Photo by: FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
After winning the Three Days of De Panne Ballan looked to further continue his Belgian domination. That domination continued on Sunday with Ballan taking an very impressive victory at The Ronde Van Vlaanderen ahead of eternal Flanderian second Leif Hoste. Hoste did all he could as he went with Ballan when he attacked
on Muur of Geraardsbergen. Until that point most all of the favorites bar Fabian Cancellara were ready to pounce. Tom Boonen lead the group up the climb but did not seem to have the extra power to drop everyone. A powerful Ballan pounced up the most difficult section of the climb and was then followed by a very clever Leif Hoste. The pair worked perfectly to maximize their advantage as the chasers behind tried in vain to launch attacks. But after more than 100 miles in the Belgian countryside the extra snap needed to close gaps was not there.
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Just as the Armstrong Era came to a close last year in July, the Tom Boonen Era is in full swing. The total domination of the Belgian rider and his team are THE story of 2006. Boonen’s path to a second consecutive Tour of Flanders looked easy. His Quick Step team formed a “Treno Blu” as if it were a Tour de France sprint stage. This time Boonen had the full support of recent Milan San Remo winner Pozzato, Olympic Champ Paolo Bettini and Classics specialist Serge Baguet. This trio gave Quick Step quite an advantage moving into the decisive kilometers.
The Koppenburg proved a race killer for many in the race who found themselves using the walking features of their cleats. Unlike Jessica Simpson, their shoes were not made for walking. It was an amazing site to see Pro Cyclist walking up the steep cobbled climb of the Koppenburg. This is what the Classics are all about.
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Since its reintroduction into the Tour of Flanders in 2002 the fabled Koppenburg has been tackled on dry roads. This year, the Belgian weather returned to its normal Belgianess making the Koppenburg which tops out at 25% almost unclimable.
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Boonen has entered this season like Pacman eating up wins like they were pellets and leaving the chasing peloton looking like ghosts. When Boonen rides, you can almost hear the wonka-wonka sound as he is approaching yet another win.
The Flanders Hype Machine is looking at Belgian homeboy Tom Boonen to take the spoils again this year. Even Bicirace has cast aside all of the Italian favorites and jumped on the Boonen bandwagon (Actually their Italian pick is one I agree with, Alessandro Ballan, read the restof the story). But who would really dare to pick against Boonen? He has everything going for him at the moment including a win at the warmup GP E3 last Sunday.
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