this week in belgium..

stolen from pez.....

GP Wallonie
Stefano Garzelli is not a happy man after winning the GP Wallonie up the steep ascent to the Citadel in Namur (or Namen) in Belgium.

The reason? See the top of this page and the Italian selection for the Varese world Champs.

“I am in top form and yet [Ballerini] is not taking me to a Worlds that passes 5km from my door. I came here [to the finish] yesterday and once I had seen it I knew immediately I could win,” Garzelli said. “Above all, you can compare the worlds to this race here.”

Garzelli beat home Quick Step’s Giovanni Visconti, who said, “I made a horrible mistake. I knew I had to pass Garzelli before the last 300 meters. Afterwards it would have been impossible. I missed my chance. It’s a real shame.”

Last year’s winner, Bert De Waele (Landbouwkrediet) finished fifth and his team manager Gerard Bulens expressed similar sentiments about Belgian national coach, Carlo Boman’s decision, to leave DeWaele (also 4th a Paris-Bruxelles) at home.


Results:
1. Stefano Garzelli, ITA, Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo
2. Giovanni Visconti, ITA, Quick Step
3. Jérôme Pineau, FRA, Bouygues Telecom
4. Janek Tombak, EST, Mitsubishi-Jartazi
5. Bert De Waele, BEL, Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner
6. Benoît Vaugrenard, FRA, Française des Jeux
7. Sergey Lagutin, UZB, Cycle Collstrop
8. Bram Tankink, NED, Rabobank
9. Frédéric Guesdon, FRA, Française des Jeux
10. David Lelay, FRA, Bretagne - Armor Lux

hopefully we'll see these names again when cyclocross starts in europe towards the end of the month.

update: my bad season opened last sunday in belgium
UCI calendar (excerpt)

All Competitions

Date

Event

Venue

Ctry

Class

ME

MU

MJ

WE

14.9.08

Steenbergcross

Erpe-Mere

BEL

if the players at not exhausted by this time of the season, then bet on these winners, not so much the veulta or the pologne riders fanned out across europe.