Dalian update: snakebitten!

Beautiful weather last weekend in Dalian, but cyclists were in for a surprise when they crossed the hills separating the east from the cycling-friendly west coast of the peninsular. Whatever direction you turned into, the wind blew in your face. It was incredible! And I am not talking about a gentle sea breeze here but a relentless gale. After struggling my way to the western coastal route that leads to the peninsular tip of Lushvn Kaifaqu, I eventually saw no option but to retreat instead of closing the circle to Dalian. That 40km coastal route, by the way, is mangia e bevi all the way - continuously up and down. When I got back to my appartment after four hours of pure power training my eggs were boiled soft. It had been warmer than expected and I lost a lot of fluid. Inconveniently, I only had one hour of rest. Sonia, a Mexican expat and a coordinator of the ICD, had invited me for a paella dinner at a Dutch expat couple's flat starting already at 6 p.m. Shower in, shower out, rushed out the door, hit the Tesco supermarket nearby, grabbed a good Chianti Rufino and flagged a cab. I arrived at the gathering within the generally accepted timeframe and noticed with pleasure that a French expat couple had also brought a bottle of Vacqueryas. After that tiring battle against the wind, a good glass of wine was just what I needed.

And did it taste good! It accompanied Sonia's delicious paella perfectly, but in my enthusiasm I forgot one basic rule of endurance sports. A rule I tend to forget often: rehydrate!

After eating a royal tarte aux pommes as dessert, all of a sudden the muscles in my right thigh contracted heavily. As the pain increased I knew what was going to happen, having suffered from such nasty cramps before... Damn, the sofa was where I had to be! I still apologised to my conversation partners at the dining table and stood up from my chair... but the next thing I remember is everyone standing around me lying on the floor as I gradually regained consciousness.

It was all just a matter of seconds. And a minute later, sitting on the sofa, the cramp was entirely gone and I was fully conscious again. My right shoulder hurt because I was told I had hit a low TV sideboard with it in my fall. Luckily no damage to anything or anybody. The mother of the Dutch host used to be a long distance runner and understood what had happened straightaway. Sportspeople often refer to these painful and sudden muscle contractions as snakebites. She made me drink water glass after glass, and that is indeed all I still drank that night. Sigh. Quite embarrassing the whole episode, of course...

Sunday I was back on the racebike by 11.15 a.m. for a longish recovery ride. Or so I wished. That gale was blowing even stronger out there. No choice but to amend the plan and shorten the route. But because a full week of travelling and no cycling is coming up, I included the what-I-call Redoute climb. That went pretty well, confirming sensations of earlier last week that my punch on the hills has returned to a certain extent :-)

Back home I ate 500 grams of gnocchi with black pepper and sesame oil and went to the travel agent to try and negotiate an appropriate ferry ticket to Yantai in Shandong. In Mandarin of course. It worked :-). I'm off on Tuesday morning with the 9.15 a.m. Henry will accompany me for a few days travelling around Shandong, but we will split ways in Qingdao as I'm taking a plane there to finish some business in Nanjing.

L-B-L: Vinokourov causes anti-climax

Of course, Alexandre Vinokourov sat out his ban for proven blooddoping in the Tour de France 2007 and people deserve a second chance. But I also had sympathy for the crowd at the finish in Liege, which was jeering loudly as the 36-year old Kazakh veteran approached the finish to take his second Liege-Bastogne-Liege trophy after 2005. It is hard to get excited about a rider who not only got caught, but whose entire professional career is overshadowed by suspicions of serious performance-enhancing drug use. Before 2007, Vinokourov was a member of the German T-Mobile team, in which systematic doping for its best riders was de rigueur. And before that time, he rode for Casino. A French team that rode from one victory to the next in 1997 but that later turned out to have dope distributors such as Rodolfo Massi in their ranks. Now he is riding for Astana, a team he basically created and which reputation he torpedoed himself with his and his compatriot's Kascheschkin's blood doping affairs three seasons ago.

There is no doubt that Alexandre Vinokourov is a natural cycling talent who has worked hard to stay at the top of the game for more than a decade, but his legacy simply is and will always be tainted. If he needed blood transfusions and other advanced stimulantia in order to win in the past, why would be just assume that - in the twlight of his career - he can win with mere orthodox means?

Yesterday in L-B-L, he timed his move well to sneak away from the top favourites Schleck, Gilbert and Valverde. Russian Alex Kolobnew, who has been strong in all hilly races recently, paid attention and went along. Together they made it to the finish with over a minute advantage, until Vinokourov proved to be the strongest in the final kilometre. Behind them, Gilbert gave it all on the Saint Nicolas climb, but it was too late. Alejandro Valverde still beat Gilbert for third place in their sprint.

After the race, Vinokourov spoke of "his revenge" and refused to talk about the 2007 case. He added he turned that page and that doping is 'bad' for sports.

Still, as such, the spring classics season came to an end with a bit of anti-climax. At the same time, cases like these are the reality of professional sports today. As our law says: everybody is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Yet that is also just what the law says.

Liege-Bastogne-Liege Top 10

1. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ, Astana)
2. Alexandre Kolobnew (RUS, Katusha) at 6"
3. Alejandro Valverde (ESP, Caisse d' Epargne0 at 1'04"
4. Philippe Gilbert (BEL, Omega Pharma Lotto)
5. Cadel Evans (AUS, BMC Racing) at 1'07"
6. Andy Schleck (LUX, Saxo Bank)
7. Igor Anton (ESP, Euskaltel)
8. Chris Horner (USA, RadioShack)
9. Frank Schleck (LUX, Saxo Bank)
10.Alberto Contador (ESP, Astana)

Links

Video climb of La Roche aux Facons
Final Kilometres

L-B-L: Gilbert's Jour de Gloire ?

Cycling's Spring Classics season concludes today with the oldest of them all: Liege-Bastogne-Liege. First organised in 1892, la Doyenne is a tough 260km long struggle through the hills of the Belgian Ardennes with about 3600 Hm in total to conquer. Today, many pro cyclists consider it's the most beautiful and most prestigious classic race to win, which explains why several Grand Tour riders are again lining up at the start today!

The prelude to L-B-L is the Fleche Wallonne race, held last Wednesday. An animated race that saw current world champion Cadel Evans time his effort on the horribly steep Mur de Huy best to counter a dying Alberto Contador (!) in the final metres (see photo). Joacquin Rodriguez came too late, Cunego and Valverde were not strong enough for the win, the Schleck brothers once again lacked the required explosivity on climbs like Huy, and for Philippe Gilbert this climb is just a notch too long. The top 10 was as follows:

1. Cadel Evans (AUS, Team BMC)
2. Joacquin Rodriguez (ESP, Team Katusha)
3. Alberto Contador (ESP, Astana)
4. Igor Anton (ESP, Euskaltel)
5. Damiano Cunego (ITA, Lampre)
6. Philippe Gilbert (BEL, Omega Pharma Lotto)
7. Chris Horner (USA, RadioShack)
8. Alejandro Valverde (ESP, Caisse d'Epargne)
9. Andy Schleck (LUX, Saxo Bank)
10. Ryder Hesjedal (DEN, Garmin)

This weekend the crowd in Wallonia will of course be cheering their hearts out for Philippe Gilbert. Since last year, the Omega Pharma-Lotto ace has become a true protagonist with an impressive string of results throughout the year, culminating in four consecutive victories at the end, including monuments like Giro di Lombardia and Paris-Tours. Last week, Gilbert proved those wins were no coincidence by overpowering everybody on the Cauberg in Holland to take the Amstel Gold Race. Now on home soil in the Ardennes, Gilbert is the top favourite for today's race. He will need to keep his head cool, though. Last season he attacked early and bonked completely when Andy Schleck caught him ... and dropped him. Bearing that in mind, Gilbert may wait until the final climb of St Nicolas, or even until the sprint. In the latter case his main rival will be Alejandro Valverde, already a double winner of L-B-L. But the Spaniard did not appear to be at his best in the Fleche Wallonne. Gilbert's other problem could be lack of support from his team. Only the young talent Jurgen Van den Broeck can be expected to support Gilbert deep in the finale, but yet only so much. Who is going to reel Joaquin Rodriguez back in when the Spanish Katusha rider and former Valverde teammate makes his move? And Alberto Contador: I cannot believe he is just going to ride along. The Tour-Giro-Vuelta winner said that before Wednesday's race as well, but then he was suddenly so keen he opened the final debate on the Mur de Huy! Contador is a winner, and the others better don't give him too much space at the end! Plus he has strong teammates like Iglinsky and Gasparotto.

Tactics are important in this race. The most fearsome climb of the race is the Cote de la Redoute at 40 kilometres from the finish. Amazing duals have been fought there between top riders (remember Frank Vandenbroucke versus Michele Bartoli in 1999!), but many also paid cash for their rush on the Redoute afterwards.

Everything is set up for an exciting finale of the 2010 Spring Classics season! Looking forward to tonight's livestream (Beijing time) with a glass of wine :-)

My pick
Winner: Alberto Contador
Podium: Alejandro Valverde; Damiano Cunego
Dark horse: Joaquin Rodriguez

Links

L-B-L official homepage
L-B-L 1999 Video: Frank VDB vs Michele Bartoli on the Cote de la Redoute
L-B-L 1999: Summary + post race interview VDB

Nanjing pictures online

A series of pictures from my trip to Nanjing last weekend are now online. More will be added in about ten days from now. Nanjing is a former capital city of imperial China, a.o. in the early Ming Dynasty - one of the greatest and most popular parts in Chinese history. The Ming emperors would then move the capital to Beijing - to the famous Forbidden Palace.

Nanjing

Dalian update: Podium!

After two weeks of - honestly - annoying and excessively time-consuming preparatory work, we finally had our class internal speech competition to decide who was going to represent us at next Monday's university-wide speech contest. I did not consider myself a favourite at all. Most of my today's eleven classmates have been living in China or Taiwan for longer and simply have an edge on me as regards pure conversational skills. But to finish first you have to finish first. And as it happened, several boys and girls succumbed under pressure, chickened out or failed to even turn up and yours truly scored an unanticipated podium result :-)!

Two of the three Thai girls were out of reach, though. In fact, luckily enough, otherwise I would be spending the whole of next weekend fine-tuning that bloody speech further! They forecast a sunny 16 degrees all weekend - perfect for some long training rides! I will need it, because as of Monday I will be travelling for a week through Shandong province (Yantai, Penglai, Qingdao, Laoshan, Qufu,...). After Monday's special university event - in which our class will also recite a rhythmic Chinese poem - there are indeed no classes scheduled until Tuesday, 4 May.

Travelling is a great way to test your language skills, too. I discovered that last weekend in Nanjing, where I spoke more Mandarin than in all previous Dalian weekends together. Here you always end up with fellow students, which is logical of course. More on Nanjing later this week, including photo material.

Tomorrow I am also starting conversation tutorials with a local university student, who in exchange wishes me to correct her English.

This week I also signed up for the upcoming University Sports Games on 20/21 May. I will partecipate in the shot put and javelin throw competitions. I had to resist the temptation to register for the 1500m and 5000m runs. My recent foot injury, which took weeks to heal and which stemmed from starting to run again too quickly, is still fresh in my mind. I am very much looking forward to doing the shot put especially, though. It will be a walk down memory lane. As a young teenager twenty years ago - Jesus Christ - I won three Flemish shot put championships in a row, and today I am still holder of the renowned AC Zele athletics club's record in the -13y category. In 1990 I threw the shot 12m63 far and nobody has even come within 2 metres of that bestmark. It does suprise me because I still had to throw with a ball of 4 kilograms, whereas in the last 16 years they can use a 3 kg ball! Bottom line: this summer season my record will stand for 20 years. I am secretly hoping that next month we will also throw with 4 kilos in order for me to compare present with past. Meanwhile, my 19-year-old record on the 80m sprint (10.74) got finally broken at the very end of last season by a certain Yoni de Bock (10.67). Well done, Yoni! Now it's still the shot put and the 800 metres (2.18.9) :-)

Dalian update: is there an Olympian in the house?

During one of the class breaks at university yesterday, I started a conversation in the corridor with a student from Mongolia, who - I was told - is a boxer. A young guy named Gesrl and he claims to have been part of the Mongolian olympic boxing team in Beijing two years ago. Wow, that would be quite a feat, indeed! He explained, in broken English, that he fought at light flyweight (-48kg) and was eliminated in his second fight at the Beijing olympics by a boxer from Kazakhstan. He does not know exactly how many bouts he has under his belt, but definitely more than a hundred and he won "about" 75 of them. Mongolian competition is fierce, he added. Meanwhile, he has had to quit boxing because of a bad back. So, today the former olympian is studying Mandarin in the class nextdoor here in Dalian.

A beautiful story. Perhaps too beautiful, so I went online the minute I got home and browsed the Beijing result lists. My suspicions were confirmed straightaway. A Mongolian boxer with a different name grabbed the silver medal at light flyweight, which means my schoolmate could not even have taken part in that weight category. In each category a country can be represented by just one fighter. Maybe my schoolmate mixed up the weight classes? Nope, there is no mentioning of any Mongolian flyweight (-51kg), and in the bantams (-54kg) a Mongolian became olympic champion... but obviously not my pal here.

This morning I bumped into him and asked him again. Yes, yes, Beijing olympics, the category till 48kg, beaten by Kazakh fighter in second round. "Are you also a boxer?"

I don't get it. Tonight someone told me Mongolians are masters in telling stories. Well, than my dearest Gesrl is certainly an olympic champion in that discipline!!


Links

Beijing 2008 boxing results
Wikipedia on Mongolian 2008 olympic team

Dalian update: Belgium coffee

Last week Dalian was hit by yet another cold spell, which made everyone's life quite uncomfortable. The city's central heating system had been switched off already at the beginning of April so room temperatures dropped considerably... in my case to a mere 12 degrees in the evening! That's too cold to sit around, no matter how many clothes you put on so the only solution was to flee to a bar or coffeeplace somewhere in town. On Wednesday two of the French exchange students, Emma and Claire, had somehow found out during the day that the latest Martin Scorsese movie "Shutter Island" was being shown at a coffee bar called Kaffeecoast. In its original English version! Perfect. Henry and I accepted their invitation to join and as such discovered the best coffee bar in Dalian (to this day)! In fact, the place looked like a cafe in Antwerp with plush sofas, mahony tables, armchairs, bookshelves containing all sorts of stuff to read, a grand piano, a wine rack and even an Illy espresso machine. "Shutter Island" was shown via DVD on a big screen in a separate room, again filled with doubleseaters, low wooden tables with plates of free nuts, seeds and crisps, and free flasks of hot lemon water. Oh, and if you want a beer or cola, please pay 10 kuai ( = 1 euro). i guess we have a new base :-)

After the film had ended, I got into a conversation with the Chinese owner of the place, a middle-aged rather sophisticated woman who was happy enough to try out her English skills and put up with my Mandarin. She moved down there near Wusi Square (one of Dalian's main shopping districts) only last autumn after having opened a similar coffeebar on dongbei lu for five years. Then she asked where I was from. Belgium? She went to the counter, took the menu and offered it to me. As I opened it, the first thing I saw were big black letters that said "BELGIUM COFFEE". I did not even know there was such a thing as Belgian coffee, at least not anything worth marketing. The woman must have noticed my surprise and she pointed to a strange looking piece of machinery on a shelf behind the counter. A Belgian coffee press machine (see picture). To be honest I had never seen such a coffee maker before in my life. Turns out this was indeed used in the distant past by the Belgian royal family and other men of authority and status in Brussels. Most definitely bourgeois in any case. I cannot recall I have ever been served coffee prepared via this piece of equipment, but I will most certainly give it a try in the days to come.

Then, we still walked around the local night market for a while with a keen interest in the food stalls offering all kinds of odd satés and soup mixtures. When I travelled through Sichuan in 2004 I was a big fan of the cheap Tibetan food stands, but over there everything is spicy enough to make it interesting. Here in Manchuria, however, the food is generally not spicy at all so a skewer with squid, octopus or some kind of meat is exactly that. Then Henry pointed out a food stall that offered...chicken heads on a saté stick! Well well, how on earth do you eat the head of a chicken? The next day Ma laoshi surprised me over lunch: chickenheads are very tasty, she said, and many local people eat them on a regular basis. The heads are boiled, and can but don't need to be, fried afterwards and marinated with some sauce for extra flavour. Normally you eat them like you eat a crab. You need to dig out the nice pieces. Her brother loves boiled chickenheads.


In any case, the Chinese make the most of it when they slaughter an animal!

Meanwhile, I have also started teaching Dutch to a local young Dalian woman who works for an international business consultancy firm. The previous weekend she had taken me to a Russian restaurant full of Soviet nostalgia and Putin TV inside. For me it was the second time to try out Russian cuisine, and I have to admit that for the second time after Harbin in 2008 I was most certainly happy with the taste of the ordered dishes! Chickenliver on a bed of mashed tomatoes and carrots and a mayonaise topping...mjam mjam! The borsch was good, too, and the main chicken and beef dishes that came with an interesting sauce or flavouring were all a welcome alternative to my almost daily Chinese food.

Dalian update: looking for toothpaste ...

As I was looking for a new tube of toothpaste today, I was confronted with the agony of choice ...

Philippe Gilbert the new Classics King ?

As I spent a long weekend in Nanjing (more later), I did not see Philippe Gilbert's superb victory in the Dutch classic Amstel Gold Race last Sunday. A very significant win for his Omega Pharma-Lotto team, which had not scored a single win this season, and for himself. Philippe Gilbert is very much shaking the throne of Tom Boonen in Belgium, and many experts actually feel he has already dethroned the Quickstep ace! Boonen may have had his most solid spring campaign ever, he did not win. Gilbert, on the other hand, scored his third classics' success in less than half a year! As such, outsprinting Boonen in Paris-Tours last October is becoming highly symbolic.

In the Amstel, Gilbert rode like in the Giro di Lombardia at the end of last season. With grinta. Not afraid to attack, to take responsibility when others go (Cunego was quite active last Sunday, for instance) and with the kind of accelerating power that remind many of the best years of Paolo Bettini. His big objective now is of course to take victory in front of his home crowd in Liege-Bastogne-Liege next Sunday. But Gilbert fears Alejandro Valverde, the explosive Spaniard who has won already twice in Liege and who may indeed be faster in the final strait. It will be interesting.

Amstel Gold Race:

1. Philippe Gilbert (BEL, Omega Pharma-Lotto)
2. Ryder Hesjedal (DEN, Garmin) at 2"
3. Enrico Gasparotto (ITA, Astana)
4. Bert De Waele (BEL, Landbouwkrediet) at 5"
5. Roman Kreuziger (CZE, Liquigas)
6. Damiano Cunego (ITA, Lampre)
7. Frank Schleck (LUX, Saxo Bank) at 7"
8. Marco Marcato (ITA, Vacansoleil) at 9"
9. Karsten Kroon (NED, BMC Racing)
10.Chris Horner (USA, RadioShack) at 11"

Links

Final kilometers Amstel Gold Race 2010
Ascents of Eyserbosweg and Keutenberg

Rosseler scores with bad legs

Yesterday's semi classic la Fleche Brabanconne marked the start of the second half of the spring classics campaign, which culminates on 26 April with Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The next races are hillier and will see other names, of solid climbers, appearing in the result lists. Boonen and Cancellara are already on holiday.

Yesterday's race saw Sebastien Rosseler emerge victorious after a long breakaway lasted until the line. Together with compatriots Thomas de Gendt and Jurgen Vandewalle, the Wallonian rider - a teammate of Lance Armstrong at Team RadioShack - stayed out of reach of the race favourites after an attack that was launched with 172 kilometers to go. Afterwards, he confessed he had attacked so early because he had bad legs and did not feel well, and merely thought of grabbing some TV publicity before the big guns would unload. But that happened too late. And so Rosseler grabbed the most significant win of his pro career despite a pair of bad legs.

Race favourites Philippe Gilbert and Oscar Freire probably already had their minds set on next Sunday's Dutch classic Amstel Gold Race. They still made top ten yesterday, though. It is good to see that Greg Van Avermaet - eighth - is keeping his chin up after what is turning out to be another disappointing spring campaign. The then 21-year-old Van Avermaet burst onto the professional scene in 2007 and especially 2008 with several victories and a string of impressive rides, a.o. the points classification and a stage win over Cunego and Rebellin at the Vuelta a Espana. But since then his rush to the top of pro cycling has stalled without an obvious explanation. Could it be that Van Avermaet is simply better equipped for the hillier races a la Amstel and Liege than for the Flemish cobblestone races?

Result Fleche Brabanconne

1. Sebastien Rosseler (BEL, Team RadioShack)
2. Thomas de Gendt (BEL, Topsport Vlaanderen)
3. Jurgen Vandewalle (BEL, Quickstep)
4. Paul Martens (GER, Rabobank)
5. Philippe Gilbert (BEL, Omega Pharma Lotto)
6. Thomas Voeckler (FRA, B Box Bouyges)
7. Bjorn Leukemans (BEL, Vacansoleil)
8. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL, Omega Pharma Lotto)
9. Oscar Freire (ESP, Rabobank)
10. Daniel Moreno (ESP, Omega Pharma Lotto)

Dalian update: lawsuit against Von Hagens

As some of you already know, one of the first people I met in Dalian was a German young woman whose name is Bera von Hagens, daughter of Heidelberg professor Gunther von Hagens. Maybe that doesn't ring a bell? Maybe the exhibition "Koerperwelten", or "Body worlds" does? Right, it is them. Since 1996 the von Hagens run a major plastination centre in Dalian. Bera is in charge here, and when I met her she was quite thrilled because her team had just finished dissecting an elephant. A premiere apparently, nobody had ever done that before. The relief was visibly high as it took them three years of patience and ultra precision. The result can soon be seen at a new exhibition they have launched: Koerperwelten der Tiere.

I remember the Body Worlds exhibition raised quite a bit of controversy in Germany a few years ago, and it seems that the von Hagens have to deal with other issues, too, right now:

A lawsuit filed in mainland China against anatomist, Dr. Gunther von Hagens' business interests there is confounding legal and media analysts familiar with the convoluted case.

The civil suit was filed by Sui Hongjin, a competitor of von Hagens and best known as a supplier of Chinese human specimens for cadaver displays. Hongjin charges von Hagens with "reputation infringement" resulting from a 2008 investigative report by ABC TV's Chief Investigative Correspondent, Brian Ross on the source of bodies used in exhibitions of human remains.
The lawsuit holds the German anatomist's Chinese company culpable for the contents of the report. "Dr. von Hagens is being sued for an investigation by a reputable American media outlet and award-winning journalist," said Gail Vida Hamburg, Director of Science Communications for the Institute for Plastination. "We understand Chaos Theory's premise that the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil sets off a tornado in Texas, but this is absurd," she said.

It is an astounding case that questions European case law, the heart of US Constitutional law, and business and international law. It confuses the sovereignty and culpability of European, Chinese and American-based companies, by holding Dr. von Hagens' company in China responsible for the journalism investigation of a US media outlet. "It applies Chinese rules of news censorship to American newsgathering, reporting, and free speech, treating the Fourth Estate and First Amendment as quaint notions," said Hamburg. "We established a gold standard in the field of anatomical exhibitions to work transparently with all media. It may not be the Chinese way but it is the American way, " she said.
Lawyers expect a courtroom drama that embarrasses the Chinese government, if the case proceeds and Dr. von Hagens' legal team call Harry Wu -founder of the Washington D.C based Laogai Research Foundation-- as a witness. The most prominent Chinese-American activist lobbying in the halls of Congress on human rights issues in China, Wu is expected to shed light on the issue of labor camps and the exploitation of executed prisoners in China's penal system for commercial use.

About Dr. Gunther von Hagens

Anatomist Dr. von Hagens invented plastination in 1977. He founded the world's only body donation program for plastination in 1982. In 1995 he began touring his BODY WORLDS exhibitions, seen by 30 million people. Currently, he is a visiting professor at New York University's College of Dentistry. He is the Scientific Director for the Institute for Plastination. His Chinese company in Dalian is responsible for producing animal plastinates, now showcased in his latest exhibition, KORPERWELTEN der Tiere.

Source: Institute for Plastination

Take a look at the Bodyworlds website, and the new "Koerperwelten der Tiere" website.

No stopping Spartacus in Roubaix

There was no stopping Fabian Cancellara in Paris-Roubaix neither. The Swiss champion easily scored the magic double Flanders-Roubaix, or triple if you also include E3, with a victory yesterday a la Eddy Merckx. With just under 50km (!) to go, Spartacus launched an attack on a tarmac road and caught his fellow race favourites by surprise. Not in the least Tom Boonen, who at that moment had for some reason allowed himself to ride at the back of the group. A tactical error that cost the Belgian champion dearly: when he noticed Cancellara had ridden away he appeared frozen for a second or two. He probably could not believe it was happening again. When Boonen finally reacted and attempted to chase his foe down it was too late, and he knew it as well. During the previous 25 kilometers Boonen had looked strong in attacking and increasing the pace several times, which trimmed the group down significantly. Even Matti Breschel was no longer there. The race situation had gone in his favour. But then he let Cancellara out of his sight for a minute.

Boonen very quickly looked worn out, as much by the psychological blow he had been dealt with by Cancellara for the third week in a row, as by the physical effort. In the end he would finish fifth - beaten in the sprint for fourth by Briton Roger Hammond. During post-race interviews a disappointed Boonen had it difficult to admit he had made a tactical mistake. He is right that some other riders were immediately settling for second place and refused to work together to haul Cancellara back, but yesterday's race was all between him and Cancellara. The rest, e.g. Hushovd, Pozzato, Flecha, Hammond and Hoste, knew they would be beaten by either one of them on pure strength.

Bjorn Leukemans, riding ahead, had stubbornly tried to follow Cancellara when he was overtaken by the Swiss train but his front tyre had deflated to just 2 bar, so the in-form Flemish Vacansoleil rider couldn't keep the wheel for long.

Monsieur Paris-Roubaix, Roger de Vlaeminck, was tough in his judgement: "I do not understand Boonen's way of riding. Why did he go so far back in that group? Why didn't he react immediately when Cancellara took off? He knows you cannot give him ten seconds." Typically, de Vlaeminck added: "In my time we were also too weak for Eddy Merckx. But I never gave Merckx 20 metres. Cancellara would have never beaten me. He was exhausted at the end, and I was never tired." ...

Three minutes behind the dominator, Hushovd and Flecha managed to ride away from the others on the Carrefour de l ' Arbre to obtain second and third place on the podium. But everybody was really riding in the big shadow of Fabian Cancellara, undoubtedly the best cyclist in the world today.

Race result:

1. Fabian Cancellara (SUI, Saxo Bank)
2. Thor Hushovd (NOR, Team Cervelo) at 2'00"
3. Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP, Team Sky)
4. Roger Hammond (GBR, Team Cervelo) at 3'14"
5. Tom Boonen (BEL, Quickstep)
6. Bjorn Leukemans (BEL, Vacansoleil) at 3'20"
7. Filippo Pozzato (ITA, Katusha) at 3'46"
8. Leif Hoste (BEL, Omega Pharma Lotto) at 5'16"
9. Sebastien Hinault (FRA, Ag2R) at 6'27"
10. Haydon Roulston (NZL, Team Sky) at 6'59"

Links

Video of decisive moment Paris Roubaix 2010
Video final kilometers

Roubaix: another 2nd place is looming for Boonen ...

Cycling's Spring Classics continue this weekend with probably the most feared of them all: Paris-Roubaix. A 265km ride through the so-called Hell of the North, featuring nearly 60 km of ancient cobblestone paths. For the laymen, that is as tough as a major alpine stage in the Tour de France. Unfortunately, because the race has become so unique and is so specific, only a handful of riders can truly be considered as contenders to win the famous cobble trophy in the Roubaix Velodrome this afternoon. Indeed, lots of riders know they are not strong enough to win this one, and merely talk of "riding a top 10 result" or even just "finishing in the Velodrome". It is probably the closest professional cycling comes to amateur granfondo riding.

Because of their sheer dominance in the past few weeks, Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen are once again the two riders to mark. Both have won the race already, Boonen even three times including the past two editions. If the Belgian champion scores his fourth today, he will match the record of wins held by "Monsieur Paris-Roubaix" Roger de Vlaeminck. The latter is said to be cheering for Cancellara today ;-) All joking aside, Boonen probably also needs the victory for his morale and to set his sponsors' minds at ease. It is ironic that after his strongest spring campaign ever, he has had to settle for second places in all major events (Sanremo, Harelbeke, Flanders). In his final classic race last year, Paris-Tours, he also crossed the line second behind Philippe Gilbert. It is unfortunate but a fact that in modern day professional sports only winning counts.

Both Team Quickstep and Team Saxo Bank have dangerous lieutenants, who could take advantage of the rivalry between the two protagonists. Danish champ Matti Breschel will be very eager to erase the bad memory of the Tour of Flanders, when his mechanic messed up big time during a bike change towards the end of last week's race. Breschel could take off on his own today, or simply follow Boonen and Cancellara all the way to the Velodrome and beat them in the sprint (likely scenario!). Therefore, the task of former Flanders' winner Stijn Devolder is of pivotal importance. I hope for Boonen that his so-far disappointing teammate has found his legs back just on time!

Important outsiders are Thor Hushovd and Filippo Pozzato, but both are recovering from illnesses or other ailments and may not be in top shape. Juan Antonio Flecha, of course, cannot be excluded. The Spaniard was quite invisible last week, so he may be keen on a good showing. David Millar seems highly motivated to do a good job, and so is American champion George Hincapie in the twlight of his career. Hincapie has been trying for a decade to win this race, televised live in the US, but has always met stronger men on his path. It will also be interesting to see where Lars Boom and Steve Chainel end up, as well as veteran Leif Hoste - the sole captain in today's Omega Pharma-Lotto squad.

Finally, for the active riders among you readers: in 2010 the Roubaix velo club organises the Paris-Roubaix cyclosportive again on the first Sunday of June. Take out your aluminium training bike and experience this unique course - a must!

My pick: Matti Breschel
Podium: Tom Boonen; Fabian Cancellara
Dark horse: Stijn Devolder

Dalian update: round-up

It was a very busy week at university with loads of new words/characters that had to be learnt. We also need to prepare for a "speech contest" that will take place within the next two weeks. Each student has to prepare a speech and deliver it in front of a crowd at the university library auditorium. The student with the best Chinese pronounciation wins...

In my spare time I have focussed nearly exclusively on my cycling training this week. It was pouring down on Easter Monday, aka Tomb Sweeping Day, so I got on the bike Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On Tuesday I had my longest session to date, 3h30', and ended up on the other side of the Liadong peninsula. Call it the west coast. I saw a sign that says Daheishi, and it looks like they are building a few tourist resorts there. Indeed, the area is wunderful. I cycled on the brand new and nearly car-free west coast version of Binhai Lu, and had breathtaking panoramas of the Bohai Sea and several small islands. I might be able to connect that route with Daheishan, the mountain I went hiking on last week. That would be a perfect granfondo preparation! Thursday I did interval on the Dalian coastal route and yesterday a relaxed discovery ride with average result this time.

Last night I went to Dave's Bar (on Friday's there's always a live band), and I met up with Yannis, a young German teaching English here for a semester. He was telling me about his taekwondo days a few years back, and made me aware of a truly spectacular youtube clip, featuring the Afghan Kung Fu master Wahidullah Shafiq in a contest against a black belt taekwondo fighter.

Check it out: Wahidullah Shafiq
Also check out this unbelievable kick in a championship contest:

Yannis also told me about his brother, who used to do boxing training in Germany. He claims his brother once sparred with former world super middleweight champion Sven Ottke and... knocked the champ down! If that is true it would be highly remarkable, as Ottke retired undefeated as a professional boxer.

Regardless what time I go to bed at night, I'm always awake by 8 a.m. I do force myself to catch myself some more sleep, but by 10 I'm really up and about. This morning I decided to book a flight for next weekend to Nanjing, the former capital of China during the Ming Dynasty. Flights cost 100 euro now, a good deal before the tourist season kicks off I reckon. My Canadian flatmate, meanwhile, has left for Dandong just now. Dandong is the border with North Korea and a city of one million inhabitants on its own. Joel will spend an entire week there meeting friends. He has visited the place before, as already reported on this blog a few weeks ago, and every time he talks about it there is yet another amazing story. There are several North Korean bars & karaoke clubs in Dandong, with waiters and waitresses from the DPRK working there. These have indeed been allowed to work across the border but are, of course, monitored very carefully by North Korean authorities. As one can imagine, the temptation to escape must be irresistible for these people on occasion. Last year, one waitress did collect all her courage and hightailed it. Sadly, Kim Jong Il's secret forces in China tracked her down, trapped her and....shot her. Her closest relatives in the homeland suffered the same fate. Textbook Russian mafya style. Don't mess with Kim, let that be clear.

Dalian update: Drinking red in China

As y'all know I fancy a nice glass of red from time to time. But wine lovers are not having an easy time in China. Prices are high compared to other drinks, and often a bottle of Johnny Walker or Remy Martin is cheaper than an ordinary bottle of Chianti or Bourgogne. The Metro supermarket in Dalian does offer an OK Bordeaux from Marquis de Rothberg (also available at German supermarkets) for the equivalent of 6 euros, which is about the best deal I am aware of till today. I have also tried an imported Valpolicella and Barbera d' Asti, which were drinkable but it spoils the fun when you know you're paying triple or quadriple the price for such an ordinary bottle than in Europe. So the local wine market has had to be examined. Chinese red wine is quite unknown, of course, and the Chinese people do not have the reputation of being wine drinkers. In fact, alcohol consumption is fairly low, and if Chinese drink it's a regular beer or the hard stuff, bai jiu, liquor that often exceeds 40% easily. It has been a pleasant surprise to taste the local red wine from Changyu winery in Yantai, across the Dalian Bay in Shandong Province. I have tried two different labels and the so-called Premium label is indeed the best red wine (within my budget range) I have enjoyed here in China! Changyu is in fact the oldest winery in China, founded as long ago as 1892, and aims to develop wines modelled on the French classics. European grapes, such as cabernet, were imported to China and French winemakers were hired to introduce the craft here. The result more than a century later is definitely not bad, I'd say. Let's see whether I can visit the Changyu winery when I'll be travelling around Yantai and Shandong for a few days next month. The second big wine producer in China is Great Wall Wine, founded only in 1983, and located a bit further west in Hebei, the Province surrounding Beijing. I purchased a "recommended" bottle the other day. Let's see whether it matches Changyu.

Dalian update: Turtles and runners

Yesterday night on the way to the busstop my eyes fell on a big wooden stand where normally newspapers are being sold. A small crowd had gathered there. On sale were little turtles, paddling in a bowl of water, and tiny orange (!) frogs. Whether they were meant as pets or a meal I do not know. On the other side of the big wooden table was a woman selling eggs. Nothing special were it not that the eggs on display were turquoise in colour. And they were definitely not painted Easter eggs...

On the bus my thoughts went back to the turtles. They reminded me of the legendary army of Ma Junren in the nineties. This controversial Chinese athletics coach propelled x number of very young female long distance runners to the most astonishing feats: olympic, world and Asian titles, smashing several world records along the way. Sometimes with more than one of his athletes at once. Most of these girls were previously unknown and vanished into thin air again after their record runs. 1993 was their finest year. Ma Junren's army swept all the world titles from 1500m to 10,000m during the world championships in Stuttgart, and marched on to destroy all existing world records on the 1500, 3000 and 10,000 metres in Beijing a month later. Seventeen years later, nobody - not even those recent Ethiopian gazelles - has even come close to the times set by the Chinese runners.

So what does this have to do with the turtles that were being sold at the busstop in front of my residence? The famous athletics coach had his main training base here in Dalian, and keeps claiming that his runners' miraculous performances were down to hardcore training regimes (a marathon a day at high altitude) combined with a strict diet of caterpillar fungus, worms and ... turtle blood. Here's my chance to put Ma Junren's elixir to the test! However, I do suspect it won't make me sprint faster to the line but faster to the pot. I also suspect another famous performance booster, abbreviated with three letters, was added to the mix back then. I only wonder who was actually treated with it: the girls or the turtles.

The most successful of Ma Junren's army was a girl named Wang Junxia (photo). For the simple reason she managed to last a few years and even still became olympic 10,000m champion in Atlanta 1996 at the age of 23. She retired afterwards. Wang Junxia was born in Jilin province, just north of Liaoning, but lived for several years in Dalian. In 1993 Wang Junxia smashed records during the Chinese National Games in Beijing nearly day after day. On the 10,000m she took 42 seconds (!!!) off the previous best time, and on the 3000m she needed 16 seconds less. That is unheard of. On the 1500m she was beaten by Qu Yunxia but also went under the world record at the time.

One could thus imagine Wang Junxia to have achieved star and celebrity status here in China, but that somehow does not seem to be the case. At one of the ICD events recently, I chatted with a local woman who claimed to have done athletics as a teenager in the nineties. Even she only had a vague recollection of the multiple world record holder and olympic champion. No idea what happened to her after her career. She seemed to remember she did some teaching here in Dalian. I encountered the same sort of responses from other local people. Qu Junxia, the 1500m world record holder, seems even a bigger mystery. And Ma Junren? The illiterate and previous pig farmer had trouble with his girls eventually, keeping nearly all the prizemoney of his athletes for himself. He made a comeback in 1997 with a new army of runners, but then disappeared from the scene in the late nineties. Some of his athletes were removed from the Chinese National Team for the Sydney Olympics due to suspicious blood values.

Turtle blood, hey ;-)

Sichuan: villagers catch mystery beast

In yesterday's China Daily I read the following article:

Hunters trap mysterious beast

A creature dubbed the 'oriental yeti' is being examined by scientists after emerging from ancient woodlands in remote central China.

The hairless beast was trapped by hunters in Sichuan province after locals reported spotting what they thought was a bear.
Hunter Lu Chin explained: "It looks a bit like a bear but it doesn't have any fur and it has a tail like a kangaroo."

"It also does not sound like a bear - it has a voice more like a cat and it is calling all the time - perhaps it is looking for the rest of its kind or maybe it's the last one?

"There are local legends of a bear that used to be a man and some people think that's what we caught," he added.
Local animal experts now plan to shipped the mystery beast to scientists in Beijing who will perform DNA tests on the beast.

A Chengdu-based website adds:

"In all my 90 years, I've never seen such a creature. I have no idea what it is," Liu Chang said, shaking his head, as he peered unflichingly into a cage housing the small animal. "Badgers, bobcats, I've seen them all, but I've never seen this."

On March 24, villagers in Suining's Jinyuan Town, Daying County flocked to Ke Suying's residence to see what the fuss was about: this never-before-seen creature was the talk of the town.

At around 3 a.m. on March 23, Ke Suying was awakened by the calling of a rooster. She listened carefully: The sound was coming from her own chicken coop, leading her to believe a thief had entered her property. She immediately woke up her daughter-in-law, and, flashlight in hand, they went down to the coop.

What they saw made both mother and daughter-in-law jump. Inside the coop was a dog-like creature, gray from head to toe, tearing at the chickens. The two women grabbed a stick intending to scare it away, but their efforts were in vain. They had no choice but to call the neighbors for help. Working together they were finally able to trap the creature in a cage.

The animal seems to be omnivorous and measures around 60 centimeters in length--bottom-heavy--and its tail adds another 30 centimeters. There is a wound on its stomach. Almost all of its fur is gone apart from a few sparse, brown-colored hairs on its back. Its head looks mostly like that of a dog, but its nostrils are that of a cow, and it has a few short whiskers hanging from its cheeks. It has round ears and folds on the skin on its neck. Its hindlegs are far longer and heavier than its forelegs, and each of its four wide feet has five toes, almost like that of a lion or tiger.

According to a personnel of the Daying County Forestry Department, this animal might possibly be a common badger, but given that it appears to be quite different from most badgers seen in the area, more research is needed to determine whether or not it is indeed a badger.

Dalian update: Photographs!

There are not many yet, but I have uploaded a first bunch of pictures on my Picasa page now. The Dalian album includes some pics of my flat and some of my classmates at the University. I will be adding more in days to come.

Dalian - Miscellaneous

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Dalian update: confronting the Big Black Mountain

The long Easter, or better Tomb Sweeping Day, weekend, was spent mainly in Dalian in the end. The weather forecast was not very tempting for Sunday and Monday, and the bigger trip to Anshan and Qianshan NP was recommended to us for a bit later in the year, when the scenery has turned predominantly green. Instead, I discovered on Friday that there is a nature reserve dotted with several taoist and buddhist temples only 40km outside of Dalian centre in the Kai Fa Qu Development Zone. Turned out this was also the place the French people had planned to visit. Very well then. It got rather late (3 a.m.) on Friday, and what I had feared materialised as well: the French couldn't make the agreed meeting time (8 a.m.). In fact, Henry also overslept so I was on my own watching Dalian come to life on a Saturday morning. Somebody had managed to drive his car in the ditch besides the main road. Street vendors selling fruit and flowers for Tomb Sweeping Day appeared with their carts from little side alleys. I bought the previous day's China Daily at the Heishijiao busstop (getting the actual day's paper is not straightforward...), and hit Amici. No word from the French, Henry would meet me at that coffeebar by 9 a.m.

The Google story keeps inviting comments and letters from China Daily readers. Interestingly, the majority of viewpoints is not flattering for Google. "Life was fine in China before Google, and it will be fine after Google". Google only ranks third behind two Chinese search engines in mainland China, and many Chinese will indeed not miss the western world's market leader. I also read the other day that Google was actually in a crisis here after the Google China CEO resigned at the end of last year. Latest figures were disappointing and the guy fled the sinking ship. In other words, this winter Google was looking for a good way to bail out of the mainland without losing face. Right now, all Google search traffic is redirected to the company's Hong Kong site, which funnily offers less censorship than the mainland engine. My Gmail and related products all still work well. I do not even need to switch on the VPN on most days.

After a solid (and cheap!) breakfast (1,5 euro for coffee, two slices of toast, omelette, sausages, tomatoes and lettuce), Henry and I took off for our hiking trip to Daheishan, aka the Big Black Mountain. It was quite a long way to get there. First by bus to the main railway station, and then head for the LRT train, which is probably the closest Dalian comes to 'big example' Hong Kong so far. A brand new, modern and convenient train that connects the city centre with the Development Zone. A Dalian subway system is currently being built, by the way. The LRT train does not seem to have the proper velocity yet, though. We both had a tendency to fall asleep during the ride. After about half an hour we arrived at Kai Fa Qu, where motorcyclists were immediately offering their services. But 50 kuai did seem a lot to take us to the Daiheishan nature reserve. Someone with a car who had been listening in on our conversation with the motorists, sneaked up on us and whispered 30 kuai, hao ma?

At the park entrance we heard people speak American English, and it was clear rightaway that we would not be hiking and visiting the temples alone. Still, it was good fun. The hike was very steep in parts and a good exercise by all means. There were some nice views along the way, even when the landscape is still barren after the winter period. Quite high up, considering we started at sea level, we suddenly stood in front of the Chaoyang temple. A rather large Buddhist temple complex with some interesting features and the compulsory scent of incense in the air! Unfortunately, the place was crowded with day tourists like us, so we'll have to soak up the atmosphere on some other occasion. We continued climbing until a T-junction. Left was the Guan Yin Pavillion, but right was a super steep staircase leading all the way up to the summit of Daheishan. We took a right.

After a couple of hours in the reserve, we called our driver from earlier on to pick us back up and headed back to the Kai Fa Qu station. However, not without a nice bowl of hot vegetable soup!

I have made some pictures of Daheishan, which you can see via this Picasa link:

Dalian - Daheishan

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Usain Bolt: faster and faster till London 2012

No olympic games or world championships to focus on this year for the international athletics stars. Yet, Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt, who smashed the world records on the 100m and 200m over the past two years, is not planning to spend 2010 only in the Kingston clubs. Bolt, 23, enjoys a good party, but he remains a professional athlete and knows very well what has brought him money and fame. I thought the interview published last week in The Guardian, linked below, is quite a good read. Check it out:

Donald McRae interviews the world's fastest man

Tour of Flanders: Cancellara demolishes Boonen!

The 94th edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen turned out as expected with Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen dominating the rest. However, the Swiss champion was even in a class of his own as he plainly dropped the local favourite on the legendary Muur van Geraardsbergen with 15km to go. Seldom have we seen someone so overwhelmingly strong as 29-year-old Cancellara yesterday!

It was Cancellara, too, who opened the debate with an acceleration on the Molenberg, a very short but steep cobbled climb about 40km before the finish. Tom Boonen was the only one who could follow. The duo did not wait for the others to catch up again and continued their effort to set up a true clash of titans. But on the steepest (20%) bit of the Muur, Boonen had no answer when Cancellara accelerated and he quickly saw the world time trial champion disappear into the distance. For Boonen this must have been an enormous mental blow, but he managed to keep his act together and stay well ahead of the chasing duo of Philippe Gilbert and Bjorn Leukemans (a strong David Millar was dropped by these two on the Muur).

Prior to the Molenberg, the race had been uncharacteristically dull. The announced rain did not fall, the early breakway group did not offer a real threat, and the contenders in the peloton were all looking at the two main protagonists. Cancellara's Saxo Bank team controlled the pace on many climbs and that pace was not exactly blistering. So slow that on the Cote de Trieu riders halfway in the peloton had to set foot on the ground! Somehow it was then also surprising that nobody had any juice left to respond to Cancellara and Boonen when they finally went on the Molenberg. Gilbert tried a few times, in vain. Flecha did not have his best day. Boom blew up earlier already, indicating that a 270km race may still be a little too far for him at this stage of his career. Armstrong was happy to be in the first group. And Breschel? The Danish champion seemed to be flying and might have featured at the end, but a mechanical defect and a confused team mechanic decided otherwise. Watch out for Breschel next week in Paris-Roubaix.

Cancellara was obviously thrilled with his stunning victory, which was also his main goal of the 2010 season. Now he has won three of the five main classics, and he is keen to focus now on Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Giro di Lombardia, which feature longer climbs and more Hm than Flanders, Roubaix and Sanremo. Cancellara has said on several occasions that he has grown bored with time trialling and needs different objectives. The Valverdes, Schlecks, Cunegos and Sanchez's of this world better be warned!

Top 10:

1. Fabian Cancellara (SUI, Saxo Bank)
2. Tom Boonen (BEL, Quickstep) at 1'15"
3. Philippe Gilbert (BEL, Omega Pharma Lotto) at 2'11"
4. Bjorn Leukemans (BEL, Vacansoleil)
5. Tyler Farrar (USA, Garmin) at 2'35"
6. George Hincapie (USA, BMC racing)
7. Roger Hammond (GBR, Cervelo test team)
8. Maxim Iglinsky (KAZ, Astana)
9. Danilo Hondo (GER, Lampre)
10. William Bonnet (FRA, B Box Bouyges)

Links:


Cancellara rides away from Boonen on the Muur van Geraardsbergen (PUT SOUND ON!)
Full climb of Muur van Geraardsbergen
Final kilometre

Tour of Flanders: Can Cancellara prevent Boonen's third?

If the past couple of races have demonstrated anything it is that Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara are both at the top of their game. Who gets passed them later today is likely to win the Tour of Flanders, the second major one-day classic after Milano-Sanremo. The second row of favourites is filled with the names of Matti Breschel, teammate of Cancellara at Saxo Bank, Filippo Pozzato and Juan Antonio Flecha. Of those, the Italian champion is sadly out due to the onset of flu.

The weather forecast is not exactly brilliant: cold (max 8 degrees Celsius), windy and rain along the 260km long route. This means the strongest riders should automatically come to the fore and battle it out among themselves at the end. Still, there is the danger of an early breakway group staying ahead for a long time. The pressure will be very much on the Saxo Bank and Quickstep teams to keep their captains within fighting range. That could actually prove difficult. Especially because Quickstep, traditionally the strongest team for these spring classic races, has been totally invisible this season. Boonen himself is in top shape, but he has was left on his own in most races towards the end. Moreover, shadow leader Stijn Devolder, winner of the past two editions of the Tour of Flanders, has been nowhere since his victory exactly a year ago. Devolder claims he is ready for it again, but doubts and critical remarks from team manager Lefevre are plenty. So, can Quickstep carry the weight of the race today? Is the Danish squad of Saxo Bank willing to take over that responsibility? It will be very tricky if they manage to put a strong lieutenant a la Klostergard or O'Grady in the expected breakaway group...

Do not expect the other Belgian team Omega Pharma-Lotto to grab the bull by the horns. Captain Philippe Gilbert is solid, as always, but he still seems to miss the edge that brought him dominant victories in Paris-Tours and Lombardia last autumn. Gilbert will be around today, but I doubt he is strong enough to follow Boonen and Cancellara on the Muur van Geraardsbergen. The foul weather could play in Gilbert's favour, though. His teammates Leif Hoste, Jurgen Roelands and Greg van Avermaet are only expected to play a role on the sidelines today.

With Pozzato out of the race, the Italians do not really seem to have a major contender this year. Former winner Alessandro Ballan is still trying to find his legs back, and for Liquigas riders Quinziato, Oss and Bennati the Ronde may just be a little too much to ask.

The Dutch Rabobank team could benefit from any rivalry between Saxo Bank and Quickstep as its core riders are all in good form. Still, they lack a true winner of a race this calibre. Their old teammate Juan Antonio Flecha, now riding for the new Team Sky, is a dangerman on the other hand. Coming off his first major Flemish win in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad a month ago, Flecha does seem rejuvinated and also he could sneak away if Cancellara and Boonen neutralise themselves deep in the finale.

What can Lance Armstrong do? It is definitely cool that Lance partecipates, as he did also on occasion in the past. Say about him what you want, but the American multiple Tour de France winner does show respect for cycling's history. Five years ago I saw him struggling on the Muur after having worked for his then-teammate Devolder. His Radio Shack team will now mainly focus on defending the interests of Belgian Sebastien Rosseler, who showed good form in last week's E3. Armstrong of course knows that a tough time trial specialist like Rosseler will be a major asset for his team in the upcoming Tour de France in July.

Due to the expected foul weather, several scenarios may unfold. Crashes, punctures and other mechanical defects cannot be excluded at any moment of the race today. Still, I place my money on Tom Boonen to take his third victory in Flanders after 2005 and 2006. Since last week's E3 defeat, he knows he cannot give Cancellara a metre of free space. Boonen has shown remarkable maturity this year and won't get caught again. Plus, Cancellara has not had the most impressive results in this race so far. The Swiss champion did agree on that during press conferences, but added that he has learnt his lesson the hard way and that he definitely wants to add the Tour of Flanders trophy to the Paris-Roubaix and Milano-Sanremo victories he has already scored in his professional career.

My race pick: Tom Boonen
Podium: Fabian Cancellara, Juan Antonio Flecha
Dark horse: Matti Breschel

Links

Ronde van Vlaanderen website

Granfondo - A good year to skip Tour of Flanders :-)

This weekend does feel rather strange. It is the first time in 14 years that I am not riding the cyclosportive version of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, a sacred day for the Flemish cyclist. Doing the tour marks the real start of the cyclo campaign for many. It is not a timed competition, but the meanwhile worldwide famous course is so tough you better be in a decent shape already! Over those past 14 years, there have been editions for which I did not prepare well enough, and that meant riding around the Muur van Geraardsbergen instead of over that renowned wall at the end of the event! The Ronde has become an international challenge with each year about 18,000 participants coming from all parts of the world. Some 3,000 of those do the full tour of 260 to 275km including all the hills and cobblestone paths that shape this race.

Looking at pictures, it does seem I chose a good year to be in China. Rain and wind tortured the riders in Flanders yesterday. The same conditions are expected for the professional race today on Easter Sunday.

Dalian update: Finding a gift

Chinese food symbolism is rather interesting. For instance, apples are a symbol of peace and oranges are a wish for good fortune.

Recently, I was involved in a conversation between Ma laoshi and Christina regarding a dinner they were invited to by the latter's host family in Dalian. As is custom in the West, you bring a gift, a token of appreciation for the invitation, to the dinner. Usually a bottle of wine, spirits, chocolates, whatever. But the Chinese are not known to be chocolate lovers, nor do most people drink much alcohol. "So what could I give them, Ma laoshi?", said Christina. "Whatever you do, do not give them a pear!!" She replied very seriously. A pear? Why on earth would anybody give a dinner host a pear as a gift?! A minute later, as the monty python-like scene faded away in my mind, Ma laoshi went on to explain that giving a pear means you wish a married couple to split up. The word and written character for 'pear' is the same as for 'separation' ...

So, be aware of your fruit!

I will now find out whether you can throw tomatoes at someone in honour of him :-)

Dalian update: Tomb sweeping instead of egg hunting

The Chinese obviously do not celebrate Easter, but fortunately we can also enjoy the pleasures of a long weekend. Over here they celebrate Qing Ming Jie, i.e. Tomb Sweeping Day. This Chinese public holiday can be compared more or less to All Saints' Day in the West - honouring the ancestors - but at the same time it is a celebration of nature's rebirth and the beginning of the "outdoor season". Everybody will go to their families' graves the next two, three days to tend them and sweep them clean.

For expats and students it is a golden opportunity to do a bit of travelling. I have now practically recovered from my cold earlier in the week and have also dug out the map of China. Some fellow students are heading for Beijing or Shenyang and Dandong, the two closest and most obvious city tour choices coming from Dalian. But I visited the latter two in 2008, and do not feel any particular desire to return. Beijing may be on the cards for late April. So, I checked the ferry schedule for Shandong province. Fast boats to Yantai, from where you can visit several potentially interesting sites (Qingdao, Penlai, Qufu, Weihai, Tai Shan), only take 3,5 hours from Dalian! Unfortunately, these faster vessels only operate as of May... Sure, one could take a slow nightboat, but it must be freezing cold on those ships still at nighttime. No no. Checked flights to Shenzhen, airfares overpriced due to the long weekend. The Frenchies at the University suggested "some Buddhist temple" just over 2 hours from Dalian by bus. But all they know is the bus leaves at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. Knowing their party spirit, I doubt one of them will actually make the bus! Anyway, I have forwarded the idea to do a three-hour-train trip to Anshan, Liaoning's third biggest city, and its adjacent Qianshan National Park. In there is supposed to be a gigantic and little known Buddha statue on top of a hill, which requires some hiking exercise. Along the way one should also see several Taoist temples... So, within the same Park you can get a feeling of both significant life philosophies, plus have the opportunity to stretch your legs in open nature. The French have not responded yet, Henry and Christina - a student from Hamburg - are interested but seem rather suspicious as the city and the National Park are not mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guidebook for China. Alors, we will see tonight.

I have been making a few pictures the past days, which I will upload to this blog or picasa soon.