leon. Though how many stages does he have to win to make up a five second gap on GC?
- Michele Scarponi -- slips away from red-hot Ricco for the six-second win. Former Liberty Seguros rider comes back from the Operacion Puerto abyss.
- Specialized -- Boonen's new custom ride is undefeated... and Tommeke salutes the new ride as he crosses the line in Waregem. Problem solved.
Today's losers? I only saw one race, and there was nobody who blew it in Dwars Door Vlaanderen worthy of the loser tag. Then again, everyone who doesn't win loses, so there you go. Other morsels from the feedbag:
- Long interview with Valverde over at CN. Today's must-read.
- Or maybe that title goes to Pez's preview of Vlaamse Wieler Week, a/k/a the week of Tour of Flanders tuneups running from Dwars door Vlaanderen today through next week's Dreidaagse de Panne. Will beer be involved? Read and discover for yourself.
- Injury updates: Andreas Klier will miss the classics, another blow to struggling T-Mobile, after colliding with a tractor on a training ride. Broken cheekbone and concussion. On the recovery front, David Kopp's 5th place in Dwars is kind of hard to believe. But as they say, you don't need your face to pedal. Alessandro Petacchi is gunning for Gent-Wevelgem, and may stay out of racing to hone his form til then.
- Andy Hood has a brief look at the DeutschlandTour. Also, their non-response to Milan-San Remo could be explained by VeloNews' search for a new managing editor. Boulderites, start your resumes!
- Nick Nuyens, on why he's skipping Saturday's E3 Prijs for Brabantse Pijl on Sunday: "De Brabantse Pijl is de koers van mijn hart." Very sweet, even in Flemish.