The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
Padded shorts are the go. The bike I am borrowing has probably the hardest seat in the history of humanity, so the padded shorts have made a huge difference.
Check this out
[video=vimeo;9970489]http://vimeo.com/9970489[/video]
I'll be watching a bit - can't do the whole thing as I have to get up early to go to a US Masters breakfast (6.30 am) then golf game at. 'Tis a hard life, I know. The Hell of the North is a great spectacle.
Are you playing @ Terrey Hills tomorrow?
Wasn't a bad race at all in the end. Van Summeren from the break away held off after Cancellara (pre-race favourite, with Tom Boonen) refused to tow Ballan and Hushovd (two of the other pre-race favourites) up to the breakaway, from which one of those three would've been the likely winner.
It sounds fair enough that Cancellara refused to tow them up to the breakaway, until you remember that cycling is a team sport, and that both Ballan and Hushovd had team mates in the breakaway and one of the unwritten laws is that you don't chase down your own team mate who is in a break up the road (unless you're on your own and not towing people with you), especially if that man you're bringing up is Cancellara. So Cancellara was understandable in his refusal to tow them up, and Ballan and Hushovd were even more justified in not working.
In the end Cancellara waited too late to attack (after previously attacking so hard he ran into a motobike carrying a camera man!) and couldn't catch Van Summeren, who held on for a gutsy win (and in a damn fast time too). Cancellara had to settle for second after catching the remaining breakaway ground and out sprinting them, and Ballan couldn't go with Cancellara and had to settle for 6th. Hushovd, team mate of the winner Van Summeren, lost the sprint for 7th just behind and finished 8th.
The real reason that Cancellara lost was because his team was weak. Had he gone to BMC instead of Leopard-Trek (who are all about building a GT winning team for the Schleck brothers) you'd think he would've won all three monuments so far this year: Milan San Remo, Ronde van Vlandren, and Paris Roubaix. Instead Cancellara has a 2nd, 3rd, and 2nd respectively, and BMC have had a 4th, 6th and 6th - a disappointing result for both.
One of the other pre-race favourites Boonen had bike issues in Arenberg forrest, and was stranded without team mates - after an epic ride nearly catch the peloton, the rider in front of him crashed and his day way done.