lotek 

well this is refreshing. A thread in Professional... that isn't about doping. I half expected to see no thread here.

I'm not sure I like the Ronde without the Muur, however the circuit and 3 climbs of Koppenberg, Paterberg etc. was really interesting.
and it was nice to see some different team tactics given the new course.
some post race thoughts, Feed Zones need to be better controlled, maybe have them grouped by team? dunno.
Spectators should not be allowed on the road when races (either breakaways or main peloton) is withing 1K. let radios clue
the local constabulary in and they clear the freaking road.
If a pedestrian does cause crash due to their stupidity mandatory fine, or death sentence, either one works for me.

all in all I enjoyed it, looking forward to Paris Roubaix. God I love classics season.

curiouskid55

Anyone know of a rebroadcast this week? Could of sworn I saw that nbc sports had it several times this week now no sign of it.

cthenn

Well to be fair, the cyclist (forget the name) was trying to get ahead by riding on the sidewalk, so not really so much the spectators fault. You only get one chance to watch a professional race whizz bye on its way to some far away destination, it's hard to blame them for not pinning themselves up against the buildings to ensure a 100% obstruction-free zone for racing. Come inside the barrier (which there was none in this case), that's a different story.

K.Katso

I was at Koppenberg. There was a big screen, frituur, and beer stand at the top. The crowd went wild at the end. Oudenaarde was quite crazy too. Good times.

guadzilla

I didn't really think it was the fan's fault. Those guys hopped on the sidewalk really fast and he was trying his best to get the hell out of the way - I can sort of see his point: he didn't want to stay in the way and potentially block the riders from re-joining the pack, and so made a bad judgement in the heat of the moment.

Ironically, just 2 minutes ago, I was mentioning to some friends how better-behaved the Belgian fans appeared to be in terms of giving the riders room, compared to some of the muppets on the Grand Tour climbs.

daveF

Don't forget, this is Belgium. Very normal to race on the sidewalk as well as the road. Belgium spectators are used to this & that is why you often see them standing well back against a building. Watch Brabantse Pijl, the entire peloton will bunny hop sideways onto a sidewalk to avoid cobles. That spectator must not have been from Belgium!

Vlaam4ever

Actually I think it always goes through Kortrijk regularly on the way to hills.

Panic

I've only been in Belgium a few times, and never for the Classics. I think I like the Classics better than the grand tours for some reason.

K.Katso

You don't happen to work for Scientific Atlanta(Cisco), do you?