We’re barely through the second of 3.5 stages, and already The Pain has taken a toll – Leif Hoste’s well on his way to another unhappy Ronde, to go with his flag-in-spokes from ’03 and leave-stronger-teammate-behind-before-losing sprint from ’06. It’s all fun and games for Tom Boonen, of course; he seems awfully relaxed for a guy whose biggest performance this year has been at Tour of Qatar.
At T-minus 4 days, the Flanders hype machine is running full-bore: check the bergs n’ cobbles pain scores over at Podium Cafe, or see what UK hardman Barry Hoban has to impart from his fistful of rumbles over the undulating pavé. Despite not considering Cipo’ one of the best sprinters of all time, Hoban still manages an insight or two – though someone ought to drop him the memo that his “man’s race” does indeed have a woman’s event.
Ah – now for the fun stuff. While a friend of mine calls 1 April “Internet jackass day”, in honor of all the fake news, he might as well have been referring to the “final” Danilo DiLuca hearing, which was both skipped by the accused and delayed by the judge. Yes, it seems cycling’s allegedly new attitude toward the dopage might still need a few refinements. And you know it’s not going to help that the governing bodies still can’t seem to stop chasing their tails. Isn’t there some way the Federal Reserve could maybe step in and fix this?