The cobble season starts on Saturday with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and then rattles into Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne on Sunday. Make no mistake, these races are for the hard men of the roads and if you win one you will never have to buy a beer in Flanders for the rest of your life. Ed Hood looks back at the last five years of the ‘cobbles week-end’ and forward to this year.Theres not a camel, sandstorm, baby kangaroo, tube of factor 50 or tiny climber in sight. However, we will be seeing, cobbles, manure, beer and maybe a little ice; and there will actually be spectators roadside not like some races we could mention. Yes, all thats gone before becomes incidental as the first real deal hardcore races of season 2015 approach Het Nieuwsblad nee Het Volk/Gent-Gent and her bridesmaid, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Rather than my usual stat fest preview I thought wed take a wander back through the last few editions of both races to give you a flavour for what theyre all about.2010Start says the Het Nieuwsblad headline and this is indeed the start of the Classics season with the race which takes its name from the sponsoring paper, taking in many of the cobbled sections and steep ramps which the Tour of Flanders will incorporate in April. But on the 200 K mark its almost two hours shy of Ronde distance and a much more open race.And here in the Heartland, it matters; the race isnt just a PR exercise or...
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