Opening Weekend is comprised of two races. First up is Omloop Het Niewsblad, a lumpy, rough-and-tumble race, from which we’ve already put together our first mega tech gallery. The start is frenetic, but well organised, with teams cordoned off from the fans with plenty of space for both the teams and jobbing journos to move around.
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne is a different beast entirely. There is no start venue, so teams park buses in car parks, beside ancient bridges, and on the banks of the river Leie. There’s often only a bike length from the door of the bus to the clamouring fans, which certainly makes it a little harder to get information out of mechanics.
The crowds typically swarm around the big teams, and the arrival of the Visma-Lease a Bike bus saw a mass movement of bodies more akin to a shoal of fish than humans. On the flip side, it meant things were easier at the second-tier team buses. I was able to have an interesting chat with the Lotto-Dstny mechanic about Thomas de Gendt’s random tyre blowout without having to use my elbows at all.
Sadly there is no women’s Kurrne-Brussels-Kuurne, so all of the tech below is from the men’s peloton. If you want the full experience, put on some ’80s classic pop hits, as were being blared out by two wonderful DJs on a rickety, wheeled scaffold platform. I’m just glad it wasn’t raining.
Considering the early start, and fatigue from the day before, this pair definitely got me in the mood.
Here’s a closer look at what we believe is the new SRAM Red front derailleur. It’s interesting that the team was only using this piece of the unreleased groupset; perhaps they are making totally sure it’s free from any chain drop issues in these earlier, less important races. It does confirm backward compatiblity though, which is good.
30c tyres on unreleased Reserve wheels. The ERD (effective rim diameter) and offset notation that can be seen are there for wheelbuilders to determine the correct spoke length. The “20-2” I suspect is that sealant was last added on February 20.
Over at the Tudor Pro Cycling bus I got a closer look at the BMC Teammachine R of Petr Kelemen. The position is on the extreme end, but he’s clearly a tall rider, and the bike is pretty well slammed.
The wide-set fork legs are still the most eye catching part of the bike
Riders…
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