Omloop Bissegem

[-Adam-]

Ok, no time for a full report now, I have only just got home and have been up since 4.30am!

Just a taster...

110km... 42km/h!

There were pro feeder teams.

There were crashes.

There was mucho street furniture.

There was some awesome bike handling on display.

I loved every minute of it, and cannot wait to live and race in Belgie full time.

I didn't win!

More to come...

[-Adam-]

Ok, that was one awesome race. It does not compare to anything in the UK at all. For a start at no point did it seem like you were inconveniencing anyone, and everyone was fascinated by the race. There were almost more crowds than there were at the London GP last September.

A very long day it was though. I was up at 4.30am, to be in Crawley for 5.30 to meet up with my manager and my team mates Josh Cunningham and Jake Butler. Then onto Dover for an 8am ferry to Dunkerque. So after a nice long chat on the ferry, we were almost in the land of the gods.

We arrived in Bissegem, and signed on. Contrary to British racing and village hall HQs, we had to bustle through a smokey and crowded bar to an area at the back where the sign on was located. We duly joined the queue amongst some pretty hefty Belgian guys. It took us ages to sign on however as we had to register for a special ID card from the Wielerbond Vlaanderen (the regional body, like South East Cycling). Once we had however, we promptly got dressed and got on the bikes for a quick spin up.

Then for the race, Jake and I ended up about halfway down the field while waiting to start, while Josh had cunningly (they don't call him Cunningham for nothing!) made it pretty close to the front. I never did find out exactly how many riders there were signed on, but the highest number I saw was 175! (unlike the UK village hall, they had a full set of numbers too!) I had been warned the start would be fast, and they weren't joking. Off we went, through the first few corners and the speed was up to 60km/h+ straight away. The course itself was pretty cool. After the start/finish there were a numbe of sharp corners, followed by a long straight section with some classic low country street furniture accompanied by marshals with flags and whistles!! After this another couple of sharp corners and another longish fast straight, we swung right through a roundabout and over a canal bridge, where the road was narrowed to a single lane by a concrete divider. There was a lot of use of drop kerbs on traffic islands and pavements at this point! Over the canal bridge and straight over another roundabout, but one which you could ride over most of it, so we were! Then another narrow run through a another roundabout and along the longest straight, where the wind was at its strongest (though not too bad), there was however yet more concrete street furniture and more marhals with whistles!! Then a hard right leading up to the re-crossing of the canal and back onto the home straight, which with as slight tail wind was super quick! All in all, 6.6km, to be Omlooped 17 times, for a total distance of 112.2km.

Anyhow, the race itself was suprisingly ok. I had been told to expect a lot of argey-bargey, but I had none. The standard of riding was simply immense. It was an U23 race, non-elite, which basically means non-pro! So these guys have all pretty much been racing since they could ride a bike. As a result, despite the size of the field, it was the safest race I have ever done. Some of the bike handling on display was truly impressive. For example, this is hard to explain in writing, but here goes:

On the second bridge, there was a cycle path leading to the foot way at the side, which was crowded with spectators. The first time across it, a rider found himself stuck on the foot path after the concrete divider started (which I only narrowly avoided doing myself). He had two choices, go along the footway and have to slow to a crawl, thus dropping himself from the race. Or... go through the 40cm gap between where the concrete divider stopped and the massive concrete arch of the bridge started. I never thought he would make it, and it would be a nasty mess. But, at close to 60km/h he made it through the gap. I was needless to say, duly gobsmacked!

After the first 4/5 laps the paced calmed a little, and we were only cracking out 50km/h on the straight sections. The first crash then happened, going into the first roundabout one rider fell about 3/4 bikes ahead of me. Luckily I and the others got through unhindered, but Jake behind was held up quite a bit more I think and his race was then unfortunately over. At this point I was lying about 3/4s of the way down the field, and let me tell you, in a field that big it is an awful long way to the front. Meanwhile Josh was managing to stay comfortable in the top 30 riders where he started from, and was even getting in a few moves of the front. It seemed nothing was going to be allowed much freedom from a fresh early season bunch of espoirs. Which included riders from the Bodysol team (feeder to Silence Lotto), another team I couldn't make out its name (All the Belgian team kits seem to have hundreds of logos on them!) but it is apparently the QuickStep feeder team (it certainly had a big quickstep logo on it and was similar to the pro team's kit), and also Johan Bruyneel's development squad. There was a small group of around 5 riders clear for a few laps, but they were reeled in before the finish.

Later on in the race, there was another crash aproaching the turn towards the second bridge. This time a few riders went down, although I only ever saw bikes lying on the road, no riders! I think it was just a silly loss of concentration from someone as the kopgroep was bunching up at that point to get around the traffic islands on the turn.

After about 70km, I got my 3rd bottle from my manager, I decided I ought to try and get to the front and find Josh. I was feeling suprisingly comfortable given the speed, my form is definately building. Each time we were on a straight, or a suitable corner, I would slip up a few places, trying not to expend too much energy. Had this been a british race with 80 riders, I'd have been at the front in barely 1 lap. As it was I spent about 4 laps moving up, then saw we had four laps to go, looked over my shoulder and despite passing probably the best part of 40 riders, there were still only about 10 guys behind me. As I was moving up there must have been guys just going pop off the back, which made me feel quite good!! Some fat Belgian guy then had a go at me for something, probably just because I had UK on my kit in places. The next lap he let a big gap go in front of him, so I rode round him and muttered ''hold the wheel, eh!''. The look on his face was priceless!

4 laps to go and theres still probably around 100 riders ahead of me! So I decided just to take it easy as getting to the front now would have easily killed my by the finish, leaving me with nothing left to contest the sprint or lead out Josh. But I was happy with how the race was going, and happy to walk before I can run so to speak. There was also a nagging fear for a long time that I'd get to the front, and then the speed would go up even more, and I'd be blown away. This didn't happen, and physically I was super comfortable for the whole race. Next time I'll get to the front at the start and give'em hell.

Crossed the finish line having gone past a few more riders, probably around 80th. Josh said he felt dead for the sprint, and reckoned he was about 40th. Jake, as I mentioned, got held up by the first crash, so got changed then enjoyed a hot dog while watching the rest of the race! All in all a reasonable first trip for us, we'll be back, and they'll be more action from us next time, fo shure. Having had a so far slow and a somewhat disapointing start to the season, yesterdays race was also a bit of a morale boost. Hopefully things will start to fall into place a little more from now on...

[Snoop Doug]

Busy day eh? Nice one Adam, sounds like great experience glad you enjoyed it.

[Toks]

Yeah great stuff Adam. Its sounds like you had a real blast. I wondered why Josh pulled out of the Surrey League 2/3 race today and now I know.

[Andrew G]

Sounds like you had fun. Good report, hope you had a leffe and some chips to celebrate.

[-Adam-]

There are other beers than Leffe, Andrew!

We had to get back for the ferry, so we had to make do with a Dutch beer. But it was called Oranjeboom... so we thought it went well with the kit!

[George]

Great write up Adam, thats sound like super fun and a totally different ball game racing over there, I bet your looking forward to some domestic races now

[-Adam-]

[quote="George"]I bet your looking forward to some domestic races now

[Sylv]

Excellent, sounds like your city centre riding has come a long way since the Guilford Crit eh

[Michelle]

I really enjoyed reading this, you so obviously thoroughly enjoyed yourself. I guess this is where it's gonna be at for you for a while then. Niiice!

Honestly, Michelle, I cannot describe how much I enjoyed the race on Saturday, in fact just the whole experience. The last few races I have done have been a bit rubbish, but this one, I really really had fun!

[quote="Sylv"]Excellent, sounds like your city centre riding has come a long way since the Guilford Crit eh