Fever pitch

DE RONDE IS COMING.

Two-time winner and on-and-off favorite, Stijn Devolder said he needed a day to recover from Fabian's solo ride in Harelbeke. In short, he was shocked, but as he pointed out, "Fabian is not just my problem."

Quick-Step announced that Tom Boonen will be supported by Dries Devenyns, Gert Steegmans, and Sylvain Chavanel among others, on Sunday. Initially we were told neo-pro, and grandson of Benoni Beheyt, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck would not start. According to Lefevre, "we don't want to burn him out. All those hills can be a bit much for a 20 year old." And he should know, Lefevre has won seven Rondes as manager. Three with Museeuw, three with Tom and two with Devolder.

Unfortunately, Nicki Terpstra crashed in the Driedaagse and now Van Keirsbulck will take his place and start anyways. So much for burning out 20 year olds.

Only the real die-hard and aging aficionados will remember how in 1963 in Ronse of all places, Benoni Beheyt took the world championship from his team leader Rik Van Looy in an upset that shocked the world of cycling like none other before or since.

Beheyt-Van Looy, do you remember this?

Leif Hoste's visit to the wizard oral surgeon apparently went well and he will be at the start, although his smile may be somewhat damaged due to the stitches in his eyebrow.

The Driedaagse saw an Italian victory this morning, but Guarnieri's success was quickly overshadowed by Sebastien Rosseler's amazing time trial that netted the RadioShack rider not just a stage but the overall victory. Fellow Belgian Bert De Backer started out in the leader's jersey, but ended up in 18th place, at 1'34, just ahead of Jens Keukeleire, the former neo-pro who swept like a whirlwind through Flanders last year but has not won anything so far in 2011.

Car trouble

Things are not going well for world-domination-seeking Quick-Step. So far the team has not scored any points in the World Tour -Steegmans won Nokere Koerse, but that wonderful race is not part of the said Tour- and that means the Quick-Step car will be at the end of the caravan next Sunday at Gent-Wevelgem. Position 18 or higher!

Quick-Step will have to ride in the back

If you've ever been in a caravan following a race you know that that is not good. You want to be in the first 10. Otherwise, not only is it impossible to follow what goes on in the race -you're better off in front of your TV at home- but when your riders are in trouble, they either have to wait a very long time, or you have to try make your way through 18+ cars on country roads that are barely wide enough for one car.

If the unfortunate team does not score any points in the upcoming Gent-Wevelgem race, the car will be in 18th or higher for the Ronde van Vlaanderen and that would be a real disaster. The Ronde has so many narrow poor roads that moving ahead in the caravan is next to impossible. Furthermore, these stretches are where it is at. If you get stuck there your race is effectively over. So keep your fingers crossed this weekend and hope for the best. Otherwise Tommeke and friends will be in dire straits.

Koppenberg, getting one car through is hard enough

Quick-step looking for world domination

Quick-step has been in the news a lot lately. After what some would call a season of near-misses in 2010, Quick-step is out to set the record straight. "We have to win again," team manager Patrick Lefevere said. He pointed out that Tom Boonen is now working with a personal coach to make sure we don't see a repeat of what happened in 2010. Surely giving Tom the benefit of a personal trainer, a luxury many stateside Freds enjoy, is going to make all the difference.

Hmm, a personal coach?

You may recall that Quick-step was courting Alberto Contador, but the Tour de France winner decided to find his luck elsewhere. Now that Contador is looking at an almost certain 2 year suspension, Quick-step is probably very happy that things worked out the way they did.

Added at 3PM : Contador confirmed today that the Spanish Federation will impose a one year ban plus a forfeit of his 2010 Tour de France title. There will be a press briefing on Friday.

The Belgian court decision favoring Iljo Keisse in his battle with UCI also brought some joy, although that was subsequently nullified when UCI stepped in to block Keisse in Manchester and Bremen. Still, the team walked away with a decisive win in Gent, before the home crowds, and that must count for something.

Earlier this year Quick-step pulled in big money from Czech investor Zdenek Bakala, who now owns 80% of the team. The influx of capital will ensure the team's survival in what are becoming difficult times for professional cycling.

Bakala, he got a free Merckx bike too!

Even before the investment, Lefevere was contemplating buying the Telenet-Fidea cyclocross team headed by Zdenek Stybar but Stybar decided to make the move to Quick-step on his own.

Maybe the fact that his compatriot Bakala is the majority owner played a key role? Or maybe Stybar did not want to wait to see what would happen to Telenet because Niels Albert's team bosses also expressed interest in acquiring it. Whatever happens there, it won't happen until after the world championships. That is what Telenet manager Hans van Kasteren said yesterday.

Stybar is interested in trying new things. He wants to compete in mountain bike at the London Olympics and he also wants to try and see what he can do on the road. Patrick Lefevre for one would like to see what Stybar can do on the road. Either way, we probably won't see Zdenek ride 40 cyclo-cross races next season. Something will have to give.

Maybe that is good news for Niels Albert. Albert is on an impressive winning streak and if he tops it off with a world championship win this weekend, he will be on top of his game. Rumors are however, that Albert too would like to try the open road.

Meanwhile, Lucien Van Impe's team Veranda's Willems Accent, is getting ready for the Flemish spring classics. The former Tour winner's team will ride as a ProContinental team this season and may enter the Walloon classics as well as Paris-Roubaix if all goes well.

Van Impe, polka dot and yellow

Yesterday the team was presented to the press. They just returned from Spain, where earlier in the month they made some waves by trying their hand at bullfighting. Clearly Veranda's Willems is ready for anything.

She's not part of the team