Day two of Ed Hood’s Belgian jaunt took him to the roadside of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday, via one or two of his favourite hostelries. The more relaxed start allowed a bit of bike hardware inspection, and rider mingling, but with a race to watch the call of the bar L’Escale was strong.“Ah! Le Course!” Says our amigo at L’Escale bar in Ronse as we stumble in after our stint on the Oude Kwaremont; he prepares the TV in the store room at the back of his bar for us. But then the guys watching the soccer leave and we get promoted to the big screen in the main bar – and free nibbles. Gilbert puts in a ‘dig’ inside 10 K but our host just shakes his head; ‘no, no! It will be sprint’ he correctly asserts.Modesty prevents me from saying who correctly predicted Cav, Kristoff, Viviani but that’s how it finished. If someone had said to us 10 years ago that the two opening Belgian semi-classics of 2015 would both be won by British riders, we’d have smiled politely and responded that such an outcome was highly unlikely. But Big Ian and Wee Mark did that very thing; Ian Stannard breaking three of Quick Step’s finest to win Het Nieuwsblad for a second time and Mark Cavendish out-sprinting a mix of some of the world’s fastest men – Kristoff, Viviani, Bouhani – to win his second Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.How times have changed . . .Kuurne is the bridesmaid to Het Nieuwsblad’s...
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