Straight Toward Flanders

First, some terminology: [update] actual Flemish may differ

Hellingen: hill. -berg is another good indicator. When the race crosses the language line, the term is "cote," which literally means coast, derived from the sensation of launching a sled down a small hill in Belgium or northern France.

Kassei: cobbles. Pl: kasseien. In French, pavée.

Mooiste: Most beautiful. One more Ronde, and I think it's safe to say Tom Boonen is Vlaanderens mooiste.

Flahute: Pretty much everyone racing in Belgium right now. Heinrich Haussler? Flahute. Juan Flecha? Flahute. Riccardo Ricco? Not a flahute.

Flandrien: honorary local, as proven by your ability to handle the kassei.

Lion of Flanders: Belgian god of the classics. Kind of a lifetime achievement award.

Doodsmak: Just like it sounds. Warning: don't try this at home!

Tomorrow Vlaamse Wielerweek kicks off a week of great Flemish races with Dwars door Vlaanderen, a/k/a straight across Flanders, a hopelessly meandering course that serves up a pretty good slice of the Ronde hellingen for a peloton looking to sample some hors d'oeuvres before the main event. Make no mistake: this is no amuse bouche, like Nokere Koerse or even the very cool but very early Het Volk. Dwars signifies that we are eleven days away from the Tour of Flanders. As I said in my overview of the season, it's business time.

Riders and course stats on the flip...

The hills, cobbled stretches, and cobbled hills of Dwars door Vlaanderen: 

Lots of familiar names in there: the Berendries, Valkenberg, Eikenberg, Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg and Nokereberg are Ronde regulars, with an emphasis on previewing the earlier climbs from next Sunday. This dovetails well with the E3 Prijs, which previews some of the later climbs of de Ronde. Taken together, you've got your dress rehearsal.

There is little to add on the teams that won't be covered very shortly in a Cobbles Power Poll; so I'll say for now that several of the teams are at full Flanders squad: Quick Step, Silence, Rabobank, Saxo Bank, Milram and Cervelo Test Team (minus Thor), to name a few. Lampre are shuffling their lineup and don't have Gasparotto or Lorenzetto here. Team Columbia are still apparently tinkering too, allowing Hincapie, Cavendish, Boasson Hagen, et al to rest after their Italian triumph, instead featuring Marcus Burghardt and Bernhard Eisel, plus the usual awesome support cast.

The race, plain and simply, favors Quick Step. Conventional wisdom tomorrow is not unlike what a team might do in an early, moderate Pyrenean stage ten days before Alpe d'Huez: if you are contending for the major prize, use the full squad, maybe launch your secondary guys, but don't burn your matches chasing down riders and teams for whom Flanders is more of a remote dream. Well, Quick Step have riders to spare, and if Wouter Weylandt is recovered from a training crash, you might see him in a bunch sprint. Cervelo might send Klier up the road. The Katusha sprint duo of Gert Steegmans and Robbie McEwen (a past Dwars winner) could be involved. A few other headliners like Burghardt or Van Avermaet might be anxious for a result. And the multitude of continental teams will be looking for perhaps their only real winning chance of Vlaamse Wielerweek. Enjoy! And remember:

Come Vlaamse Wielerweek
only the fastest frite
gets the mayonnaise.