Superprestige #1 – Ruddervoorde
What a day! It started devilishly early (3am) and I only got back just now (almost 24 hours later). But I don’t want to complain as it was an excellent day! My colleague, Paddy came along with me for the journey and his help proved invaluable – not only was he taking care of the driving but he also helped me out with the odd camera-related jobs. Another failure of the shitty Radiopopper remotes meant that I couldn’t play with the flashes, so I had to resort to reasonably standard photos. Note to self – buy those bloody Pocketwizards already! But enough of the talking, let the photos do the talking. It was a great day, it was good to catch up with a couple of people I hadn’t seen for ages and at the end of the day, even the sun came out. What more can you ask for?
Telenet Fidea rider Nikki Harris stands at the start of the race.
Telenet Fidea rider Nikki Harris crosses a bridge during the race.
Though British rider Hugo Robinson looked a bit grumpy at the start, he finished in the very respectable 14th postiion.
This photo is the result of the one of the many encounters with the lovely Belgian fans - seeing my gear they often ask me to take a picture of them and I'm always happy to oblige.
Current U23 World Champ, Lars Van Den Haar had a less than stellar day, but after a bad start, he consistently worked his way up and eventually finished on the podium.
Wietse Bosmans had such a big gap over Tijmen Eising that he could freely fiddle with his watch as he crossed the finish line.
Happy Wietse Bosmans fans
This is the interior of the TV channel VT's broadcasting van - this is where they edit live the program as the race progresses.
Praise the Lord - thinks Tom Meeusen in the background! Or maybe he was just expecting a water bottle from his team manager.
I find sand pits very spectacular as they challange the riders both physically and technically. Steve Chainel, who led the elite men's race for a while, didn't risk and run through the sandy bits, but the rest of the top 20 guys flew through the one and a half feet deep sandtrap.
Steve Chainel held out for a couple of laps in the front befre the rest of the field caught up with him. He finiished 9th.
The Karcher compressers were ready for use - and they came together with a helper crew, dressed in distinctive yellow coveralls.
I love how the curve of Philipp Walsleben's right calf follows the curve of the seatstay.
Zdenek Stybar started strong but he himself had admitted that he hadn't felt strong and accordingly, he dropped back as the race progressed.
Albert took the lead from the second half of the and kept Aernouts at arm's length from then on.
The Sunweb-Revor team's new signing, Kevin Pauwels didn't have a good day today, which definitely didn't alleviate the pressure to win races this season.
The podium - from a different angle.
4 Comments
Stefaan Vermeulen
10/10/11Nice pictures !
Balint Hamvas
10/10/11Hi Stefaan,
Thank you for your kind words!
Balint
andy waterman
11/10/11Good stuff, glad to see you’re getting back to Europe.
Balint Hamvas
11/10/11Thanks, Andy!