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Lee's Euro Adventure: Draai van de Kaai Pro Criterium

The saga continues

Published: 08/04/11 06:39

Ivan Basso (Italy, Liquigas-Cannondale) leads Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Tjarco Cuppens (CyclingTime.com) © Pierre Cuppens

Sitting in the restaurant area of the riders’ lounge before we got changed for the Draai van de Kaai Pro-Criterium I was shocked to see Ivan Basso sat no more than five meters away. Having seen him earlier in the week I chanced a little nod when I caught his eye and he nodded back.

Later in the hallway of the changing room he was riding his bike to the exit and I asked if I could get a photo. He looked up distractedly and said “Sure, but do you know how to fix an SRM? Mine is broken.”

“Er, no, sorry,” I said.

“Oh, ok, no problem,” he replied.

Then we posed for the photo. Even after two weeks of seeing these stars I am still like a little kid around them. I was the same when I walked into the changing room ten minutes earlier and saw a rider dressed in Polka Dots. Samuel Sanchez, sat there pinning his number on.

Sanchez has a natural charisma and also the most beautiful bike I think I’ve ever seen, a gold, black and white Orbea that has the back end painted with dozens of ‘8’s in honor of the fact that eh won the 2008 Olympics. With gold bar tape, gold helmet and the Polka Dots, Sanchez definitely brings the bling!

Unfortunately they are such big stars that getting too close to them is difficult. Basso very politely declined an interview as he was just too busy, and I only spoke to Sanchez on the neutral lap. We were chatting about the Tour when another rider threw the bouquet of flowers he’d been given at the beginning just over my bars. A woman lunged for them and also grabbed my brake hoods!

Her action pulled my bars to the left violently and my right elbow flipped out and hit Sanchez in the ribs - we wobbled all over to a collective gasp from the crowd, and though we managed to stay upright Sanchez then decided not to risk riding with me any more and headed to the front - probably a good idea!

The race began in earnest over a 3km course that was 80% on rough roads. Feeling good I headed to the front and put in an attack with 8 other riders but we only got away for one lap before the bunch caught us.

Then my teammate Tjarco Cuppens took advantage of a lull in the action to get away with a handful of other riders that stayed away for 40 of the 102 km.

“I got away with a Vacansoleil rider and with Zdenek Stybar of QuickStep and three others and those guys were going full gas. I thought at first that they were going hard just to get the gap but it continued for 40km, fast in the corners and even faster on the way out. Skil-Shimano had to chase hard to catch us,” said Cuppens, who is ranked 5th in the win list of professional Dutch riders this year.

Sat in the strung-out bunch, I can confirm that we were indeed chasing hard. We were hitting 52 and 53km/hr on the straights and flinging ourselves into the corners to catch the escapees with Kenn Van Hummel of Skil-Shimano doing a lot of the chasing.

Sanchez and Basso too were sat in and pulling now and again. At one point Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) pulled past me and said “Jeez this is fast huh?!” but I was so out of breath that I could only nod my agreement.

With seven laps to go Rob Ruigjh of Vacansoleil jumped clear with Basso, Sanchez, Hoogerland and two other quality riders and though their gap wasn’t large they hung on for the win, with Sanchez edging Basso to the line with Hoogerland in third.

I came in 18th and Tjarco Cuppens 19th.

It was a bumpy 102km and the arms and backside were aching afterwards, but what a great honor to rode with these guys. One more night’s riding in Maastricht to look forward to tonight - over the cobblestones!

Rank	Rider	Team	Tijd	NT	WR

1.	Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez	Euskaltel - Euskadi		25	-

2.	Ivan Basso	Liquigas - Cannondale		23	-

3.	Johnny Hoogerland	Vacansoleil - DCM		21	-

4.	Addy Engels	Quickstep Cycling Team		19	-

5.	Rob Ruijgh	Vacansoleil - DCM		17	-

6.	Kenny Van Hummel	Skil-Shimano		15	-

7.	Boy Van Poppel	UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis		14	-

8.	Floris Goesinnen	Drapac - Porsche Cycling		13	-

9.	Roy Curvers	Skil-Shimano		12	-

10.	Tom Meeusen	Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team		11	-

11.	Laurens Ten Dam	Rabobank ProTeam		10	-

12.	Zdenek Stybar	Quickstep Cycling Team		9	-

13.	Wouter Mol	Vacansoleil - DCM		8	-

14.	Jasper Ockeloen	Donckers Koffie - Jelly Belly Cycling ...		7	-

15.	Kai Reus	Cycling Team De Rijke		6	-

16.	Bart Aernouts	Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team		5	-

17.	Bobbie Traksel	Landbouwkrediet		4	-

18.	Lee Rodgers	Fuji-cyclingtime.com		3	-

19.	Tjarco Cuppens	Fuji-cyclingtime.com		2	-

20.	Feng Han	Skil-Shimano		1	-

21.	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM		-	-

22.	Bram Schmitz	Veranda's Willems - Accent		-	-

23.	Joeri Adams	Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team		-	-

24.	Jeff Vermeulen	Cycling Team De Rijke		-	-

25.	Koen De Kort	Skil-Shimano		-	-

26.	Frederik Veuchelen	Vacansoleil - DCM		-	-

27.	Remco Te Brake	Cycling Team De Rijke		-	-

28.	Luc Hagenaars	Eddy Merckx - Indeland		-	-

29.	Bert-jan Lindeman	Cyclingteam Jo Piels		-	-

30.	Peter Schulting	Cyclingteam Jo Piels		-	-

31.	Reinier Honig	Landbouwkrediet		-	-

32.	Maurits Lammertink	Cyclingteam Jo Piels		-	-

33.	Huub Duyn	Donckers Koffie - Jelly Belly Cycling ...		-	-

34.	Jens Mouris	Vacansoleil - DCM		-	-

35.	Tom Stamsnijder	LEOPARD TREK		-	-

36.	Joop De Gans	Eddy Merckx - Indeland		-	-

37.	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Skil-Shimano		-	-