The Koppenberg - My pics from the Tour of Flanders

[ctank77]

I was in Amsterdam for a week and had the opportunity to take a train down to Brussels and then to Oudenaarde to catch the Koppenberg climb of the Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlaanderen). It was a great experience and I was lucky enough to get some pretty decent shots. The camera is a Nikon D40 with a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens. I wasn't able to get a spot along the barrier so these shots were taken by sticking my hand out over the road and hoping for the best.

This sign is by Nesten, a local painter who lives in Kuurne near Kortrijk. His specialty is painting caricatures.





2005 and 2006 Ronde van Vlaanderen winner Tom BOONEN on the wheel of Team Katusha's Filippo POZZATO.





Wearing number one, 2008 champion Stijn DEVOLDER would go on to be the man at the top of the podium in Meerbeke in 2009.






George HINCAPIE, a Classics veteran at age 35, would go on to finish in 34th place.





Marcus BURGHARDT, Philippe GILBERT of Silence-Lotto, and Grégory RAST of Astana.





Belgian Kevin VAN IMPE of Quick Step is the son of professional racer Frank Van Impe and the nephew of 1976 Tour de France winner Lucien Van Impe.













Quick Step's Kevin de Weert






Greg Van Avermaet









Silence-Lotto's Johan Vansummeren









Bbox Bouygues Telecom's Saïd Haddou










Topsport Vlaanderen riders Nikolas Maes and Preben van Hecke





Maxim Iglinsky of Team Astana





Björn Leukemans was suspended for doping in 2008 and is now on the Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team.










Fabian Cancellara has a problem with his chain as Skil-Shimano's Koen de Kort passes on his left.





You can see that World and Olympic Time-Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara has lost his chain.





American Steven Cozza of Garmin-Slipstream is in the middle of this pack.





Italian Diego Caccia of Barloworld


















Frederiek Veuchelen of Vacansoleil





AG2R's Aurélien Clerc









Cofidis rider Sébastien Portal brings up the rear...






...and receives a helping hand.





The scene just after the riders passed.





Walking down the road back to town.





The town sign near the base of the climb.










Close-up of the Cobbles





The Koppenberg in the distance while waiting for the bus back to the train station in Oudenaarde.

[drg]

Love the cobblestones!

Lot of photos for one post.

[bmetzler]

Awesome shots! I especially like the going away photos looking into the faces of the crowd - they are so intent on the action. I can't imagine an uphill climb on those cobblestones.

[Ultra Magnus]

Awesome shots! I especially like the going away photos looking into the faces of the crowd - they are so intent on the action. I can't imagine an uphill climb on those cobblestones.

Those cobbles must be brutal. I mountain bike and there are a few climbs littered with small embedded rocks and I swear you can feel ever tiny rock sapping your forward momentum- very demoralizing.

BM

[SmartWombat]

Nice series, especially the over the barrier shots of the race, some good ones in there.
Bring back memories of my cycle tour of France, Belgium & Netherlands as a student.
We got very familiar with cobbles and tram tracks.
Only 770 miles, in 11 days, nowhere near race pace
Included a 3-day break in Amsterdam caused by Easter snow, we gave up and took the train from Amersfoort on the way from Arnhem once the snow on our chests reached over 1 inch deep.