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belgium, cycling, flandern, gruber, jered, kermis, race, Racing -

Chasing dreams, racing in Belgium

Bike racers are all tough, but the suffering that is guaranteed by a wet, cold, and nasty conditions will separate the driven souls. Dressed fully aero and protected from the elements wearing the aerodynamic Gabba Jersey, Body Paint Bibshorts, Nano Flex warmers, Diluvio gloves and shoe-covers, Jered Gruber is finally getting his chance to race in Belgium. This weekend, he headed south into Wallonia for a race in the never-ending hills of the Ardennes. I’m climbing the Cote de la Vecquee in the Ardennes. It’s a typical part of the 260 kilometer Monument, Liege-Bastogne-Liege. It’s not a major, prominent climb that forms any real selection in La Doyenne, but in today’s race, it’s doing a good job of sorting the good fruit from the bad. The once frantic group that fought so hard for position in the three uphill kilometers (plus the 50k before that) leading to Stoumont and the hard left hand turn, which signifies the start of the climb, is suddenly quiet. The profanities yelled in French, Flemish, German, and English are no more. There’s just breathing. It’s 3C°, it’s raining, I can barely see 10 riders in front of me in the fog, but it doesn’t matter, ...

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2014, flandern, flanders, garmin, recon, ronde, sharp, van, Video, vlaanderen -

Ronde Van Vlaanderen Recon

On Sunday, the 98th edition of the Ronde Van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) will take place in western Belgium. Team Garmin-Sharp spent this week preparing for the race, including 160km recon ride of the race course for Sunday. Coming from Ninove in Flanders, we had a seat in the team car with sport director Andreas Klier and Geert Van Bondt while Jered Gruber took take of the stunning images following the riders on scooter.Tour of Flanders fact #1: 2014 marks the 98th edition of the race.Tour of Flanders fact #2: the race has been won by a Belgian 68 times. Garmin-Sharp rider Nick Nuyens won the race in 2011.Tour of Flanders fact #3: the first race was held on May 25, 1913 and covered 330km.Tour of Flanders fact #4: the “Ronde” is Dylan van Baarle’s favorite race.Tour of Flanders fact #5: the race starts in the city of Bruges, famous for canals…as well as the 2008 movie “In Bruges”.Tour of Flanders fact #6: if you live in Flanders, you may get handed free water bottles as professional riders pass by.Tour of Flanders fact #7: It is beautiful in the countryside of Flanders.Tour of Flanders fact #8: the cobblestones in Flanders ...

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