Tag: Officiousness

Lorena Wiebes is just 21 years-old but is already shaping up to be the next Dynamic Dutchwoman. We caught up with her recently, soon after she joined Dutch [where else ?] ladies team Sunweb at the start of June.

Raleigh professional Evan Oliphant handled the age old dilemma of the pro racing against amateurs – if they don’t win they’re criticised, but if they do then it’s ‘expected’ – by taking the best option and winning the Gala CC’s Gordon Arms Hilly Time Trial over 20.5 cold and cloudy Borders miles in 50:06; some ways short of Mark Atkinson’s (Velo Ecosse) 1999 course record of 48:47 but enough to give him the result by 41 seconds over Carl Donaldson (GS Metro).

We caught-up with Evan after a wet and wild stage three, won by the immaculately coiffed 2006 Milan-San Remo winner, Filippo Pozzato (Italy & Quick Step); our man had just finished dinner.

Over the weekend we were shocked and saddened to hear that young English rider Tim James had passed, aged just 23 years.

It was Sean Connery's character in the film "The Untouchables" who suggested you don't bring a knife to a gun fight and it was clear that the weapons of choice at the opening classics weekend in Belgium would contribute to the outcome and individual's performance. Having wandered around the teams at both the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne it became clear there was a lot of nice kit being readied to race.

So it's been coming and I'm happy to say I have my first win of the 2011 season in Belgium! And oh, what a fine day it was. Everything fell into place and to finish it off with the win was extra special. After a lot of bad luck before and in the earlier part of the season with injuries, crashes and what-not, it's a nice feeling now that things are going my way. Patience has paid off! Dan Patten's Blog.