Brief Flanders Wrap

Assuming everyone watched this or read the report, here goes...

Devolder's win was superb. He rode like an animal and his team displayed faultless tactics in getting him clear for the win.

Boonen and Pozzato cancelled each other out. With the form the two of them have, we should have seen them rip the field apart. Instead, we saw a few brief attacks followed by an unwillingness to cooperate and then they were caught. I would have liked to see these two lay a little more out there.

Chavannel rode a perfect team race.

Toward the end of the race, when Quick Step had three men in a six man break, they should have ridden to keep the gap to the pack. At this point they had dropped Haussler, Hincapie, all of Rabobank and Silence. Instead, they let Chavannel follow Quinziato and work with him, allowing a number of favorites back in the race. Pozzato may have been in the group, but with three men in the group, Quick Step could have made quick work of him and swept the podium. I see this as a mistake, but they won, so why get nit picky.

Haussler got second because of a seeming lack of interest from the pack. His face as he crossed the line staning up indicates he is not where he was two weeks agao, results notwithstanding. Regardless, excellent finish.

Why didn't Rabobank and Silence team up to organize some sort of chase rather than looking around for someone else to do it? Truly unprofessional. Still, kudos to Gilbert for cracking the podium.

It will be difficult for all the negative tactics to play out next week in Roubaix. so I look forward to a real battle of attrition. Bring it.

Finally, I'm not going out on a limb here, but I think it's going to be tough to
beat Cavendish at Ghent-Wevelgem tomorrow. Unless there's a bunch of wind, but I underestimated his ability at San Remo, so I won't do it again.

I love this week of racing. It's almost as good as cross...