A Holy day with Hellingen

Today is the day. No, I don’t mean Easter, and the celebration of the resurrection of our lord and savior, ol' JC. I mean today is the Ronde van Vlaanderen, aka Vlaanderen’s Mooiste, and perhaps today is the day that Tom Boonen shall have his own personal trinity, or not, as the case happened to be.

Yesterday, zapping channels, trying to find something to watch on TV, I found something worth watching for a few minutes. It was a short, public service program, called Kijk Uit (Look Out in Dutch), on the Belgian channel Sporza. The segment explained what to expect for the residents of the towns, and villages that would be affected by the Ronde van Vlaanderen: what to look for when the caravan is coming, when the race is coming, when it’s all clear, etc. They even went around and did a vox-pop session with drivers, giving them the opportunity to air their grievances. Now that’s service!

Wedstrijd, or Race, coming through...

Vox-Pop: So, what's it like having the Ronde block every road in town?

Nico Eeckhout expresses his appreciation.

After Kijk Uit, there was an hour long program, covering the tourists edition of the Ronde, with a sort of pre-game hype: live interviews by my man Michel Wuyts at Quickstep's hotel; various Flemish celebrities, waxing poetically about the race, and brief chats with the ever-day Joes, after they finished riding the course..

Moses is an Assos aficionado as well.

I think my favorite interview, was with an old Flemish guy, dubbed “Moses” by the interviewer, who instead of spending 40 years in the wilderness, had just finished his own Ronde, but had some problems along the way. Apparently Moses couldn’t part the Red Sea that is the Muur - Kapelmuur.

Hopefully Moses had a few Morte Subite’s last night, and has rised to ride another day today.